Russian universities are starting to prepare futurologists

Master’s programmes at Russian universities will start to prepare specialists in working with the future, and the first specialists are expected to graduate in the next five years, said Nina Yanykina, Rector of the University of the National Technological Initiative 2035.

She noted that many countries have now launched master’s programmes specialising in futurology (Future Studies). These programmes train specialists who work professionally with the future: they know how to build long-term development strategies and assess the prospects of projects, technologies and phenomena.

In her view, a corresponding educational standard will appear in Russia as well, since the demand for such specialists from business, the education system and the state administration is actively growing.

“In order to implement the master’s degree project, subjects, courses and electives on working with the future must first appear in universities. And most importantly, specialists who can adopt the practice in their universities… The first specialists in working with the future will already appear in the next five years,” she said.

According to Mrs. Yanykina, this is one of the areas that will be most in demand in the coming years, so universities should already be focusing on training such personnel.

“Specialists will monitor emerging trends in different sectors of the economy, social life, politics and culture and report on the impact of new trends on clients’ needs. Gradually, the ability to work with images of the future will become a universal skill for all managers,” noted the expert.

Mrs. Yanykina is confident that the skills will primarily be needed for those professionals who work directly or indirectly with the future: development directors to work with scenarios of the company’s future, engineers to design a new solution, scientists to shape the vision of new areas, industries, and markets.

The university added that training for regional university teams planning to launch master’s programmes in such areas has already started at the workshop “Archipelago 2121” in Veliky Novgorod.