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Chinese students are willing to come to St. Petersburg despite the coronavirus pandemic

китайские студенты
© Форпост Северо-Запад

The PRC, as before, plans to send a representative delegation to the city on the Neva to participate in the youth forum, which will be held as part of the BRICS summit in July. And what shall we do about the quarantine?

On Friday, March 13, the position of representatives of the Chinese higher education system regarding the prospects for the participation of students and young scientists from the Celestial Empire in the “Actual Problems of Subsoil Use” competition became known. The event will be held at the site of St. Petersburg Mining University and bring together about five hundred people from the states that are members of the BRICS group. All of them will have the opportunity to make reports on their scientific research to their peers and experts.

Zhekang Zhang, head of the international department at China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT), during a teleconference with the Northern Capital informed that his university “is extremely interested in becoming part of this event.” And here and now, they fully comply with the preparation schedule for the forum”, even despite the quarantine announced.

The vast majority of our teachers conduct lectures for students remotely, using video communications. But part of the staff, first of all, the administration, routinely come to the university and work there. The beginning of the school year, which usually starts in February, has been postponed; that is, our students are officially on vacation. We do not know exactly how long those will last, but we conduct classes online, so that the students can join the study process and complete the semester as originally scheduled when the situation gets back to normal.

Head of International Department, China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT) Zhekang Zhang

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In early January, CUMT took on the role of coordinator of the national selection round of the “Actual Subsoil Use Issues” competition. And he also undertook to identify the best students and postgraduate students of mining universities of China who would like to go to St. Petersburg and take part in the forum. Despite the coronavirus epidemic and related restrictions, the Chinese are fully fulfilling their obligation to partners.

Despite the unfavorable situation, we received more than 200 applications for participation in the competition. Our task is to select one hundred of the best. In particular, thirty studies of representatives of our university and seventy from other higher educational institutions of China. This work is nearing completion, the final results to be announced at the end of March.

Head of International Department, China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT) Zhekang Zhang

Zhekang Zhang emphasized that at the moment, the question of canceling the visit of the delegation of the PRC high school to St. Petersburg was not on the agenda, nor was it discussed at any level.

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Zhekang Zhang emphasized that at the moment, the question of canceling the visit of the delegation of the PRC high school to St. Petersburg was not on the agenda, nor was it discussed at any level.

We continue to monitor the situation in order to start on preparations for a business trip to Russia immediately after the normalization of the situation. We are extremely interested in becoming a part of the BRICS summit, since partnerships with the Russian higher school as a whole and such high-status institution as St. Petersburg Mining University in particular are important to us. Deadline will be the end of May. In the event that by this time the quarantine is not lifted and the borders remain closed, we will have to decline our participation in the competition, since obtaining passports and visas in China takes a month and a half, and we simply would physically have not enough time to organize a business trip. Nevertheless, we hope that by that time the problem will be solved and everything will go according to the plan.

Head of International Department, China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT) Zhekang Zhang

Zhekang Zhang also noted that about thirty heads of higher educational institutions from China gave consent to participate in the Council of Rectors of Mining Technical Universities of the BRICS countries. This event will be held in parallel with the competition forum on the Actual problems of Subsoil Use. He added that “CUMT plans to obtain the status of a reference university of the International Competence Centre for Mining Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO in China after the approval of this by the PRC Ministry of Education.”

Earlier, Finnish LUT University from Lappeenranta, Austrian Mining University of Leoben and the Institute for Energy, Chemical and Technological Projects of Freiberg Mining Academy from Germany acquired such a status.

Let us remind that the Chinese University of Mining and Technology was founded in 1909. It is located in Jiangsu Province, in the east of China, and occupies an area of ​​about 300 hectares. CUMT employs more than 3,100 people; among those, doctors of science account for 60% of the entire staff. Today, about 40 thousand students study there.