Achieving the Stakeholders Equilibrium in Vocational Education for the Digital Economy

Abstract

This chapter is aimed at searching for a sophisticated equilibrium in vocational education in the digital economy times between its key stakeholders or, in other words, its gear wheels, which are the government, enterprise, university, and the people. The authors focus on the programs designed in the light of the digital economy. As emerging economies face bigger challenges, the chapter is about such countries, in particular about Russia as one of them which has a big state's stake. First, the chapter lays the groundwork to the instrumentalist vision of education for the stakeholders' relations and covers a historical background to the political economy in Russia. Secondly, the authors discuss the CVET key stakeholders' motives, capacities, and barriers. The authors demonstrate the spots where these wheels mismatch. Third, online learning is presented as a possible solution for at least some of the mismatches, such as the lack of the specialists and practice-based constituents in the learning program, the system bureaucracy, obsolete teaching approach, and rigid learning trajectories.