The Stavropol State Agrarian University has launched the first joint educational program «Agrokurs» with agribusiness, aimed at early career guidance for schoolchildren aged 15 to 17 years. Scientific and pedagogical staff of the Institute of Secondary Vocational Education of the SSAU worked on its assembly together with a strategic partner — LLC Agrofirma Zolotaya Niva.

The key task of the Agrocourse program is to help consciously choose a future profession while still in the middle classes. In order to reveal interest in agricultural specialties, schoolchildren are immersed in production cycles in an interactive form, allowing them to see the main processes of agribusiness from the inside. Thanks to this approach, employers and teachers can assess their predisposition to different areas of agriculture from an early age, identify mechanisms for maximizing their potential and offer a unique trajectory of personal development. All this will make it possible to prepare and educate a high-quality specialist for the needs of the agro-industrial complex.

— This year we have completely revised the system and principles of conducting career guidance work. They should be based not only on the responsibility of the university, but also on the responsibility of the school, the head of the municipality and the heads of agricultural enterprises. Today we face a common triune task of educating and training motivated personnel for the agro—industrial sector, — commented the Rector of the SSAU Vladimir Sitnikov.

During the year, students of «Agrokurs» will attend lectures, seminars, as well as consultations, practical and laboratory classes. The pilot lesson was held on the basis of the agricultural firm «Zolotaya Niva». Many of the schoolchildren visited the current for the first time, saw live the work of the grain cleaning separator and got acquainted in detail with the agricultural machinery on which the sowing of winter crops is carried out.