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November 18, 2009
Alcoa SMZ Takes Part in Public Lesson of Ministry of Education and Science in the Samara Region
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By far not all graduates of colleges, universities and professional schools find their place in the labor market. However, production plants lack working professionals. On November 17, 2009, the first session of Experts Club discussed these issues as part of the Public Lesson project initiated by Ministry of Education and Science of the Samara Region. Alcoa SMZ took part in the discussions represented by Olga Homenko, Deputy Human Resources Director of Alcoa SMZ, and Svetlana Kersova, Talent Manager of Alcoa Russia.
The Public Lesson project targets professional orientation of high school students, it is supported by the Department of Information and Ministry of Education and Science in the Samara Region. The project audience covers high school children and their parents. The project is meant to teach young people to make the right professionаl choice, to draw attention to the professions that are really in demand in the Samara Region, to eliminate the disproportion of the labor market due to abundance of certified unemployed specialists on the one hand and lack of technical specialists on the other hand.
Experts Club was established as part of the project, it included representatives of leading Samara Higher Education Institutions, relevant ministries and departments as well as employers - ZAO Alcoa SMZ (former Samara Metallurgical Plant) is one of them. During their first session the experts discussed how adequate professional primary, secondary and higher professional education would be to the requirements of the labor market in 3-4 years. Ludmila Kondrasheva, Main Specialist of Ministry for Economic Development, remarked that the quality of professional education did not meet the expectations of the market: “Smart workforce will be in demand in metallurgy, aerospace, oil and gas, chemical industry. The professional level of today’s graduates does not meet the needs of the developing real sector”.
Elena Yashina, Director of the Center for Corporate Education in Samara State Economic Academy, offered a solution: “ It is necessary to develop real cooperation between educational institutions and businesses based on the development strategy of the country. State and private sector partnership is the right way to getting the demanded specialists”.
Olga Homenko, Deputy Human Resources Director of Alcoa SMZ, spoke about the need for quality education of specialists in primary and secondary professional levels that are in high demand at technologically advanced production facilities with modern equipment. She also spoke about the necessity to rise prestige of working professions. Svetlana Kersova, Talent Manager of Alcoa Russia, spoke about attracting young talents to Alcoa SMZ. Many speakers emphasized that young people were psychologically unprepared when starting their career at a production site. The project like that one in Alcoa Russia provides both training and production practice based on mentoring and allows young people to go through a multifaceted adaptation.
The experts came to an important conclusion about the necessity of multifaceted professional orientation of young people: class hours, public lessons, open doors at production sites that cover production process, modern equipment and demanded professions.
Being the type of production that had a district with speaking name Metallurg growing around it, Alcoa SMZ has traditionally paid a lot of attention to this field. The plant organizes excursions and practical trainings for students of regional professional schools and universities. In August 2009, despite the economic crisis, the plant launched Young Talents program targeting to attract young specialists to the facility. Besides, Alcoa and Alcoa Foundation have been implementing Technical Education Support Program in the regions where Alcoa Russia operates (Samara Region, Rostov Region and Moscow) partnering with Samara State Aerospace University and Samara Metallurgical School among others.
ZAO Alcoa SMZ (previously – JSC Samara Metallurgical Plant) is Russia’s largest producer of fabricated aluminum (commissioned in July 1960). It manufactures a wide range of flat rolled products, extrusions, and forgings of all aluminum alloys in compliance with international and Russian standards. The plant serves customers in many markets, including aerospace, shipbuilding, oil and gas, packaging, and transportation.
The plant's production and quality control systems have been ISO 9001/9002 certified and its Ecological Management system has been ISO 14001:1996 certified.
About Alcoa
Alcoa is the world leader in the production and management of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina combined, through its active and growing participation in all major aspects of the industry. Alcoa serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation and industrial markets, bringing design, engineering, production and other capabilities of Alcoa's businesses to customers. In addition to aluminum products and components including flat-rolled products, hard alloy extrusions, and forgings, Alcoa also markets Alcoa® wheels, fastening systems, precision and investment castings, and building systems. The Company has 63,000 employees in 31 countries and has been named one of the top most sustainable corporations in the world at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Alcoa first entered Russia in 1993. In 2005 the company acquired two fabricating facilities in Samara and Belaya Kalitva. Since 2005 Alcoa has invested over $750 million to upgrade its Russian facilities.
More information can be found at www.alcoa.com, www.alcoa.ru
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