ON THE EXPERIENCE OF TRAINING ENGINEERS—PRODUCTION ORGANIZERS FROM AMONG STUDENTS USING THE CYCLE SYSTEM 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 24th 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 who are organizers of production at all levels and, first of all, in the fields of Marxist-Leninist economic theory, the theory and practice of management, the scientific organization of labor, new methods of planning and economic stimulation, 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 the technology of this production at its modern 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 modern production, which is a very complex system—even on the scale of a single enterprise—general professional education, even higher education, is no longer sufficient. The future commander of production must possess knowledge and certain skills in the fields of management, psychology, sociology, economics, and working with people. Moreover, personal abilities and talent serve only as a guarantee that a person can become a specialist in management and organization; but for this he must undergo systematic training. Therefore it is advisable to begin preparing the future production manager in the field of management while still at the higher educational institution, from among the students.

For this purpose, as an experiment of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the RSFSR, in 1968 a study was begun of a cycle system for training engineers in the organization and management of industrial production. By order of the minister dated March 11, 1968, a 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 system that provides for:

1st cycle—selection of students who have successfully completed the first two years of a technical higher educational institution and have shown an aptitude and inclination for organizational work;

2nd cycle—3.5 years of full-time study, ending with the issuance of a diploma of graduation from a higher educational institution with the award of the qualification of mechanical engineer in machine-building technology, metal-cutting machine tools, and tools, with specialization in production organization;

3rd cycle—two years of practical work at an industrial enterprise, with continued study according to a special program developed by the faculty;

4th cycle—10 months of full-time study at the faculty, ending with the graduate being awarded the qualification “Engineer in the Organization and Management of Industrial Production” and the issuance of a second diploma.

The first cycle is carried out as follows: a candidate submitting an application for admission to the faculty is asked to fill out two questionnaires (one is filled out personally by the candidate, and the second by the public organizations of the group and faculty) and to answer a number of tests. In the course of the interview and examination of the candidate’s documents, a table is filled in containing information on a number of indicators: grade-point average based on academic performance over two years of study, public work, work experience before entering the institute, athletic achievements, etc. Each of these indicators is assigned a weighting coefficient, established by an expert method, reflecting the importance of its quantitative characteristics for making the decision on enrollment in the faculty.

Experience with the use of this system at TPI makes it possible to draw positive conclusions about the expediency of its application. Thus, at the faculty at present, with 100% absolute academic success, one fourth of the institute’s Lenin scholarship holders are enrolled; about 80% of the students have no grades of “satisfactory,” more than 30% are excellent students, almost half of the faculty’s students are engaged in public work at the institute and faculty level, and 80% are engaged in research work.

Whereas in the first year of the faculty’s work student admission was carried out mainly from among the institute’s own contingent, this year the geography of admission to the faculty has been significantly expanded. Students have come to us from Krasnoyarsk, Perm, Kuibyshev, and other cities.

The training of specialists in the management and organization of industrial production in the second cycle is carried out on the basis of the specialty 0501 already operating at TPI—machine-building technology, metal-cutting machine tools and tools. By order of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the RSFSR, a special commission consisting of representatives of a number of higher educational institutions developed individual curricula. The plans developed were reviewed and approved by a number of interested ministries and organizations (the Ministry of the Machine-Tool and Tool Industry of the USSR, the Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School, and the institute “Orgstankinprom”). Specialty 0501 was chosen as the basis of training not by chance, since it gives future specialists a broad professional outlook in the field of production processes at machine-building and instrument-making enterprises, which form the basis of our industry. In drawing up the new individual plans, the number and scope of technical courses contained in the basic curriculum underwent almost no changes.

...of disciplines. But along with them, the curricula for the specialization “production organizer” included new courses that make it possible for students, in the course of their studies, to acquire the knowledge needed by the manager of modern production. Such new courses were introduced as scientific organization of labor, work standards and wages—80 hours; engineering economics—97 hours; fundamentals of scientific production management—68 hours; plant cost accounting and organization of the standards-based economy—48 hours; analysis of production and economic activity—60 hours; fundamentals of labor and civil law—70 hours; engineering and social psychology—64 hours; and a number of other organizational and economic disciplines. The specialization curriculum also includes disciplines providing for the study of economic-mathematical methods, means of mechanization and automation for processing operational information, computer technology used in economic calculations, and automated control systems. At the same time, the share of practical and laboratory classes is being significantly increased in the overall volume of instruction.

