Improving the Quality of Practice-Oriented Training in Vocational Education in the Field of Digital Technologies. The IThub College Case

This project is devoted to the challenges of students preparing for demonstration examinations in secondary vocational education within the digital technology sector. The research was conducted at IT HUB College (ANO PO "IT HUB"). Demonstration examinations serve as an established assessment tool in Russian educational practice for evaluating the professional competencies of graduates, particularly at the secondary vocational level. Both employers and students acknowledge a skills gap among graduates, despite the consistently high demand for digital technology specialists. Current academic approaches to improving student preparation for demonstration examinations are often complex and resource-intensive, requiring educational institutions to engage with external stakeholders such as professional skills competitions and dual education system partners. This project proposes an internal institutional mechanism for curriculum modification aimed at improving demonstration examination success rates within digital technology programs. The approach leverages the unique characteristics of digital products, which can be created, utilized, and showcased entirely in digital format, including online platforms, without requiring physical manifestation. A preliminary study revealed a positive correlation between successful exam results and high grades in specific types of disciplines. These are characterized by students creating professional products with immediate practical application or those published on external portfolio platforms, as well as courses incorporating focused soft skills development and assessment. Students from cohorts with comparable overall academic performance, but whose curricula included such disciplines, demonstrated statistically significant higher pass rates on the demonstration exam compared to students whose curricula lacked them. This research analyzed data from graduates over three years across five specialties at ITHUB College. Based on these findings, the project provides actionable recommendations for administrators of secondary vocational institutions in digital technology fields. These recommendations focus on integrating the identified course characteristics into educational programs through curriculum mapping techniques and other curriculum development methodologies.