Abstract

The relevance of this study is determined by the task of synchronizing the activities of the vocational education and training (VET) system in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation with the regions’ social and economic development needs. The object of the research is the regional practices of the VET system in the context of social and economic development of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in which they are located. The purpose of the study is to develop a rating of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation by the alignment of their VET systems with the demands of the regional labor markets. The study used open source databases (websites of the government of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, educational authorities, professional educational organizations) and statistical information. Main results: Thematic indices and an overall rating are presented in the context of four groups of regions with different economic status for the 85 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, based on 7 Indices formed by groups of related indicators characterizing various aspects of the focus of regional VET systems on the social and economic demands of the region. As a result of comparing the current levels of VET systems’ alignment with the regional labor market requirements, significant correlations and dependencies were revealed between the values of various thematic indices in groups of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and across the general array of regions. Main conclusions. The uneven development and significant polarization of the regional systems of vocational education and training in Russia were recorded. The absence of significant correlations between the economic status of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and the level of synchronization of their VET systems with the regional development needs was revealed. It is shown that the rating values achieved in the regions are formed by different sets of metrics that make up thematic indices. The analysis of rating indicators makes it possible to determine the reserves and actual directions of synchronization of the activity VET systems of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation with the regional economy needs.