VIC Group: business investing to solve the shortage of veterinary specialists for the agro-industrial sector company's investments in solving the problem of shortage of veterinary specialists for the agro-industrial sector
The All-Russian Congress on Veterinary Education was held in Moscow from April 13 to 15 with the support of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Enlightenment of the Russian Federation. The event was organized by the President of the Russian Small Animal Veterinary Association S.V. Sereda and the Principal of the K.I. Scriabin International Veterinary Academy S.V. Pozyabin. The event was attended by Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation A.A.Fursenko, Deputy Minister of Agriculture M.I. Uvaydov, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences I.M. Donnik, the Veterinary Department Director of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture M.V. Novikova, representatives of leading veterinary and agricultural universities of the country, large agricultural holdings and veterinary pharmaceuticals business.
The VIC Group - the No. 1 manufacturer of veterinary medicines in the CIS, which is among the TOP 21 veterinary companies in the world, - was presented by Executive Director Sergey Kaspariants.
The Head of the VIC Group noted that the entire agro-industrial complex in Russia is experiencing a labor shortage, and almost 5,000 graduates per year are not covering the market needs for qualified veterinarians. The same situation has developed both in the VIC company and its key clients – agricultural holdings.
This was caused by the prevailing opinion of the lowly occupations in the agricultural sector, as well as the lack of the relevant specialists in the field. However, the salaries level at the manufacturing enterprises is significantly higher than in veterinary clinics, and the country's agricultural sector is at the state-of-the-art level (30 companies producing more than 80% of animal protein in the Russian Federation are modern, advanced enterprises). Moreover, Russia ranks the 5th in poultry and pork, the 2nd in turkey and the 6th in eggs production in the world.
To eliminate the staffing problem, VIC Group is investing in training of future veterinarians. The company participates in advanced training courses for specialists, organizes lectures for students with the focus on hands-on experience, equips classrooms at universities and veterinary colleges with interactive panels, stands, conducts seminars both in the course of training and as part of vocational counselling, delivers tours around production sites and logistics center, organizes internship programs for students, provides veterinary drugs for scientific research.
"Another promising area of our efforts in encouraging students and young scientists for innovative work, since now we need to look for innovations domestically already", - added Sergey Kaspariants.
The participants of the All-Russian Congress on Veterinary Education emphasized that the higher education system should meet the industry level requirements and the needs of manufacturers. Proposals were made to create a new system of continuous veterinary education, postgraduate advance vocational training in agriculture, the introduction of internship and residency as the basis for the development of highly specialized veterinarians and paying special attention to hands-on training of future veterinarians at the agro-industrial enterprises.