As part of the II International Forum “Transport Science: Innovative Solutions for Business” under way in Moscow, a session was held titled “Scientific HR as a Source for Innovative Development of Rail Transport”. The Forum is organised by Business Dialogue and supported by JSCo Russian Railways.

The panellists discussed such issues as the organisation of targeted training on railway specialisations; the results of the collaboration of railway universities and business; the implementation of the social management principle in the education of professional personnel for transport companies; training programmes and individual plans for professional development; candidate selection criteria and the anticipated result for employers; attracting young professionals to work at specialised scientific institutions and councils; and the implementation of important innovative projects.

The session moderator was Anton Nagralyan, Ph.D. in Sociology, First Deputy Head, Personnel Management Department; Head, Centre for Internal Policy and Development of Corporate Culture, Russian Railways.
Andrzej Zurkowski, Ph.D. in Engineering, Director, Warsaw Railway Institute, shared Poland’s experience in developing scientific research personnel in the transport industry. Maxim Zheleznov, Ph.D. in Engineering, Associate Professor, First Deputy General Director for Science, Russian Research and Development Institute of Railway Transport, presented research on the subject “Interaction of Transport Science, Education and Production for the Purpose of Forming an Innovative Environment in the Industry. Innovation Transfer to Railway Transport Infrastructure”.

Olga Efimova, D.Sc. in Economics, Professor, Moscow State Railway University, said she allowed herself to add a bold twist to the targeted training of students that may also be relevant for the training of scientific personnel. In particular, the professor suggests altering the priorities of targeted training: students should not aspire to be successful in business at any cost, but should be prepared to meet any scientific or technological challenge, manage a workforce, and improve themselves in all intellectual fields.

Ivan Prokudin, D.Sc. in Engineering, Professor, Head, Construction Management and Methods Department, St Petersburg State University of Railway Engineering, was in agreement on this issue. He noted with regret that he was not encouraged by the current generation of students studying under targeted selection. They are almost all inferior to their peers who entered the university on a competitive basis. Of course, this situation must be changed, in particular by training the career-oriented students for a specific company instead of in general terms.

Pavel Kuznetsov, Ph.D. in Engineering, Chief Engineer, Design Technological Bureau, Administrative Centre – Privolzhskiy Region Railway Department – subsidiary of Russian Railways; Chairman, Youth Council, Privolzhsk Railway – subsidiary of Russian Railways, joined the discussion with Olga Efimova and stated that, unfortunately, the remuneration in the railway research industry is not consistent with modern living standards, therefore, young scientists must seek out better paying jobs.

The audience was actively involved in the discussion, which is a testimony to the importance of this session.

Business Dialogue press centre:
E-mail: media@businessdialog.ru