Will Robots Replace Humans on the Job Market?

The debate continues over whether new graduates need more soft skills or more hard skills to succeed, and it should be noted that the debate now addresses competition on the job market, not only between human beings, but between human beings and robots. This hot topic was a focus at the recent Winter School at HSE University – St. Petersburg.

The Winter School that took place at HSE University – St. Petersburg was an opportunity for leading experts from various fields to chat with students and answer their many questions about what knowledge and skills are currently in demand on the job market. Discussion turned to the new Master's programme, "Information Systems and Human-Computer Interaction",  and arepresentative from HSE MIEM, Anton Sergeyev, gave a presentation entitled, "Robotization and the labor market: Which robot will replace you?". This question is extremely relevant to current and future graduates.

In production, logistics, transport and administration, as well as in the public and business sectors, robotization has already begun. Robots are replacing a range of competencies, professions and indeed staff members. This process occurs gradually, by replacing one competency after another. The range of tasks carried out by human beings is steadily growing smaller. This is a challenge for both the Russian and international education systems. Anton Sergeyev summarized the challenges facing modern graduates.

 Robotization means that the range of unskilled jobs is growing smaller, which changes the demands on those who will continue to work. New specialists will need to have basic IT and programming skills and will need to be able to understand, receive and interpret information from robotic systems. They will also have to be familiar with analytical systems and should possess excellent trouble-shooting skills.

Sergeyev Anton 
The expert of HSE MIEM