Dorogobuzh to invest RUB 35 million in chemical education cluster

Dorogobuzh (a member of Acron Group) has signed a partnership agreement with the Smolensk region administration, the Smolensk region Ministry of Science and Education, and local institutions of secondary vocational education to create and develop an education and production cluster in the region. The chemical cluster project has passed a competitive selection for the federal Professionalitet programme and received a grant from the Russian Ministry of Education. The cluster will open at the Verkhnedneprovsk Technological College (VTC) in 2025, with key financial support from Dorogobuzh.

The project investment will amount to RUB 150 million, including RUB 100 million from the federal budget, RUB 35 million from Dorogobuzh, and RUB 15 million from the Smolensk region administration. The funds will be allocated to major repairs and modern classroom equipment, retraining programmes for teachers and instructors. Dorogobuzh has already funded the design estimate prepared by Acron Engineering Research and Design Centre for the VTC building renovation.

‘The education and production cluster will be a breakthrough in training highly qualified personnel for the local chemical industry’, said Executive Director of Dorogobuzh Roman Dmitriev. ‘The colleges and technical schools of the cluster will train young specialists for degrees such as chemical compounds engineering, equipment installation, maintenance, operation and repair, IT and software engineering, power plant and power line maintenance, and welding. The project will improve the local situation with the most sought-after skills in the chemical industry’.

According to Governor of Smolensk region Vasily Anokhin, with new participants joining the Professionalitet programme as part of the Education Development project, educational institutions will see modern educational environments that are as close as possible to real operations. By 2025, more than 5,400 students will be trained in all five educational clusters of Smolensk region: construction, mechanical engineering, medicine, chemistry, and agriculture.

‘We are making every effort to attract more specialists to our key industries and encourage local young people to work towards a promising career in Smolensk region. I would like to thank Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov and the local chemical and agricultural companies for their support. Without their active participation, it would be impossible for our projects to succeed in a competitive selection’, said Anokhin.