A forum of rectors was held in Yekaterinburg city (Russia) as part of the 13th Eurasian Economic Youth Forum.
It was attended by the heads of more than 60 Russian and foreign higher educational institutions, representatives of government and public organizations. The moderator was the rector of the Ural State University of Economics Yakov Silin. He noted that the networking cooperation of universities is an important factor in the integration of higher education into the Eurasian space.
«As speakers at the Eurasian Economic Youth Forum have repeatedly said, today it is especially important to form a common space for economic, cultural, scientific and educational interaction. The Eurasian Economic Union has reached serious development. But the convergence of national legislations, especially in the customs and tax spheres, is a long and labor-intensive process, and there is already a demand for personnel capable of working in the common Eurasian labor market. Therefore, creation of a barrier-free environment in the field of education, development of the human and intellectual capital of the EAEU is our primary task,» Yakov Silin said.
The Eurasian Network University contributes to the implementation of the task. It was formed in 2022 as part of the implementation of new directions for the development of Eurasian integration. It is expected that the university will become a platform where pressing issues of the economy and the education system in the EAEU will be discussed and jointly resolved.
Chairman of the Coordinating Council of the Eurasian Network University Vladimir Stroev said that the advantage of the university is that the labor market will be formed within the Eurasian space. This will have a positive impact on improving the professionalism of personnel and, in general, on the development of the member countries of the community.
«The countries of Asia are at the center of the new world economic order: China, India, Turkey, Iran. Over the past year, Russia has significantly increased trade in these areas. In order to expand opportunities for comprehensive mutual exchange, we need to invest in science and the social sphere, and unify the education system. The meeting of rectors of the EAEU universities is designed to give impetus to new projects in this direction,» said Sergey Glazyev, member of the Board (Minister) in charge of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
Andrey Besedin, President of the Ural Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stressed the special importance of training qualified personnel. There is an acute problem of attracting the right specialists and, as a result, «wage competition» for enterprises in the context of import substitution. Thus, a distortion is created in the labor market and an unfair rise in the cost of production produced with the participation of «gold» employees occurs.
«The education system did not count on such a sharp increase in demand. However, the integration of vocational education into the Eurasian space, the synergistic effect of networking between universities, the establishment of unity in the educational systems of friendly countries will accelerate the resolution of these problems,» Andrey Besedin concluded.
