Arctic Logistics & Economics Courses To Be Taught In Murmansk
A new generation of Arctic talent is to be developed
Murmansk Arctic State University
The Governor of Russia’s North-West Murmansk region has announced the restructuring of leading universities in Murmansk Region to provide training of specialists for the implementation of Arctic related projects.
“We are restructuring the higher education curriculum.” he said. “We have the Murmansk State Technical University, the Murmansk Arctic State University, and the focus there will be on Arctic development strategy, as recently announced by the State Government. This strategy stimulates the training of specialists for our economy, for Arctic projects, which are being actively implemented.”
Murmansk is being developed as a key Arctic city and was made the Capital City of the complete Arctic region in 2020.
Training specialists for the mining industry
The Murmansk Arctic State University will be an educational platform for two new Bachelor programs: “Automation of industrial technological processes” and “Metallurgy of non-ferrous metals.” The training programs are organized at the request from Nornickel, Russia’s dominant Arctic mining conglomerate, where the demand for such specialists is very high.
The regional Kola division of the company stated “Nornickel undertakes the education expenses. The classes will be organized at the Monchegorsk Polytechnic College; the company also has assisted with equipment for the classes and labs – the investments made have amounted to 48.7 million rubles ($661,000).”
Educating specialists for the Arctic
The Murmansk State Technical University is starting a high-focus program to train specialists, which are of high demand at companies, working in the Arctic regions. Together with Gazprom, the University will organize training courses for specialists in “Logistics and management of supply chains in the Arctic.” This is the only university in the country to offer this program.
Murmansk Port
Experts stress the importance of logistics for successful development of the Russian Arctic zone. According to Alexei Fadeyev of the Luzin Institute of Economic Studies at the Kola Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, this educational program is very timely.
“We have been active in the Arctic, and the aspects of handling and logistics are top important there. In addition to Gazprom Neft, Novatek has been implementing Arctic projects, plus geology exploration, coastline development, and the practical development of the Murmansk transport hub,” Fadeyev said, adding training programs must be organized in locations where such specialists are of demand.
The Arctic, he continued, needs specialists who are capable of organizing deliveries not just from location A to location B, but who can offer complex integrated project systems, which will include required vehicles, which can work effectively in the Arctic conditions. “Those are support vessels, helicopters, coastal support bases, and the economic reasons for certain transport and logistics solutions,” he said. “Such a specialist must be skilled in a few neighboring disciplines. The skills must be integrated and comprehensive.”
Training specialists must begin at school
The Murmansk Region’s Governor Andrei Chibis shares the opinion that it would be easier for big corporates to find human resources in the region of their operations if they begin training specialists with necessary competences from the school age. Classes and programs, focusing on certain areas, are being organized at all education levels in the region.
“We have a special center of competences, which liaise between employers, colleges, universities and schools. We have special school classes, which, for example, have been opened by the Murmansk Sea Trade Port. While at school, the kids visit companies and then may continue education to receive professional skills. The best students are contracted, and they join the region’s companies, where their incomes are very good,” the governor said, adding third-year university students with good grades may rely on guaranteed employment with the Murmansk Region’s leading companies.
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