Assistance to the RF Ministry of Economic Development and Trade in preparation of proposals on setting up a comprehensive training system for specialists in development and/or implementation of government economic policy on financial markets

 Introduction 

One of the key objectives of the Medium Term Program for Social and Economic Development of the Russian Federation ("the Program"), adopted by the Government of the Russian Federation in August 2003, is to ensure high pace of economic growth in order to promote better living standards, effectively renovate production facilities, improve competitiveness of the Russian economy.

The implementation of the economic reform program largely depends on improving efficiency and effectiveness of intermediation between savings and investments. Strong and sound financial system has an important role to play in achieving the Program’s objectives, in particular in the following areas:

Creation of favorable environment for investments in the economic sectors other than natural resources to satisfy their growing demand;

• Ensuring accelerated growth of the high value-added sectors, as well as small and medium size businesses;
• Improving the openness of the Russian economy and transparency of the enterprises’ finance;
• Reduction of governmental participation in reallocation of economic resources.

At the same time, achieving the current objectives of financial markets development, as well as identification and/or addressing further development needs in the years to come will largely depend on availability of highly qualified specialists in regulation of financial markets in line with best international practice. Thus development of human resource in this area is considered by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MOEDT) as one of priority tasks. This, in turn, will largely depend on capacity of major higher education institutions to meet these demands.

In view of the above, the MOEDT intends to perform a comprehensive analysis of existing higher education institutions involved in training financial markets specialists and develop proposals on setting up a comprehensive training system for specialists in development and/or implementation of government economic policy on financial markets.

In order to perform such analysis and prepare respective proposals the MOEDT under the present Terms of Reference ("ToRs") is seeking the support of a consultancy firm ("the Consultants") who have extensive experience and expertise in the areas outlined above.

To be able to provide such support, the Consultants engaged hereunder will have open and unhindered access to officials of the MOEDT responsible for the development and/or implementation of government economic policy on financial markets. 

Objectives

The main objectives of the Assignment under these ToRs are as follows:

• Analysis of the leading higher education institutions of the Russian Federation which are involved in training of specialists in economics and finance for government authorities, including the system of post-graduate training. For the purpose of the current assignment, the higher education institutions will be considered as “leading”, if they are included in the list of the 10/20 top institutions in the ratings of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and participate in developing curriculum and training of specialists in economics and finance for government authorities.
• Analysis of demand from federal government authorities and regional administrations, involved in regulation of financial markets, for specialists in development and/or implementation of government economic policy on financial markets.
• Preparation of proposals on setting up of a comprehensive system for training of specialists in development and/or implementation of government economic policy on financial markets. It is expected that such training system will comprise leading higher education institutions in Moscow, St. Petersburg and regions as well.

Scope of work

In view of the above, it is expected that the Consultants will implement the assignment in three main stages.

• Stage I includes the following:

• Compiling the list of leading higher education institutions in the Russian Federation, involved in training of specialists in economics and finance for government authorities, including higher education institutions responsible for post-graduate training. This list should provide data on the number of bachelor and master graduates per institution over the past 5 years as well as indication of costs incurred during training process;

• Stage II includes the following:

• Brief description of the structure of government authorities responsible for the development and/or implementation of the economic policy on financial markets, their main areas of responsibility and specific activities, including those performed at the level of departments within such government authorities;
• Development of the methodology for the assessment of potential demand of the above government authorities for specialists in development and/or implementation of the economic policy on financial markets;
• Assessment of the above demand on the basis of developed methodology, as well as better specifying professional requirements to such specialists on the basis of the demand assessment.

• Stage III includes the following:

• Preparing proposals on improving the system of training specialists in development and/or implementation of government economic policy on financial markets as well as better structuring of the academic process, aimed at setting up a comprehensive system for such training, including but not limited to the following:
• better definition of required specialties and/or specialization(s);
• improving curricula;
• developing recommendations on the areas for adjustment of text-books for both core and special disciplines;
• developing proposals on improving IT support for the academic process;
• Preparing proposals on the model budget which would ensure adequate level of financing for the proposed comprehensive training system for specialists in development and/or implementation of government economic policy on financial markets;
• Identifying potential areas of international cooperation in implementing the above proposals.