“Green” logistics as an instrument for putting together a new model for professional and career-broadening training in global economic space

This paper looks into the key aspects of the shift in the instruction of logistics as a discipline from traditional to environmentally responsible practices. The authors examine the experience of the development of scientific-educational systems in the world’s more advanced societies (the European Union and North America), as well as in the BRICS countries. The paper proposes specific ways to reform the model for professional and career-broadening education by reference to the amassed global experience. The authors draw the following major conclusions: • both today’s scientific and business communities are oriented toward the shift to environmentally responsible development, which presupposes gradually renouncing the use of hydrocarbon energy resources, embracing the use of renewable technology and recycling, and ensuring social stability; • we are witnessing a change in the tenor of not only the strategic concept of the development of particular scientific and business areas but of the functional one as well. Thus, for instance, the domain of logistics services is currently being enriched with the concept of “green logistics”, which implies a need for relevant human resources specializing in the field. Many leading nations have already started transforming their education models, as a whole, and their methods for the instruction of logistics as a discipline, in particular, in specific alignment with the principles of environmental responsibility; • the education systems of certain world powers, including the Russian model for education, have not yet been fully adapted for shifting to “green logistics”, one of today’s latest scientific paradigms. Among the major reasons behind this delay is the failure to properly reform the scientific- educational sector, as well as the state’s excessive, and rarely effective, participation in the development of this area. To help remediate this situation, the authors propose a set of recommendations aimed at helping to put together a new model for professional and career- broadening training in keeping with the latest scientific concepts and the needs of the labor market. © 2016 The Author(s).