The President has repeatedly spoken about the need to ensure the country's technological sovereignty — this is a direct path to economic stability in relation to external challenges. However, many high-tech companies have begun to face an acute shortage of personnel with the skills needed to fill the vacancies. This means that the problem needs to be solved systematically — starting with schools, secondary specialized institutions and, of course, universities. A recently emerged initiative, which has been talked about by the management of large companies and universities, can help not only improve the quality of higher education, but also attract young professionals.
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According to the MK source, Russia is experiencing a 10-year period of demographic decline in youth employment in the labor market. For example, compared to the previous 20 years, this decrease is, according to various estimates, about 30%. This problem is aggravated by the emigration outflow of young specialists in demand in the global economy and the drain of intellectual capital.
“Contrary to all the frightening forecasts, we can say that a significant part of those who left returned to Russia, including thanks to the tax and labor policies being undertaken. For example, some returnees faced the risk of losing their tax residency and their personal income tax would turn from 13-15% to 30%. Some of the returnees noted a lower standard of living (for example, in neighboring countries) compared to Russia, as well as the inability to find a job with decent working conditions. It should be noted that a considerable part of our compatriots, creative and talented personnel, continue to remain abroad,” – said the head of the Center for Youth Initiatives, Alexander Vaino.
This means that even taking into account the return influx of personnel into the country, the problem of a shortage of skilled labor has not disappeared. In the long term, this leads to a sharp increase in competition for personnel with high and even adequate professional competencies, including yesterday’s university graduates.
This challenge is especially relevant for Moscow, because Moscow has always been a place of attraction for the strongest graduates. For them Moscow – it is a city of opportunity, which has the best universities and the widest range of employers – both from business and from the state.
At the same time, it is from Moscow that the most intensified and accelerated brain drain is observed. That is why it is important for metropolitan employers to start “growing” of their employees from the moment of their training.
There is already a similar experience in Russia. Today, a solution has been created in the country to reform the vocational training system. It was developed by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and received the most active support from business. We are talking about the federal project “Professionality”, which creates an effective model of interaction between the state and business.
Perhaps the idea and mechanism of the “Professionality” program should be extended to universities, not just colleges? By and large, this is a targeted allocation by the state of funds from tax revenues to the personnel training system, and targeted – where the educational institution has a partner who will help effectively achieve these goals. The most large-scale and positive effect from this can be obtained if Moscow decides to take such a step, since everything “converges” here. – largest employers and first choice universities.
Therefore, behind the scenes, the leadership of both universities and large companies started talking about introducing an investment tax deduction program in the capital, which would help stimulate companies’ investments in higher education for their future employees. A similar regional law is in force in St. Petersburg.
Thus, in accordance with the amendments introduced by Law No. 143-27 dated March 29, 2023 “On Amendments to the Law of St. Petersburg “On Tax Benefits”, the right to apply the investment tax deduction established in Article 286.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation is granted to organizations , registered for tax purposes in St. Petersburg in relation to movable property transferred free of charge to educational organizations implementing basic educational programs that have state accreditation.
A reasonable question arises: why not introduce an appropriate mechanism for financial incentives for education in Moscow, where a large number of universities are concentrated? Grant the right to apply an investment tax deduction to organizations registered with tax authorities in Moscow in relation to any movable property, including cash; Based on the experience of the Northern capital, establish the amount of the deduction at 100% of the amount of expenses in the form of the value of movable property donated to educational organizations, expanding it to include cash.
“Tax deduction for businesses that are ready to invest in higher education institutions – this is a definite boon for universities. Since any funds that come to the university are ultimately converted into the quality of education, if… the basic processes at the university itself are correctly configured. Namely education, research and innovation,” – commented the first rector of the Moscow School of Management «Skolkovo» Andrey Volkov.
According to the rector of the Central University Evgeniy Ivashkevich, the idea of bringing universities and future employers closer together through direct financial incentives for their interaction, through tax deductions – very promising.
“Indeed, a company that invests its resources in training its future employees will have a different attitude towards the education process, will be more deeply involved in this process and will demand the necessary quality of training. Actually, this idea is not new and has already been tested in regions where regional companies are directly interested in training personnel in technical schools and colleges. The success of this program to support secondary vocational education at the regional level allows us to count on the success of a similar program for higher education institutions, perhaps not even at the regional, but at the federal level,” – Ivashkevich said.
«Creating targeted places from business for young people, of course, will make it possible to reorient young people towards IT and engineering professions. In this case, young people will be more conscious about their profession, shaping their educational and career trajectory in advance, and universities will receive an additional influx of investment, which will attract even more young people and create additional opportunities for them,” – Vaino believes.