The roundtable panel discussion “Applied skills for the Arctic” – ARCTICSKILLS was held in Saint-Petersburg on September 12 within the framework of UArctic Congress.
With support of the Ministry of Vocational Education of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), the roundtable was moderated by the executive director of the Northern Forum – Mikhail Pogodaev.
The project aims to build capacity in local societies of the Arctic and to enhance the role of working professions, which are necessary for Arctic economy. There is a need to develop regional standards for personnel training inthe Arctic, in accordance with international standards, and at the same time taking into account features of Northern regions.
The panelists included:
- Lars Kullerud, UArctic President;
- Mikhail Prisyazhnyi, Minister of Vocational Education of Sakha Republic (Yakutia);
- Kirsi Latola, the Director of UArctic Thematic Networks;
- Alexandra Kekkonen, PhD in Economics, Senior Research Fellow of the Budget Monitoring Center, Petrozavodsk State University;
- Evgeniya Markovskaya, Petrozavodsk State University;
- Vera Cherkasova, PhD in Education, Head of Taymyr College;
- Svein Mathiesen, Professor, the Head of the UArctic EALÁT Institute, International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry, Norway;
- Lyudmila Gashilova, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, the Head of the Institute of the People of the North, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia;
- Liisa Holmberg, Head of the Sámi Education Institute, Inari, Finland;
- Line Kalak, Deputy Rector, Sámi University of Applied Sciences, Kautokeino, Norway;
- Karl Kowalski, Chief Information Technology Officer, the University of Alaska;
- Elena Shevnina, Finnish Meteorological Institute;
- Marina Opekunova, Professor, Department of Geo-Ecology & Environmental Management, Saint-Petersburg State University;
- Leonid Bobylev, the Director of NANSEN International Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre, Saint-Petersburg;
- Leslie King, Professor, the Director of the Canadian Centre for Environmental Education;
- Kathleen Osgood, UArctic Center of Circumpolar Studies, Antioch University of New England;
- Sargylana Ignatieva, the Head of Arctic State Institute of Arts and Culture;
- Uliana Vinokurova, Vice Rector for Research Activities, Arctic State Institute of Arts and Culture.
As a result of the discussion, the proposed initiative received support from the UArctic President Lars Kullerud, who expressed his readiness to create UArctic thematic network (standing body) for bundling interests of vocational schools in the field of personnel training in the Arctic.