ON THE EXPERIENCE OF CYCLE-BASED TRAINING OF ENGINEERS—ORGANIZERS OF PRODUCTION FROM AMONG STUDENTS AT TOMSK POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

G. V. SIMONOV, G. G. KONSTANTINOV

(Presented by the scientific seminar of the Department of Industrial Economics and Enterprise Organization)

The XXIV Congress of the CPSU set before the country’s higher educational institutions the task of consistently expanding and steadily improving the system of training and retraining personnel—organizers of production at all levels, and first of all in the field of Marxist-Leninist economic theory, the theory and practice of management, the scientific organization of labor, new methods of planning and economic incentives, and the application of economic-mathematical methods and modern computing technology. The solution of this task lies along the path of an organic combination of engineering and organizational-economic education. “In order to manage,” said V. I. Lenin, “one must be competent; one must know fully and precisely all the conditions of production; one must know the technology of this production at its present level; one must have a certain scientific education. These are the conditions which we must satisfy at all costs.”

Domestic experience and the experience of foreign countries increasingly confirm that, for the management of a modern complex economy, even on the scale of a single enterprise, a general professional education—even a higher one—is no longer sufficient. The future production commander must possess knowledge and certain skills in the field of management, psychology, sociology, economics, and work with people. Moreover, personal abilities and talent serve only as a pledge that a person can become a specialist in management and organization; for this, however, he must undergo thorough, systematic training. Therefore it is advisable to begin preparing the future manager of production in the field of management while still in the higher educational institution, from among the students.

To this end, as an experiment of the Ministry of Higher Education and the Council for the Coordination of Scientific Research of the RSFSR, in 1968 a study was begun of a cycle-based system for training engineers in the organization and management of industrial production. By order of the minister of March 11, 1968, the Faculty of Management and Organization of Industrial Production was organized at Tomsk Polytechnic Institute.

The training of engineers in the organization and management of industrial production at TPI is carried out according to a cycle-based system, which provides for:

Cycle I—the selection of students who have successfully completed the first two years of study at the higher educational institution and who have shown ability and inclination for organizational work;

Cycle II—3.5 years of full-time study, completed with the issuance of a diploma certifying graduation from a higher educational institution;

Cycle III—two years of practical work at an industrial enterprise, with continued study under a special program developed by the faculty;

Cycle IV—10 months of full-time study at the faculty, concluding with the graduate’s being awarded the qualification “Academic Engineer in the Organization and Management of Industrial Production,” with the issuance of a second diploma, which grants the right to defend a candidate-of-sciences dissertation without taking the candidate-minimum examinations.

Cycle I is carried out as follows: a candidate who submits an application for admission to the faculty is asked to fill out two questionnaires (one is filled out personally by the candidate, and the other by the public organizations of the group and the faculty) and to answer a number of tests. In the course of an interview and examination of the candidate’s documents, a table is filled in containing information on a number of indicators: the average grade based on academic performance over two years of study; public work, in points; length of work experience before entering the institute; athletic achievements, in points, etc. Each of the indicators is assigned a weighting coefficient, established by the expert method, reflecting the importance of each of the quantitative characteristics for deciding the question of admission to the faculty.

Experience in using this system at TPI makes it possible to draw positive conclusions about the advisability of its application. Thus, at the faculty at present, with 100% absolute academic success, 1/4 of the institute’s Lenin scholarship holders are enrolled; 75–80% of the students have no “satisfactory” grades; 25–35% are excellent students; 45% of the students are engaged in public work at the institute and faculty level; and 80% are engaged in scientific-research work.

Students from almost all higher educational institutions of the city of Tomsk and from a number of higher educational institutions in the country take part in the competitive selection.

The training of specialists in the management and organization of industrial production is carried out on the basis of the specializations operating at TPI: 0501—technology of machine building, metal-cutting machines and tools, with the specialization “Organization of Production,” and 0647—applied mathematics, with the specialization “Research on Production Operations.”

By instruction of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education, a special commission developed individual curricula, which were reviewed and approved by a number of interested ministries and organizations (the USSR Ministry of the Machine-Tool and Tool Industry, Bauman MVTU, and the “Orgstankinprom” Institute).

These specializations were taken as the basis not by chance. One of the oldest specializations—0501—gives future specialists a broad professional outlook in the field of the production processes of machine-building and instrument-making enterprises, which form the foundation of our industry.

