From students to master: how a recent graduate of Minsk College raises champions

Just a few years ago, Matvey Kurnosov was a student of the Minsk State College of Production Automation. Today he is a master of industrial training and already conducts practical classes with future specialists. In 2025, the student Matveya won the prestigious competition of professional skills and brought the country the first ever international gold in lathe work on numerical control machine tools (CNC). Details - in the material of the correspondent of the agency "Minsk-Novosti".

From pupil to master

After the 9th grade, Matvey entered the Minsk State College of Production Automation on the specialty “Operation of mechatronic systems of industrial equipment”. Mechatronics is a specialist in electronics, computer control and programming who creates and configures complex automated systems. For example, conveyor or sorting lines.

- The name of the profession sounds interesting, but at first I did not fully understand what I would have to do in reality. Like many students, I dreamed of becoming a computer programmer. It turned out that in the work on the machine, too, there are programming elements: in order to carve a detail from the workpiece according to the drawing, you need to first write a program, says Matvey.

The combination of mental work with manual labor especially impressed him in the profession.

- Yes, sometimes it didn’t work out the first time, but when you end up holding a detail that you made yourself, it feels very pleasant.

The turning point for the young man was the third year, when the curator of the group offered to try himself in the competition of professional skills in the nomination “Lathe work on CNC machines”.

Matvey caught the idea and began to seriously prepare. Long hours of training brought results, and one after another, victories followed: first at the internal qualifying stage in college, then at the city competition and finally at the Republican ProfSkills contest.

The next stage was the competition outside the country: Matvey participated in the competition “Professionals” in St. Petersburg, where he took second place in the international standings.

- At the competition, you need to make a detail according to the drawing. Evaluation criteria - compliance with the dimensions, the presence of errors and defects, as well as the completeness of the task. At the same time, the drawings are deliberately designed so that the detail is difficult to make perfectly, the young man says. In my case, the task was complicated by the fact that I was preparing on machines with one CNC system and software for processing parts, and at the competition everything was completely different, and I had to adapt right on the spot. So the experience I got was really colossal.

Going to college, Matvey did not plan to become a teacher. But when instead of distribution to the factory, he was offered to remain a master, he agreed without hesitation.

- Even when I was studying, I looked at young masters and realized that I wanted to try myself in this capacity. I was trained in two different factories, it was interesting to work there, but here I have more variety in tasks, more freedom and creativity.

Employers are fighting for talented professionals

Preparing for professional training competitions is still a big part of his job, only now he acts as a mentor, not a participant.

One of his wards, Kirill Sukhodolsky, last year won a gold medal at the competition “Professionals” – and this is the first international gold in the nomination “CNC lathe work” in the history of not only the college, but also the country.

To receive such an award is a great pride. And for other students, the victory of a classmate often becomes an incentive to develop:

- I noticed that when guys come from competitions, especially with medals, classmates begin to look up to them and also show interest in competitions. Many participate in internal selections, thereby gaining good experience through additional work with equipment.

In addition to titles and recognition, the winners of professional competitions receive other advantages.

Firstly, they can become laureates of the special fund of the President of the Republic of Belarus to support talented youth, and therefore, they get the right to enter the university in the profile direction without entrance exams. Secondly, they can count on promising places for internship and subsequent employment.

- Employers understand that since a person participated in a professional skills competition, it means that he is smart, and in the profession, most likely, will remain for a long time. In addition, he practically does not need to be taught - rather, he will teach anyone himself. For such a specialist in the literal sense, a struggle can break out, says Matvey.

From hand machine to high technology

Successful performance at the competition of professional skills requires painstaking preparation on machines. At the same time, the practice in college does not start with high technologies, but with universal machines without CNC systems, where parts are hand-carved. With this approach, explains Matvey, it is easier for the student to understand the kinematics of the process.

- After this practice, students learn the basics of how a cutter or mill works, and then reproduce all the same using electronics on a CNC machine. It is easier for them to understand everything, he said.

The production base of the college is not limited only to machines, because the competencies of working specialties in modern realities go far beyond the notorious grinding of parts.

Modern professional education should keep up with changes in technologies and production requirements. This is the purpose of the project “Development of innovative potential of youth for accelerated sustainable development of Belarus”, which is implemented by UNDP together with the Ministry of Education of Belarus with the financial support of the Russian Federation. The project provides for the renewal of the educational environment and equipment, the development of practical training and the strengthening of the link between colleges and enterprises, and also supports the competitive movement: it helps to conduct the republican ProfSkills competition and prepare its participants - including through regular practical classes with mentors on the basis of educational institutions.

Thanks to the project, a whole line of high-tech measuring equipment appeared in the college. This means new opportunities for students.

For example, with the help of a so-called video measuring machine (coordinate measuring optical device), the college can prepare contestants for other competencies.

- Due to the fact that we have a modern measuring tool, the contestants open the way to the competencies related to metrology. One student has already participated in the competition on such competence, and was preparing on our video measuring machine, says Matvey.

The device is used for non-contact measurement of dimensions and detection of defects - it displays an enlarged image of the part on the screen. This method is indispensable if it is impossible to measure a part with a conventional instrument - for example, because of the complex shape. The machine allows you to solve the inverse problem - to restore the drawing of the part, if it is not preserved, according to the actual dimensions.

And on the roundomere, students learn to evaluate the characteristics of the rotational bodies: roundness, cylindricality, flatness.

- The skill is very relevant for modern production: an error of only five to six microns – namely, such fine measurements allow you to produce a round-the-clock – can already be an excuse to send a part into a marriage, says Matvey.

Technician-mechatronics – the profession of the future?

According to the master, most college graduates are distributed by adjusters or operators of CNC machines to factories. The rest go to work in the main specialty – mechatronics technicians at enterprises with conveyor production, where you need to configure sensors and maintain conveyor lines.

On the question of whether such specialties will be in demand in the future, Matvey answers confidently: yes, and it is not only in the current demand:

- Some say robots will soon replace us. Who's going to serve this robot? If a person is replaced by a machine, then the adjuster will service this robot: you need to know which one to buy, how to connect and program it. Each robot still needs a person who will set up a smart mechanism.

There is a vocational education and another plus, which is noted by the employers themselves: a specialist who first graduated from college, and only then received higher education - full-time or correspondence.

- In college, a person gains practical skills, manages to touch everything and touch with his hands. It’s not like going to college right after school and learning how a machine works that you’ve never seen.

According to Matvey, the main task of the college is to make sure that children go to enterprises well prepared and know not only the base: the more such students, the higher the reputation of the institution.

Prepared by Irina Zabarovskaya

Photo by UNDP