The education system in the welding industry requires rethinking

Today, the average age of teachers training welders is 70 years. About 70 % of the teaching staff are those who are over 60 years old. These data were given on April 18 by Sergey Petrov, Chief of the Head Center for Welding and Welding Technologies for Transport, operating at the Russian University of Transport, at the Exhibition “Welding”, during the plenary session of the congress program “One Step Ahead: the Consequences of Introduction of International Economic Sanctions and Options for Overcoming Them. Strategic Goals in the Welding Industry”.

Among the reasons that determine the current situation, the expert called low scholarships in specialized universities, low teachers’ salaries and pensions, which in common do not contribute to the personnel’s renewal in the universities.

According to Sergey Petrov, today, compared to the times of the USSR, the system of training personnel for welding has greatly degraded. “Previously, welders were trained in three specialties. In 2009, by the Government’s Order, all technological basic specialties were merged into one – “Mechanical Engineering Technology”. Yes, there is specialization in welding. But if we compare the current training in this area with the Soviet one, today no more than 15–20 % of the earlier program remains. In this situation, it is difficult to say that complete engineers graduate from universities. And if there is no engineers, there won’t be those whom they can teach, and the future of science is also in great doubt”, the expert notes.

He confirmed his words with the Rosstat data, according to which, in the country, in 2012, 112 doctoral dissertations were defended in technical specialties, and in 2017 – only 11. “Over the past 14 years, we have seen degradation in training normal engineering personnel in welding. To stop this, we need to talk frankly about the situation in education, otherwise nothing good will happen”, Sergey Petrov said.

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The education system in the welding industry requires rethinking

Today, the average age of teachers training welders is 70 years. About 70 % of the teaching staff are those who are over 60 years old. These data were given on April 18 by Sergey Petrov, Chief of the Head Center for Welding and Welding Technologies for Transport, operating at the Russian University of Transport, at the Exhibition “Welding”, during the plenary session of the congress program “One Step Ahead: the Consequences of Introduction of International Economic Sanctions and Options for Overcoming Them. Strategic Goals in the Welding Industry”.

Among the reasons that determine the current situation, the expert called low scholarships in specialized universities, low teachers’ salaries and pensions, which in common do not contribute to the personnel’s renewal in the universities.

According to Sergey Petrov, today, compared to the times of the USSR, the system of training personnel for welding has greatly degraded. “Previously, welders were trained in three specialties. In 2009, by the Government’s Order, all technological basic specialties were merged into one – “Mechanical Engineering Technology”. Yes, there is specialization in welding. But if we compare the current training in this area with the Soviet one, today no more than 15–20 % of the earlier program remains. In this situation, it is difficult to say that complete engineers graduate from universities. And if there is no engineers, there won’t be those whom they can teach, and the future of science is also in great doubt”, the expert notes.

He confirmed his words with the Rosstat data, according to which, in the country, in 2012, 112 doctoral dissertations were defended in technical specialties, and in 2017 – only 11. “Over the past 14 years, we have seen degradation in training normal engineering personnel in welding. To stop this, we need to talk frankly about the situation in education, otherwise nothing good will happen”, Sergey Petrov said.

More