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FORMING OF SPIRITUAL AND MORAL PERSONALITY IN THE PROCESS OF CONTINUOUS EDUCATION
THE CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT OF MANPOWER TRAINING AS A DRIVER OF THE INNOVATION ECONOMY
N.E. Kolesnikov
The innovation economy is, first of all, characterized by its human resources, the foundations of which are research and development workers. According to statistics [1], in the last 14 years (1995-2009), the number of these workers in Russia has decreased by about 7 to 8 percent every 5 years. As a result, by 2009, scientific researchers and developers had decreased in number by 30 percent compared to 1995. When broken down by Federal District, and hence by constituent entity of the Federation, this category of workers decreased in number within a significant range of 25 to 40 percent. In particular, the North-West and Southern Federal Districts saw a decrease of 40 percent in the number of these staff, and the Far Eastern Federal District posted the lowest figure (7 percent). The main reason for this trend is the lack of a clear government policy to promote and develop both fundamental and applied scientific research. Over the past 20 years, industry research centers have suffered significant losses, and the role of fundamental academic science often lacks proper appreciation.
Today, the situation is changing for the better. Modernization and innovative transformations, mainly in the economy, and the roles of science and research workers are being given national priority. In the next ten years, the share of innovative products in the national industrial output is expected to grow from the current 4-5 percent to 25-30 percent, and R&D expenditures are set to double by the year 2020. Russia will thus significantly expand its presence in the world markets of hi-tech products. It is currently crucial to build a long-term demand for investment and, therefore for innovation, and state-owned companies are to play an important role in this process, not as a substitute for private businesses, but only by acting as a catalyst for innovation. A series of major reforms are planned in the real production sector. All this should have a direct impact on the nature, content, equipment and structure of jobs in businesses and industries, and on the composition, content and qualification level of blue and white-collar occupations. In particular, it is planned to create at least 25 million qualitatively new jobs in the country in the next 20 years, while ensuring acceptable levels of pay and working conditions. Moreover, the community of Russian industrialists and entrepreneurs intend to upgrade 10 million existing jobs by 2020. Of prime importance in this context will be to address the task of balancing the release of manpower as a result of modernization and innovative transformation of the production sector in regions, their retraining and employment on the basis of production and labor processes and jobs that undergo qualitative and structural renewal.
One of the most important elements of the currently developed concepts and programs for modernization and innovation development of the country until 2020
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and further until 2030 is a section dedicated to a strategy for the development of a national system of manpower training. Research shows [3] that one of the most important considerations here is that the rate of change in the economy may be so high as to exceed in many cases the rate of transformation of the content and quality of training, especially in higher education. One of the factors that can, and actually does facilitate the mitigation of, and eventually overcoming a frequently observed imbalance between the development of material and technological conditions and means of production on the one hand, and its personal, human resource component on the other, is the continuity in the development of professional education. The continuity of development of manpower training is in particular achieved where the external relations of this educational system with its external environment, i.e. the field which creates the demand for and "consumes" human resources, are regarded as a constantly and smoothly operating mechanism of these relations and interactions. Imbalances between the desirable and the real in areas which concern the quality of manpower, show that this mechanism is imperfect and that the development processes are discontinuous where they have to be continuous. Maintaining close and continuous cooperation between the production and educational systems on the basis of common interest in high performance of employees is a promising way to balance the processes of staffing and ongoing renewal of human resources.
It is known that the quality of manpower training, the skill level of graduates from educational institutions and therefore the efficiency of the efforts and work of both students and teaching staff in the system of professional education, depend on numerous conditions and factors. Let us consider one of them, which is currently relevant to the both actors of the process in question. On the one hand, it is motivation, a motivated choice which therefore leads to high-quality study for socially important occupations by young people. On the other hand, it is the effective work of teachers which ensures that students receive the maximum required knowledge, abilities and skills, including the high-tech knowledge and content that are required to work successfully in the future. In the case of blue-collar occupations, in addition to the already widely recognized methods of occupational guidance, more and more focus is being put on searching for and implementing the development of qualification abilities in a skilled labor occupation in terms of its prospects, and on the basis of relevant production technologies, i.e. opportunities for social and professional growth of a person engaged in such occupations, in order to enhance the motivation in picking a relevant activity and to ensure interest in mastering it. Today, the professional differentiation and cooperation of labor, mainly at the level of key and leading blue-collar occupations in a particular type of production, develop towards filling their content with a maximum possible set of intellectual and creative functions. Steps are being taken to find a so called "social elevator," i.e. a stage of professional, qualification, personnel-related and eventually social growth, and build it into a blue-collar profession. Given that the task-oriented management of the process is in place, this growth in the framework of blue-collar skilled labor occupations allows the building of a stratum of highly skilled workers, a so-called "labor aristocracy". In addition to high-level skills and a culture of labor, the main feature of such workers is a good wage. By the year 2020, the stratum of skilled workers should reach at
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least one third of the total number of skilled workers in this country or about 10 million people [7]. This requires the enhancing of the motivation of those who train young people into skilled workers and specialists. These are teachers of higher education institutions, colleges, vocational schools, industrial training officers, etc. Any reform, in particular in education, can only be carried out when it provides acceptable wages for skilled professionals. Teachers should earn enough from their primary employer in order not to need to look for additional earnings “on the side” [6].
In order for the qualification capability of staff which is currently becoming increasingly innovative in its content to be developed successfully, due consideration should be given to relevant problems and constraints. Surveys conducted in Russia and in several European countries [8] show that our citizens do not differ much from those of most developed countries in Europe in the level of their creativity, i.e. the ability and willingness to develop new ideas. However, when it comes to demand for and practical implementation of new ideas, the Russians turn out to be inferior to the Europeans. Theoretically, innovative ideas are supported in Russia, but it often stops at the stage of creating a demand for them. Russian business is mainly focused on absolute (risk-free) profits, while innovation, by its nature, involves a certain degree of risk. Such a misalignment of interests between the main players in the innovation process is often the main obstacle to its implementation, and thus a barrier for production operations seeking to achieve the effect of their implementation. One of the important conditions for enhancing innovative processes and accelerating innovative transformations in the national economy is, on the one hand, the "innovative" education of Russian entrepreneurs that would increase their confidence in innovative ideas and projects and mitigate the fear of risk. To achieve this goal, economic universities, courses and skills development institutes for entrepreneurs should pay more attention to the study of Russian and international experience in the efficient operation of business in the context of potential risks, as well as forms and methods of mutual support between members of the business community, including the establishment of nongovernment funds, etc. On the other hand, the government should be more active in supporting these entrepreneurs by establishing the relevant insurance funds, as well as by using other forms and methods to promote and motivate innovation among Russians.
References
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