In the curriculum of the specialization—organization of production—along with technical disciplines, new courses have been included that enable the faculty’s students, while still in the course of their studies, to acquire the knowledge needed by the manager of modern production. Thus, for example, the volume of organizational-economic disciplines has been increased from 300 hours (for machine-building technologists) to 1,100 hours. Such new courses have been introduced as scientific organization of labor, work standards and wages, engineering economics, cost accounting, analysis of production and economic activity, fundamentals of labor and civil law, engineering and social

psychology, and a number of other disciplines. The curriculum of the specialization also includes disciplines that provide for the study of economic-mathematical methods, means of mechanization and automation for the processing of operational information, computer technology used in economic calculations, and automated control systems. At the same time, within the overall volume of instruction, the share of practical and laboratory classes increases significantly. In addition to classroom studies at the institute, the curricula include, within the budget of study time (36 hours per week), UIRS and NIRS, i.e., educational-research and scientific-research work carried out directly at industrial enterprises (active teaching methods). The essence of these methods is that, as early as the third year, newly admitted students are offered the opportunity to choose one of the scientific directions in which the department’s instructors work, and then to conduct research in the chosen direction at one of the city’s machine-building plants. As a rule, the diploma project is also carried out in this same scientific direction. This type of instruction enables students to become more deeply acquainted with the work of industrial enterprises and to master the theoretical material more effectively, as well as to acquire skills in independently solving organizational and economic problems. The results of the research work conducted are presented by students at the technical councils of plants, as well as at annual student conferences.

In view of the experimental nature of the system for training production-organization engineers from among students, we have to adjust the curricula annually. Thus, the number of hours allocated to individual disciplines changes, their sequence changes, and new disciplines are introduced.

In 1972 the first graduation of engineers in specialty 0501 with a specialization as production organizers took place, i.e., Cycle II of instruction was completed.

The diploma projects received sufficiently high evaluations from the State Examination Commission. Their effectiveness and relevance may be characterized by the fact that 24 of the 25 projects defended were recognized as real and 23 were recommended for implementation. The management of the Sibelektromotor plant requested all six projects carried out and defended on topics related to it for further refinement and implementation at the enterprise. All graduates were assigned to leading enterprises of the country and the city (KamAZ; GAZ; VAZ, etc.).

However perfect a system of instruction may be, one cannot assume that yesterday’s students who have completed the Faculty of Management and Organization of Industrial Production will be able to work successfully in managerial positions in industrial production without passing through the school of industrial experience. Therefore, after completing the full-time form of study (Cycle II), and in order to continue training under conditions of close interaction between production and the higher educational institution, graduates of this faculty should be enrolled in correspondence study for a period of 2 years (Cycle III). At this stage of instruction, in the course of the faculty student’s direct contact with production, training is carried out according to individual plans and programs developed by the faculty. This training has the character of scientific-research work, the subject matter of which is oriented toward solving specific problems arising in the course of the specialist’s work.

Students who have higher education in a number of specialties in the machine-building and instrument-making group, but who did not receive significant organizational-economic training during their period of study, may also be enrolled in this same cycle of instruction.

At present, 22 trainees have been enrolled for further study in the third cycle. Of these, 21 are the faculty’s first graduates. The department has developed programs for all disciplines of the third-cycle curriculum and is developing individual assignments for the trainees. The development of these individual assignments naturally entails certain difficulties.

After studying for two years by correspondence and acquiring production skills, the faculty’s trainees will be prepared for a further rise in their theoretical level in matters of management and organization of production, after which they may be used in managerial posts in industry. To this end, trainees who have successfully completed the correspondence period of study at the faculty and have shown themselves positively in organizational work, upon TPI’s request, should be sent by ministries and departments, enterprises and organizations to complete their studies full-time at the faculty for a period of 10 months (cycle IV). The referral for study should tentatively indicate the expected place (position) in which the specialist will be used after completing the fourth cycle of training.

At the faculty they receive additional knowledge of the latest achievements of science and advanced experience as applied to those functions for which the specialist sent for training is being oriented, and they carry out, in a previously selected field, a diploma paper (project) of a scientific nature, using the theoretical and practical knowledge acquired in the course of study and work in production.

Trainees who have completed the full cycle of study at the indicated faculty are to be issued a second diploma with the qualification “Academic Engineer in Management and Organization of Industrial Production.”

The experience of recruiting and training students at the Faculty of Management and Organization of Industrial Production at TPI has shown that this faculty, whose training is more demanding (a more intensive program, a longer period of study, the need for individual work with each student, the creation of modern laboratories with broad use of computer technology and organizational equipment, and the development of methodological documentation), requires certain material benefits (an increase in the stipend amount, the establishment of a lower teaching-load coefficient for instructors). The question of the legal formalization of the faculty has also not been resolved. To date, the regulations on the faculty have still not been approved, although the faculty has already existed for five years.

For the Faculty of Management and Organization of Industrial Production, it is necessary to construct an instructional building equipped with modern means of organizational equipment, the latest teaching aids, and computers, as well as to build a student dormitory.

To determine the approximate need for engineers—production organizers—the department sent letters of inquiry to 20 enterprises of the Union. So far the department has received replies from 8 enterprises. Each of the enterprises that replied asks to be sent at least five specialists of this profile annually.

In addition, there are also a number of independent applications from enterprises for specialists of this profile. Thus, the broad interest of industry in production organizers is confirmed.