Author: Elena Turianskaya, HR Director of R-Pharm Group of Companies
R-Pharm’s investments in the development of biopharmaceuticals and the creation of new high-tech industries are closely related to the tasks of training highly qualified specialists with unique skills and competencies. We are convinced that it is necessary to start their search and preparation as early as possible.
Therefore, since 2014, R-Pharm has been implementing Pharmstart, a partnership project with the government of the Yaroslavl region, to popularize natural science disciplines and introduce students to the pharmaceutical industry. Every year, we hold a Regional Pharmaceutical Olympiad and a festival for primary schools. For the last five years, we have been organizing specialized pharmaceutical camps at Smena children’s center, where children work in our laboratory to create dosage forms, conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis. We also cooperate with Sirius Educational Center, Orlyonok All-Russia Children’s Center, regional children’s centers, arranging meetings for children with pharmaceutical industry representatives.
In 2017, our company opened a pharmaceutical class in Yaroslavl Lyceum No. 86. Now there are 3-4 candidates competing for each place: schoolchildren from all over the region try to get there. We are very pleased that every year we see our classes grow in popularity, because school students are getting more and more interested in science, they do not want just a job to earn money: they choose a profession to make a change for other people. The production of medicines is a great way to fullfill this desire.
Students in pharmaceutical classes, along with learning general subjects, carry out research projects in university laboratories of colleges and universities that are partners of the project, meet with R-Pharm experts, and when they come to us, they already understand how things work in pharmaceutical production facilities and what they can do there. Early career guidance plays a very important role.
We are seriously considering expanding the age limits of our programs. Students of grades 10 and 11 pharmaceutical classes, already run activities with younger students, and give classes in the form of a game.
In its colleges, R-Pharm implements the concept of dual (practice-oriented) education. For more than ten years, students of pharmaceutics at N.P. Pastukhov Yaroslavl College of Industry and Economics (YAPEK) have had their on-the-job training at the production facilities of the R-Pharm group, studying the basics of microbiology, biotechnology, analytical chemistry, and GMP. Many students start working at our production facilities as early as in their third or fourth year of studies.
In April this year, R-Pharm and the Yaroslavl region signed an agreement on participation in the all-Russian Professionalitet program. Based on the agreement, an analog of a biotechnological production site will be created at YAPEC, and there students will learn about R-Pharm’s production standards and take an internship.