The pharmaceutical industry of St. Petersburg is experiencing a shortage of narrow-profile personnel

During the plenary session of the VII International Life Sciences Invest Partnership Forum, the president of Active Component, Alexander Semenov, said that the creation of new jobs and training is a critical factor in the further development of the industry. According to the company's calculations, St. Petersburg pharmaceutical manufacturers of AFS will need about 1,500 narrow—profile specialists in the next 3 years - about 300 qualified personnel are needed for each new enterprise under construction.

The APS production segment currently experiences a sharp shortage of highly professional technologists, analytical chemists and synthesis experts, specialists in the field of validation, quality assurance and other narrow-profile areas.

“Now 170 technologists graduate SPCPA every year. This quantity cannot cover the need for personnel of new enterprises. Surely, it is possible to solve the staff issue at the expense of other regions and Ukraine, but we need in-house resources, opening of departments and new specializations,” said the head of “Acticomp”. “Another important training issue is that the graduates lack practical skills. This makes it difficult to start independent work at production. The problem can be partially solved by revising the curriculum and moving towards “applied baccalaureate” format, when a student studies at the university 50% of their time and spends 50% of it at the production.”

The company is actively working to provide personnel for future production in Pushkin. In particular, they agreed to cooperate with SPCPA on the establishment of the Department of Chemical Synthesis at the new plant. Thus, students will be able to undergo practical training and gain hands-on experience at the workplace during training. 20-30 bachelors and masters will graduate the department each year.