I. Metshin: «Today we are returning to old but effective career guidance practices»

The Mayor of Kazan visited the production and training facility at the Kazan Helicopter Plant, designed for 800 schoolchildren

A modern production and training facility has been established at the Kazan Helicopter Plant of the Russian Helicopters Holding Company (Rostec State Corporation), which has become a key platform for career guidance classes. To date, about 800 schoolchildren practice their working professions. This is almost half of all students in vocational training programs in the city. Nikolai Yakovlev, General Director of the Kazan Helicopter Plant, acquainted the Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin with the capabilities of the facility.

«Historically, Soviet industry has been based on vocational education, and it served as the foundation for career choice. Today, we were very impressed with what we saw at the production and training facility. Advanced technologies are used in the educational process here. I think this is one of the few such centers not only in Tatarstan and Kazan, but also in the country. Today, the lack of personnel is one of the most serious challenges for the industry: chemistry, petrochemistry, oil refining, and mechanical engineering. And the fact that the Kazan Helicopter Plant does not have this problem is the result of systematic work and the work of such training center», – said Ilsur Metshin.

The center was established in 2024 in a partnership between Tatarstan, Rostec State Corporation and Russian Helicopters Holding Company. The project is unique for Russia. Rostec's federal network of production and training facilities covers other cities such as Ufa and Moscow, while Kazan training center focuses on the work with schoolchildren.

The production and training center is a large facility with an area of more than 16,700 square meters. Its main feature is the full immersion format. There are no typical classrooms here: the space is designed so that lectures takes only 30% of the time, the rest is practice on real equipment. The training is as close as possible to the conditions of real production.

The educational process is given for children from the 7th grade. The program lasts 108 academic hours, and all classes are held after school hours. Last year, the center graduated 200 students, this year 757 students are already enrolled. In April, students from 10 more schools will join the training and there will be 800 students.

The center includes 15 production sites, 12 laboratories and 21 classrooms. Real aviation equipment is used in the educational process. The Mi-8 and Ansat helicopters, which are based at the center, allow schoolchildren to study the design and operation of machines.