Kazakhstan's road industry has long faced an acute shortage of qualified personnel. According to experts, the market requires about 1.5-2 thousand qualified personnel annually, but specialized universities graduate only 100-150 people a year. In 2024 in Kazakhstan there is a significant increase in the number of road industry specialists taking advanced training courses.

Advanced training courses help to partially address the shortage of qualified personnel, which continues to be one of the key challenges of the industry. Only since the beginning of the year, more than 550 people have been trained at the Competence Development Center (CDC) of KazdorNII - this is almost twice as many as for the same period in 2023. CDC specialists note: the increase is due to the fact that organizations are increasingly sending employees to courses consciously to improve their competencies and quality of work.

“With accelerated technological advances and ever-changing standards, the importance of professional development for road industry professionals continues to grow. Training programs help to adapt to new requirements, ensuring quality road construction and maintenance. In addition, the Center's 2024 training programs have been significantly revised, expanded and adapted to current industry standards. While previously specialists were offered only seven thematic courses, this year the number of topics has increased to more than 30,”emphasizes Guljamal Umarova, Director of the CDC KazdorNII.

The training center was established in 2006 to improve the qualifications of specialists in Kazakhstan's road industry. Among the listeners of KazdorNII courses the “Theory-Practice-Laboratory” methodology is especially appreciated - a combination of theory with practical and laboratory classes. Specialists not only study theoretical aspects, but also get the opportunity to test their knowledge in practice, visiting sections of roads and participating in laboratory tests. Teachers, industrialists with extensive experience, conduct field classes, which makes it possible to maximize the proximity of training to real working conditions.

In addition, to address the challenge of staff shortage, about 1000 state grants for training of road specialists have been allocated in 2024 to improve the situation. Also, this year KazdorNII plans to launch a digital data bank Jolshy, which combines information on all qualified employees of the road industry. This platform allows employers to select employees based on their experience, qualifications and advanced training certificates, which contributes to faster and more efficient staff search.