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EVALUATION AND TASKS OF TODAY’S SYSTEM OF BUSINESS EDUCATION IN THE TVER REGION
0. V. Zabelina
1. А. Kaplunov
One of the priorities of the development of Russia includes the relative alignment of the economic development of the regions with the maximum use of their internal resources. It is practically impossible to solve this problem without the development of modern regional business education. It is also important to take into account national and regional peculiarities, and opportunities in the education of specialists, aimed at the development of the competitive advantages of the region.
The Tver Region has recently become a staff donor for neighboring regions, due to low employment capacity of the most contracting enterprises. Since owners of the leading companies in the region are residents of Moscow, the Moscow Region and St. Petersburg, and the region is a transit territory, the executives and managers, as well as the leading specialists of companies are in most cases sent to the capitals’ business schools for training. This is due to several reasons, including - higher quality of services in the capitals due to high competition in the market of business education; small transport and time costs associated with moving to the neighboring regions for training; absence of business schools in the Tver Region. Analysis of the situation in the market of business education in the Tver Region has been carried out. Sources of information included the official websites of the educational structures that call themselves business schools (or structures for business education), as well as the information obtained by using the interview method. The findings lead to a conclusion that none of the Tver educational institutions can be referred to as traditional business schools, as an organization dedicated to the implementation of business education programs and issuing of MBA diplomas. Of the four possible models of business education in Economics and Management (higher education/second higher education, professional retraining, advanced training, and MBA programs), less than a quarter of the educational institutions (21.4% of the total number) offer at least three of these. All of them are the leading universities of the Region. An MBA program is offered by only one of the institutions, but it does not implement it in the Tver Region, acting as an intermediary between the Tver consumers of relevant services and a business school located in the capital.
The most popular programs offered by the Tver market include advanced training, training sessions and seminars. Possible reasons for this situation can include, on the one hand, the focus of the educational organizations on small businesses, and on the current demand in the business environment of the region, the underestimation of the future needs of businesses, both in the medium term and in the long term. On the other hand, the limited financial capabilities of
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enterprises and organizations of the region (potential customers), which results in their low activity both in the field of training of personnel in general, and with regard to cooperation with regional business and educational institutions.
At the present time, Russian companies are in the process of transition to post-industrial production. They have not yet mentioned their new and often developing business processes, and have not yet certified individual operations inside them by implementation of the international quality control systems. That is why businesses often cannot accurately articulate their requirements to their staff, replacing requirements for qualifications and competences with requirements for age, diligence and enthusiasm.
The true difficulty in operating any business school is that its viability is ultimately determined by its innovativeness, namely the systematic search for the surrounding changes, and introduction of such innovations into customer service, and it is the customers who make these changes possible and necessary. The fundamental problem of such an approach is the difficulty in finding solutions that will help to get closer to meeting the needs of tomorrow. Obviously, such developments are not possible within the framework of short-term advanced training programs, and especially within the framework of training sessions and seminars. Moreover, the very essence of such programs does not mean fundamentalism, and is aimed at the exploration of current business issues and actualization of the existing competences. With regard to the requirements for admission to the program, the most stringent requirements are those of the second higher education programs. These are statutory requirements, which are not initiated by the market. Under the supervision of the educational institutions themselves, apart from the requirements for the availability of material support of applicants and a certain level of already received education (also established by the law), no competitive entrance examinations and no competition procedures are required. The main thing is not being assessed - the level of knowledge and capabilities of applicants. It means that education is organized for both those who are already familiar with the business environment, and for those who may even not have any employment record, or only have theoretical knowledge about business processes. Perhaps that is why business leaders and executives, as well as senior government officials of the region, prefer training in business schools in the capitals.
It is well known that the final consumer of services of business education is not just a student, but also an employer and an organization, including corporate customers. The latter significantly affect the development of the education market. Based on the analysis, not many educational structures discuss their willingness to work with corporate clients on business programs in the area of economy and management (42.9% of the total number). This indicates an adequate level of selfesteem by these structures in the level of their capabilities. It is typical that none of the organizations of Tver and the Tver Region is a member of the Russian Association of Business Education (RABE). Nevertheless, there are the “beginnings” of a business education system in the region, in a very peculiar form. We mean the “beginnings”, since they do not represent a systemic phenomenon
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and have an irregular nature. It is first of all, training within the framework of the Presidential program of the preparation of management staff for organizations in the national economy of the Russian Federation. The main purpose of the program is training and retraining of management staff for the country's enterprises, capable of leading the Russian economy to a higher level of a quality (so, we mean business education). In the Tver Region, this program has been implemented for over ten years, and more than 850 managers and specialists in the region have undergone training. However, the bulk of students of the program today consists of civil servants of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation and municipalities. Moreover, it is not business education, but rather training of “managers of the public sector”. It turns out that a whole segment of the educational activities: “business management”, “business administration”, education for profit, business education itself - is completely absent, despite the obvious need for it.
In general, we can conclude that in the Tver Region there is no competitive environment in the field of business education. The region does not have any business school ready to compete, not only with Russia's leading business schools, but also with schools in other regions of the country. However, there are structures that have the potential to catch up to the average level existing in Russia. As practice shows, Tver universities have the potential to build a structure that could meet the requirements of the modern business environment - flexible, mobile, actively interacting with colleagues, and not afraid to operate in the conditions of competitive educational programs.
Particular attention should be paid to the fact that universities in the regions are main ones, and often the only structures involved into additional professional education. It is logical to propose the formation of business educational structures in major higher educational institutions of the region on the basis of units engaged into additional education. It is important to prevent the influence of negative features of regional high schools upon business education programs. The forecasts of prospective staffing requirements of the Tver Region confirm the need for creating a reserve of managerial staff already in the medium term. It can be formed to a greater extent due to the programs of business education. In this regard, the region is of interest for the implementation of the pilot projects of business education.
To build a new education system, it is necessary to have an absolutely new breakthrough philosophy, based on business strategy, the essence of which is to identify challenges and future needs as a basis for building a new model, focused on future challenges and future demand. The breakthrough strategy has a chance to create a new institution, a unique and highly effective one in the logic of future needs. This is particularly important in post-industrial society.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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