In addition to classroom studies, the institute’s curricula for the fourth and fifth years provide days for conducting educational-research and scientific-research work directly at the city’s industrial enterprises (active teaching methods). The essence of these methods is that, already in the third year, newly enrolled students are offered the opportunity to choose one of the scientific directions in which the department’s instructors who conduct the educational process for this specialization are working, and to carry out research in the chosen direction at one of the city’s plants or research institutes. As a rule, the students’ diploma work is also carried out in this same scientific direction. This type of instruction makes it possible to become more deeply acquainted with the work of industrial enterprises and to assimilate theoretical material more effectively, as well as to acquire skills in independently solving organizational and economic problems. The results of the research work carried out are then reported by the students at meetings of the technical councils of enterprises, as well as at annual student conferences. In comparison with the usual curricula of specialty 0501, the volume of organizational and economic courses for students of this specialization has been increased by more than 3 times (approximately 1,100 hours versus 300).

The experimental nature of training engineers—production organizers—beginning on the student bench allows us to adjust the curricula with sufficient flexibility. Thus, the number of hours allocated to the study of individual disciplines changes, their sequence changes, and new courses are introduced.

In 1972, the first graduation of engineers in specialty 0501 with the specialization of production organizer took place; that is, the second cycle of training was completed. The diploma projects and papers completed by the students on specific assignments from Tomsk industrial enterprises received fairly high marks 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 Tomsk plant “Sibelektromotor” requested all six projects carried out on its topics for further refinement and implementation at the enterprise. All graduates were assigned to work at leading enterprises of the country and the city (KAMAZ; VAZ; GAZ, etc.).

However perfect the system of training engineers—production organizers in the second cycle may be considered, it cannot be assumed 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 among line personnel without having gone through the school of industrial experience and without continuing further study. Therefore, after completion of the full-time form of study in the second cycle, graduates are enrolled in correspondence study at the same faculty for a period of 2 years—the third cycle of study. At this stage of study, in the course of the faculty student’s direct contact with production, instruction is carried out according to individual plans and programs developed by the faculty. This instruction must have the character of scientific research work, the subject matter of which is oriented toward solving concrete problems arising in the specialist’s work.

Students who have an education in a whole range of specialties in the group of machine building and instrument making, but who did not receive substantial organizational and economic training during their study at the higher educational institution, may also be enrolled in this same cycle of study. At present, 22 students have been enrolled for further study in the third cycle. Of these, 21 students are the first graduates of this faculty. The department has developed programs in all disciplines of the curriculum of the third cycle and is developing individual assignments for the students. The development of these individual assignments naturally entails certain difficulties.

After studying in the correspondence form for 2 years and acquiring production skills, the faculty students will be prepared for a further raising of their theoretical level in matters of management and organization of production, after which they may be used at higher managerial levels of the line or functional management apparatus. To this end, students who have successfully completed the correspondence period of study at the faculty and have distinguished themselves positively in organizational work, upon being summoned by TPI, must be sent by ministries and agencies, enterprises and organizations to complete their study in the full-time form at the faculty for a period of 10 months—the fourth cycle of study, with the issuance of a second diploma. The referral for study must indicate the intended position in which the specialist is to be used after completing the fourth cycle of study. This is necessary for a clearer individualization of the educational process. In this cycle of study they receive additional knowledge on the latest achievements of science and advanced practice as applied to those functions toward which the specialist sent for study is oriented, and they carry out, in the previously chosen field, a diploma work or a project of a scientific character using the theoretical and practical knowledge acquired in the process of study and work in production. Students who complete the fourth cycle of study at the indicated faculty are to be issued a second diploma with the qualification “Engineer in Management and Organization of Industrial Production.”

The experience of admitting and training students at the Faculty of Management and Organization of Industrial Production at TPI has shown that this faculty, which entails increased difficulty in instruction (a more intensive program, an extended period of study, the need for individual work with students, the creation of modern laboratories with broad use of computing and organizational equipment, the use of the production base in the educational process, and the development of a large quantity of methodological and instructional documentation), requires certain material benefits (an increase in the amount of the stipend, the establishment of a smaller calculated number of students per

one instructor). Nor has the question of the legal formalization of the faculty been resolved: to date, the regulations on the faculty have not been approved, although the faculty has already been operating for its fifth year. For the high-quality conduct of the educational process, and especially of the 3rd and 4th cycles of instruction, there is an urgent need to construct an academic building equipped with modern computer and organizational-technology facilities and with the newest teaching aids.

In view of the fact that the need for specialists of this profile is very great, it is already necessary to consider and decide on the possibility of admitting students to the first year (especially through targeted scholarship students sent by industrial enterprises to study at higher educational institutions), the possibility of opening evening instruction for specialists who have higher education, as well as for those who do not have higher education and are working at the city’s industrial enterprises. The inquiries made by the department to a number of the city’s industrial enterprises showed that there is great interest among managers in the training of line personnel at all levels of management.