ABOUT TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION OF A PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER

The paper researches a complex problem of training professional engineers in the conditions of the Russian two-level system of higher education, and their certification in government or public vocational structures. The problem is that unlike foreign countries modern Russia does not have the institute of professional engineers, who could modernize economy of the region, of the entire country, and ensure its competitiveness on the global level. Therefore, the aim of the work is to identify the reasons and define the basic conditions that can provide the opportunities for training professional engineers for the Russian industry at the present stage of development of higher education. The paper provides a brief analysis of the Soviet system of training engineers and the current training system in the majority of Russian technical universities. The work presents the basic problems and main disadvantages of the system of higher professional education and estimates the degree of development of vocational communities that can critically evaluate and influence the content of educational programs of universities. The authors provide a solution to the problem of training professional engineers in the Volga region and in Russia as a whole, which includes, firstly, creation and implementation of competence-based model of training students of technical engineering programs based on integrated requirements of FSES and representatives of the employers; secondly, establishing a clear system of public vocational accreditation of engineering educational programs; thirdly, creation of the all-Russian system of certification and registration of professional engineers by public vocational organizations.