Assessment of the role of universities in staffing the digital economy of the region

 In modern conditions, the digitalization of the economic and economic activity of the region is becoming one of the key arguments for its investment attractiveness and competitiveness. The most important factors determining the development of the digital economy are: relevant regulatory and legal support, information infrastructure and security, research and development, specialized personnel with key competencies. In this list, human capital is a critical factor, since it determines the level of development of all other elements from this list. The most important trends in the training of personnel for the digital economy of Russia are the formation of knowledge, skills, and digital literacy skills at the initial stages of children’s education and the development of relevant competencies throughout life. The shortage of specialized personnel for digitalization remains the main problem of socio-economic and innovative development of most regions of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the study is to assess the role and identify areas for improving the efficiency of higher education institutions in the staffing of the digital economy of the region. The authors analyzed the digitalization index of the economy of the Murmansk region and draw conclusions on the accumulation of social effects from the introduction of digitalization. However, the excess of digital demand over digital supply in the “Education” dimension indicates serious problems in training personnel for this area. Trends in the training of personnel with key competencies of the digital economy in the Murmansk region on the basis of higher educational institutions have been identified. The calculations used the methodology for determining the indicators of the federal project “Personnel for the digital Economy”. The role of universities as key suppliers of labor resources for the implementation of Arctic projects involving the use of digital technologies is substantiated. Regional problems, as well as internal limitations of universities in the field of training for the digital economy are identified. The directions for improving the efficiency of training specialists with digital competencies for the economy of the region on the basis of higher educational institutions are proposed. Providing relevant specialists requires a systematic consolidation of the efforts of all interested actors: the government, business leaders and public opinion leaders, universities.