Discussing the prospects for cooperation between science, education and business

As part of the “NEFTEGAZ-2022” exhibition business programme, a conference “Interaction of Science, Education and Business in Oil and Gas” was held. This was a joint event of Expocentre Central Exhibition Complex, Association “RNC of the WPC” and Gubkin University. This is not the first experience of joint work for the organisers: a similar conference was held in spring 2021.


The conference continued the last year discussion on current trends in the energy markets and the related specifics of training for the fuel and energy sector. There was a useful exchange of experience on interaction between educational centres and business.


Opening the discussion, Grigory Krivilev, Chairman of the RNC WPC Youth Committee, noted that the changes taking place in the industry and in life require continuous improvement of training practices for young personnel. The role of interaction between scientific and educational centres and manufacturing companies is constantly increasing. In a rapidly changing world, it is very important in the educational process to give young people the knowledge and skills to keep up with the time.


According to Artur Faskhutdinov, head of the Youth Policy Department at RN-Yuganskneftegaz, one of the most acute problems in staff training today is a low awareness of the realities of oil and gas production and a lack of readiness to put the acquired knowledge into practice. After graduating from oil industry Universities, many graduates look for jobs in other fields. That is why it is very important to provide vocational guidance not only for school graduates, but also for schoolchildren of 9-10 grades, so that they could make an informed choice. The experience of Rosneft Classes convinces of the effectiveness of such work, their graduates have a clear idea of their future profession and are interested in linking their future with the oil and gas industry.


A. Faskhutdinov and other participants of the discussion mentioned the RNC WPC “EnerGenious” educational project as a good example of professional guidance for schoolchildren. Its young participants get an opportunity to visit a production site, enrich their knowledge and even to apply it by completing the tasks of a case-marathon. “EnerGenious” combines competition with teamwork skills.


For Rimera, interaction with RNC WPC as part of the “EnerGenious” project has become an important element of the programme aimed at attracting and training young people in the industry. This was reported by Albert Salimgaraev, who heads the company's Project Activities Department. Rimera carries out extensive work for education and professional development of young specialists. A. Salimgaraev spoke in detail about this instructive experience.


In the context of the energy transition, it is important to take care of the training of the specialists of the future in advance. The Institute of Oil and Gas Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences started to train personnel in the field of hydrogen energy. The first experience, tasks and prospects of this work were described by Elisaveta Safarova, a researcher at the Institute.


Artem Shpakov, representative of Gazprom Neft, and Yury Dubinov, Chairman of the Gubkin University Council of Young Scientists, also spoke at the conference.


The participants of the discussion noted the practical importance of the conference in terms of sharing experience and developing cooperation aimed at training qualified and highly motivated young professionals in the oil and gas industry.