Exhibition World Supplements Russia Supplement | Page 18

Training
Russia
he MICE industry is a rapidly
developing but relatively new
economic activity in Russia and,
like any new business, it is experiencing
a shortage of human resources. That is
why the Bonch-Bruevich St Petersburg
State University of Telecommunications,
the Baltic International Academy (Latvia)
and the Russian Union of Travel Industry
(North-West Division Office), with the
support of the EC Tempus programme,
in 2006-2009, developed the concept of
project training and created the ‘Baltic
international business school of the
business meetings industry’. This has
introduced more than 500 business
tourism, congress and exhibition
industry specialists from St Petersburg
to international experience in the
organisation of exhibitions and other
MICE events.
Over the past 10 years, the situation
regarding human resources in
Russia’s events industry has changed
considerably, but there is still a
shortage of qualified professionals.
Recruitment in Russia in the sector is
not so much ‘competitive’, but, rather,
‘recommendatory’.
In addition, job applicants hold an
advantage over employers in the hiring
process because they are not afraid
of losing or changing jobs. Employers,
meanwhile, do not focus on the potential
or personal qualities of candidates
so much, but on their professional
experience.
In Russia professional activity in the
event industry is still something new and
requiring legal regulation, which includes
qualification guides and professional
standards.
In 2015, the EC Erasmus + project
‘European Dimension in Qualifications
for the Tourist Sector. EURDIQ’ united
not only universities and enterprises
of the North-West of Russia within the
framework of co-operation of the Baltic
countries, but also a number of large
regions of Russia and Kyrgyzstan where
MICE tourism had received the greatest
development in connection with the
Olympic games in Sochi, the World
Nomad games in Kyrgyzstan, and the
development of exhibition and congress
18
Supplement
Training
together
to produce
Russia’s
event
professionals
of the future
Elena Vasilieva, Head of Research
and Project Management Center,
St Petersburg State University of
Economics, explores the role of the
Tempus and Erasmus projects in
developing Russia’s events industry
venues in St Petersburg, Moscow,
Rostov-on-Don, and some other cities.
Partners from the UK (London
Metropolitan University), Germany
(University of Applied Sciences in
Schwerin), Cyprus (University of
Nicosia), Latvia (Baltic International
Academy in Riga) played an important
role in the development of this project.
Fifteen universities and 600 industry
representatives took an active part in
the project, including the St Petersburg
State University of Economics
(UNECON), the Russian Convention
Bureau and St Petersburg venue
Expoforum.
The HR needs and job analysis for the
events industry were key to the project,
and a sectoral qualifications framework
was developed, along with draft
professional standards for the MICE
industry. The results was presented in
Sochi, April 2019, (by Elena Vasilieva
and Professor Galina Karpova from
UNECON – ed) with a resulting
recommendation that the work be
further promoted at the national level
in Russia.
One of the unique results of the
project was the development of the
international network educational
programme, ‘Event Management
and Leadership’, provided by the
universities of the Erasmus+ EURDIQ
consortium from Russia, UK, Germany,
Latvia, Cyprus and Kyrgyzstan. It is a
programme based on blended learning,
which allows the use of project work
and distance and online learning in the
educational process.
An important component of
the programme is international
academic mobility provided by the
university partners. Involvement in
the programme also allows employers
and employees to benefit from the
provision of work experience and
mobility.
The experience of project activities
for enterprises and universities
working in the Tempus and Erasmus
EU grant support programmes shows
that, today in Russia, a network
alliance of universities and enterprises
is shaping up to develop the country’s
events industry, all of which is
creating an effective system of training
based on a synergetic approach that
combines theory and practice.
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