The paper presents discussions on the state and prospects for the development of training of casting specialists. The initiative to train specialists should come from factories. Universities should understand what kind of personnel production needs, in what quantity, with what competencies. If there are no orders from enterprises, there are no trained specialists. Staff training should begin at school. School graduates who do not pass the Unified State Exam in mathematics and physics cannot enter universities for industrial specializations. The vocational education system in the country has been completely destroyed, the notorious Bologna system has been introduced in higher education, which trains bachelors and masters, but not engineering specialists. The training of foundry personnel for mechanical engineering is a state task and it should be financed by the state. Enterprises should be more actively involved, without them this problem cannot be solved, which trains bachelors and masters, but not specialist engineers. The participants of the round table also discussed the shortage of capacities for large-scale casting. Machine-building plants order the production of foundry equipment and robotic technologies in China. According to the participants of the meeting, it makes sense to actively develop relations not only with China, but also with the BRICS countries.