Higher Education and Workforce Development in Russia

Technical and vocational education plays a key role in economic development of any nation. The flexibility and responsiveness of the U.S. community colleges in meeting industrial demands and responding to the challenges of new technological innovations, their willingness to work directly with employer to provide customized training, and their capacity to develop close ties to different sectors within the labor market could serve as excellent examples to Russian vocational training institutes.

The Higher Education and Workforce Development in Russia program provided opportunities for Russian education administrators to learn about the community college model in U.S. higher education and about the ways this model is helping to meet the dual goals of providing access to higher education and preparing future workers with essential skills demanded in the 21st century world. Russian educational institutions, particularly newly-merged regional mega-universities, used this networking opportunity to develop infrastructure to include systems, processes, and facilities required to implement functional activities for vocational and technical training, industry partnerships, business incubators, technology transfer, and commercialization of research.