Articles

Actual Problems of Training and Demand for Commodity Experts in the Labor Market

Authors:

Maria A. Nikolaeva, Oksana V. Evdokimova, Tamara N. Ivanova

Abstract:

The article aims at identifying current problems of the commodity experts training, their demand in the labor market and determining ways to solve these problems. A man analyzed 3-5-year data on the admission, graduation and employment of bachelor graduates in the field of commodity science in three universities: the Russian University of Economics named after Georgiy V. Plekhanov (RUE, Moscow), Ural State University of Economics (USUE, Ekaterinburg), Oryol State University named after Ivan S. Turgenev (OSU, Oryol). As a result, there is a tendency to the student number reduction in the Commodity Science training program. The authors determined the reasons for this fall. The actual modern problems of commodity training program development are: 1) low demand on the commodity experts in the labor market despite the increase in the share of counterfeit, including low quality, and fake goods in trade; 2) discrepancy of the training program 38.03.07 “Сommodity Science”, included in the extended group of economic sciences, to the technological features run by commodity experts, and expert expertise functions of the expert organizations; 3) incompliance of the higher-educational training program “Commodity Science” to the entitle of science degree 05.18.15 “Technology and Commodity Science of Food Products of Functional and Specialized Purpose and Public Catering”; 4) difference between the entitle of higher-educational training program 38.03.07 “Commodity Science” and secondary-educational training program 38.02.05 “Commodity Science and Quality Expertise of Consumer Goods” that does not meet the requ§irements the higher education and secondary vocational education, and also violates the principle of education continuity during the transition from the lowest education level to the highest; 5) absence of a science degree on commodity non-food products that may soon lead to the shortage of lecturer with advanced degrees in this specialty; 6) decline in the classroom share, including laboratory and practical classes, which shortage cannot be filled by self-study of educational and scientific literature; 7) failure of innovative approaches introduction o the modernization of the educational information content in the commodity research cycle
disciplines, as well as related disciplines and methods of teaching; 8) lack of professional standards in the specialty “Сommodity Science.” The researchers outlined and justified ways of solving these problems.

Keywords:

commodity research; education; commodity manager; commodity expert; employment opportunity; labour market

For citation: Maria A. Nikolaeva, Oksana V. Evdokimova, Tamara N. Ivanova. Actual Problems of Training and Demand for Commodity Experts in the Labor Market. Индустрия питания|Food Industry. 2020. Vol. 5, No. 1. Pp. 71–80. DOI: 10.29141/2500-1922-2020-5-1-9