Invest in Russia — invest in Russian regions!
All news

First Professional Skills Championship in Northern Professions to Address Development of HR Policy in Arctic

5 August 2022
На первом чемпионате профессионального мастерства по северным профессиям обсудят развитие кадровой политики Арктики

Murmansk will host the first professional skills championship in northern professions on 1014 August. Eighty contestants aged 16 to 22 from nine Arctic regions will take part in the competition. Their work will be assessed by certified experts from the Agency for the Development of Skills and Professions. The championship will be held as part of the main events of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 20212023, which are being organized by the Roscongress Foundation.

Federal legislation prioritizes the staffing of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF) as a key factor for the socioeconomic development of the Arctic regions. The main discussions in the business programme of the professional skills championship in northern professions will focus specifically on these

A key event of the championship’s business programme will be the plenary session ‘Skilled Workers for the New Economy of the Arctic Zone’. Scheduled speakers include Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic Alexey Chekunkov, Murmansk Region Governor Andrey Chibis, Atomflot General Director Leonid Irlitsa, MMC Norilsk Nickel Vice President for HR Policy Daria Kryachkova, Deputy Director form Young Professionals at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives Yulia Khanzhina, and other representatives of government and business.

The plenary session will address the following issues:

 What urgent tasks does the economy of the Arctic zone currently face and will face in the coming years?

 What tools can help overcome the labour shortage in the region and how?

 How can business and the education system build a system of collaboration to ensure explosive growth in the quality of HR training?

 How can corporate standards be integrated into the education system of the Arctic zone?

During the panel discussion ‘Tools and Experience of the Agency for the Development of Skills and Professions to Solve Current Problems in HR Development in the Arctic Zone’, the Agency’s expert community will look at practical methods and mechanisms for collaboration between educational institutions and business representatives based on their own corporate standard methodology.

Andrey Pivinsky, adviser to the general director of the Agency for the Development of Skills and Professions, said the main problems faced by Russia’s northern regions are staff shortages and an imbalance in the needs of enterprises and the opportunities of the labour market in the region. To solve these problems, mechanisms need to be created to ensure staffing for the economy, coordinate the needs of enterprises, provide educational opportunities, and support the HR policy of the executive authorities in the region.

«At the enterprise level, the corporate standard is one of the most important tools. This includes a description of a particular job site, including various parameters such as skills that are in demand, the necessary equipment, evaluation tools, what the finished product looks like, and more. The corporate standard makes it possible to improve the quality of work of each employee, determine the level of staff competence, shorten the adaptation period, and minimize the risks of equipment failure. Our experience confirms that enterprises in various industries have been highly effective in applying it,» Pivinsky said.

In addition, effective cooperation between representatives of business and government will help solve the problem of staff shortages and a lack of specialized professionals. Such collaboration will help prepare graduates of educational institutions for the challenges inherent in developing the region. The discussion will take place in an interactive format. Programme coaches will come up with open-ended questions in real time, and participants will be able to join the discussion online.

The championship is being organized by the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic, and the Murmansk Region Government.

A cross-cutting priority of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 20212023 is to ensure responsible governance for the sustainable development of the Arctic, which is largely determined by the quality of human capital. Priority attention is being given to work to maintain the sustainability and viability of the peoples of the North, promote measures to adapt them to climate change, improve people’s well-being, health, education, and quality, and ensure sustainable socioeconomic development throughout the region.

A live broadcast of the championship’s business program events will be available on the official website of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council: https://arctic-council-russia.ru/events/razvitie-chelovecheskogo-kapitala-v-arktike/mezhdunarodnyy-chempionat-professionalnogo-masterstva-po-severnym-professiyam/.