The conference was attended by Vladimir Antonov, acting as the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Donetsk People’s Republic; leaders of the Ministry of Education and Science, and representatives of a number of ministries and enterprises of the Republic.

Vladimir Antonov pointed out the importance of the state order system for the training of qualified personnel. “Today the issue of providing skilled workers is one of the most crucial in the country; however, the personnel potential of our region is great. The quality of education is at a high level, despite the events of recent years. The system of state order is introduced for high-quality training of young professionals in the country, by which successful steps have been taken to train qualified personnel in agricultural, mining and energy sectors. It is very important to analyze the needs of production. It will allow more accurate and effective training of qualified personnel for those branches where they are in real need”, - Vladimir Antonov said.

Yevgeny Gorokhov, acting as the Minister of Education and Science of the DPR, noted the role of secondary vocational education organizations in the development of various sectors of the economy of the Republic: “Your role as teachers is very significant. Training of professionals in the field of secondary vocational education has a particular importance, as they constitute the basis in the development of our industry and agriculture. We have already done a lot together. It is necessary for our organizations of secondary vocational education to be the most advanced, the most equipped for integration into the educational space of the Russian Federation. Joint conferences, discussion of topical issues will help to contribute to the fact that the best practices will be available to everyone, regardless of residence and work», - Yevgeny Gorokhov addressed the heads of the educational organizations of secondary vocational education.

Andrey Alekhin, the Director of the Education Department of the Ministry of Education and Science, devoted his speech to the issues of training qualified workers for the development of the national economy of the DPR, problems and prospects of development of secondary vocational education and professional training. Particularly, the difficult issue of the imbalance between supply and demand was touched upon: graduates of the organizations of secondary vocational education of 2018 who received skilled professions were more in demand in labor market (58% were employed), while only 38% of middle-level specialists graduates (for example, in the field of economy, finance, etc.) were able to find a job.

The speaker emphasized that the Ministry of Education and Science has developed a mechanism of interaction with relevant ministries, educational organizations of secondary vocational education, enterprises and customers to solve this problem. In particular, the Ministry of Education and Science develops and approves the List of specialties and professions of secondary vocational education according to which vocational education is carried out for ministries of the Republic. Relevant Ministries send requests on training necessity to the Ministry of Education and Science to formulate admission target figures. They also send the list of the companies willing to accept students for all types of practices. Educational organizations of secondary vocational education conclude agreements on joint activities with enterprises.

During the conference, Dmitry Alfimov, the Director of the Institute of professional education development focused his speech on the personnel potential issues of the system of educational organizations of secondary vocational education. Apart from that, the heads of educational institutions shared their experience, discussed problems and made suggestions.

The conference resulted in a draft resolution, which was introduced to the participants by Mikhail Kushakov, the first Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the DPR. Among the main directions of perspective development of the system of educational organizations of secondary vocational education are improvement of the normative legal base of secondary vocational education; renovation of the material and technical base of educational institutions; revitalization of cooperation of the Ministry of Education and Science with line ministries, educational organizations of secondary vocational education with basic enterprises; expansion of the practice of international cooperation with educational institutions of the Russian Federation; integration of educational organizations of secondary vocational education into the educational system of the Russian Federation.