ASU Competence Development Centre Will Train Key Researchers

Head of the centre Elena Borisova presented information on the mission, functions and action plans of the unit, created at Astrakhan State University in late 2020 within the Department of Continuing Education.

The precondition for creating the Competence Development Centre was implementation of the priority tasks and main provisions of national project “Science”, according to which an integral system of training and personal and professional growth of the scientific, pedagogical, and managerial staff should be formed. It will provide conditions for creation and efficient functioning of competitive teams and project teams aimed at carrying out scientific research, creating innovative products and solutions, and commercializing the results of scientific activities.

The mission of the ASU Competence Development Centre is to develop and implement individual career paths based on a holistic approach to the evaluation and targeting of the professional and managerial competencies of scientific leaders, leaders of advanced research and educational projects.

To fully launch the Principal Investigator training programme, it is necessary to select participants through sociological monitoring. Next comes the assessment of the level of proficiency in the necessary skills, including sets of cases, test tasks and formats for expert assessment. In addition, to build a competence profile, it is necessary to assess soft skills using psychodiagnostic tools.

At the next stage, it is planned to implement eight educational modules, each of which is focused on the development of certain competencies and is an independent advanced training programme.

During the entire educational stage, participants will work on individual projects: they will develop initiatives from an idea to a grant application, start-up or research laboratory project. The training will finish with a public presentation of projects, the results of which will help identify scientific leaders and select promising projects for participation in grant programmes and competitions.