Rustam Minnikhanov: “It is our third victory in the 7-year history of WorldSkills movement in Russia”

1,700 competitors from 80 Russian regions demonstrated their mastery in 92 competences

Those who provided the team Tatarstan with the first overall place gathered in the hall of the Lenin Culture House. 260 participants represented the republic in the final of the 7^th national championship, which was from 20 to 24 May. 218 of them won 150 medals: the republic won 58 gold, 40 silver and 43 bronze medals as well as 26 awards for professionalism.

“It is our third victory in the 7-year history of WorldSkills movement in Russia. It is very gratifying that the excellent results were achieved on our Kazan site, WorldSkills competition will be here in August. About 1,700 competitors from 80 Russian regions demonstrated their mastery in 92 WorldSkills competences and 48 WorldSkills Juniors competences. First of all, I want to express words of gratitude to the teachers and experts who trained the champions. Your mastery, professionalism and scrupulous work allowed achieving the great results,” Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov said.

Participants from 19 municipal districts in team Tatarstan

The team Tatarstan had participants from 19 municipal districts. Rail Abdullin who won a gold in Production of Polymer Goods is among them. The young man studies at the Polytechnic College in Naberezhnye Chelny and now he works as operator in the divinyl and raw hydrocarbons plant at Nizhnekamskneftekhim.

“I saw others compete, this is why I was sure I would be in the top 3. But I couldn’t presuppose I would be first. I plan to keep participating in the WorldSkills movement. I will have the world championship in Shanghai in 2021 and now I should train for it,” Rail Abdullin shared.

Four people in total competed on behalf of Nizhnekamskneftekhim. Electrician Vitaly Tsaryov was sixth in Plumbing and Heating, laboratory assistant of chemical analysis Aygul Burganova finished seventh in Laboratory Chemical Analysis.

“It is a very good result, moreover, Rail Abdullin became first. It gladdens that such youth work in our enterprise. Everybody who participated in WorldSkills is a person who began to work in the factory in 2019, and it is important that they not lose interest in upgrading professionalism. We will support them,” Director General of Nizhnekamskneftekhim Azat Bikmurzin shared.

IT sector annually grows by 20%, but number of specialists doesn’t grow so fast

Those who still study at school also participate in the WorldSkills movement. Almaz Dolgoarshinnykh became a winner in Electronics competence among juniors. The guy studies in the boarding school of Kazan National Research Technological University, has been in WorldSkills since the seventh grade and plans to go to the senior championship.

“I pay much time to training. For instance, I missed almost all the classes before the championship to get ready. Though it was quite easy to compete — we made a robot that clears all obstacles and created a smart aquarium, it sets necessary temperature itself and turns on and off light for fish,” said Almaz Dolgoarshinnykh.

WorldSkills breaks the stereotype that only higher education allows to work in IT, a specialist may have vocational education, Minister of Informatisation and Communications of Tatarstan Roman Shaikhutdinov is sure. The sector annually grows by 20%, but the number of specialists doesn’t grow so fast. According to the minister, admission must double and state-funded places must be redistributed to solve the problem in all universities. For instance, now it is being discussed to double admission to Kazan Federal University, to Higher School of Information Technologies and the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics.

“I am asking all higher educational institutions to support. It is hard to do because the number of teachers is the deterrent. But the area in itself is the most competitive one. It is one of the most popular areas among applicants at KFU today,” said Vice Prime Minister of Tatarstan and Minister of Informatisation and Communications of Tatarstan Roman Shaikhutdinov.

We’ve been preparing the participants during the year as professional athletes, without days-off

The team Tatarstan has won the national championship for the first time. “It took us long to win in the national championship: the republic had been second in the last two tears giving way to Moscow a bit,” said Director General of the Competence Development Centre, head of WorldSkills Kazan 2019 project Emil Gubaidullin. Tatarstan scored 447,5 points in this national championship, while Moscow did 438.

“We’ve been preparing the participants during the year as professional athletes, without days-off. Psychologists, English teachers, experts worked with them almost 24/7, almost round the clock. This all gave a result. It is very important for us because these guys show an example for the next generation. We see the number of participants of the championship to grow year after year,” Emil Gubaidullin shared.

Now 48 representatives of Tatarstan are on the extended list of the team Russia that will make up the team for the world championship, which will compete in Kazan in August.