According to Rosstat, in our country scientific research and development is carried out by 475 organizations, of which 990 are higher educational institutions. Moreover, if over the past 20 years the total number of organizations has not changed significantly, the share of research institutes in it has fallen by 40%, and the share of universities has increased almost threefold. There is an increase in the role of university science in the country's research potential. The situation is beginning to resemble the Soviet times, when scientific foundations were formed in technical institutes and students were involved in real projects.
Russia now ranks sixth in the world in the number of full-time equivalent researchers. The country's position has worsened, because just a few years ago Russia was two places higher. From 2000 to 2021, the total number of personnel employed in research and development (including technicians and laboratory assistants) decreased by a quarter. Needless to say, in technologically developed countries there was a significant growth in this indicator - from 30 to 130%.
The growing crisis in higher education requires actions to increase the level of methodological scientific-philosophical training of future scientific-pedagogical personnel and engineers, who in the future will work in industry and engage in applied research.
A year ago, St. Petersburg Mining University included in its curricula a voluntary course "Philosophy of Science", implying the acquisition of basic scientific competencies by students and prepared jointly with the Competence Center in Mining Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO. The program, in which more than two hundred young people took part, proved so effective that as of this academic year it has become mandatory for all master's students.
Mikhail Dli, a first-year master's student at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Mining University, was one of the pioneers of the course.
"I wanted to enroll in the international triple-degree program, which involves studying at universities in three countries - Russia, Austria, and Germany. Participants were to write articles that would be sent to the Scopus database, so students had to be able to choose the right topic and object of research, justify the methodology of research, and prove its validity. It was Philosophy of Science that gave me this necessary practical knowledge. And although today the triple degree program has been frozen for obvious reasons, I am successfully applying the acquired competencies in Russia," said the master's degree student.
Mikhail's scientific theme is the improvement of the technological process of manufacturing metal products using magnetic-abrasive machining. The issue is relevant for a wide range of industries. Thus, several articles of the young man are devoted to machine equipment - collet and locking connections of the drill string.
"The course I took helped me understand how far the scientists who do the profile research have come. Why reinvent the wheel when you can study the elaboration of the problem and move on? Largely thanks to "Philosophy of Science" I became a winner of the International competition "Topical problems of subsoil use" - taking into account the skills and recommendations I received, I wrote a scientific article on my topic and won first place in the category "Engineering". One of the students I know asks me: why does he need scientific competence, if he plans to go into production? The answer is obvious. Every engineer should be competent in his field, because in the process of work he will inevitably encounter innovations. This means he must be able to distinguish between the technologies that can be effectively used in a particular production facility and those that cannot," says Mikhail.
In the future, the young man plans to develop university science and, in parallel, to test new knowledge at machine-building enterprises.
Antonina Stoyanova is currently enrolled in postgraduate studies. A corresponding order should be issued in a day. She decided to get involved in scientific activities during her undergraduate studies, so she participated in the "Assistant Scientist" program and then got a position as a laboratory assistant in the Digital Technology Center.
"For several years I was head of the Student Scientific Society at the Mining University, whose task is to supervise students who want to do research. Any of them can come up to us to find out where to start, how to find a suitable topic, and which professors to approach. Naturally, initially I had no relevant experience, so I was getting it on my own. I really lacked a methodological basis for working on research articles, searching for information and interacting with databases. I can say that Philosophy of Science helped me a lot - this educational program allows young scientists to find answers to all their questions," explains Antonina Stoyanova.
When the university administration last year announced the opportunity to obtain this basic scientific competence, the girl was one of the first to sign up. She had been doing motivational work among students for several years, but in the course of the lectures she learned a lot of new things for herself as well.
"Currently, the length of graduate school in my specialty has been shortened from 4 to 3 years, and it was participation in the program that helped me understand how to make up the difference. We were engaged in the preparation of a scientific review, which is basically the first chapter of my Ph.D. dissertation. I was able to start writing it earlier, I learned how to formulate the object of research, analyze the subject area, I learned what points should be strengthened. I am working on the problem of developing information systems in accordance with the policy of sustainable development of companies and my goal is to automate the process of strategic guidance for management. The topic is fairly new, domestic scientists are not yet actively engaged in it. To orient myself in the world scientific space was helped by lectures of the employees of the Publication activity department, who usually do not advise students. This is an incredibly valuable experience" - Antonina shares her impressions.
Alexander Turkovsky, a master's student in the Department of Geoecology, gave an equally telling review. He received his basic scientific competencies in the spring, and then left for an industrial practice, where he immediately applied his knowledge.
"I was interested in the program because I wanted to better prepare for my upcoming master's thesis. However, in fact, Philosophy of Science gives students much more than writing a scientific review. The sequence of experiments in laboratories and scientific activities in general, the structure of writing articles, and the role of international databases... my prior knowledge on these topics was minimal. If I had opened Scopus, I would hardly have been able to understand it at all. Figuratively speaking, we were taken by the hand and shown how everything works and how to use it. This was a huge boost for development," says Alexander.
If until last spring the master was not planning to stay in science, today he connects his future with it. Alexander was doing his summer internship at the company Stoilensky GOK. There he took samples from the tailings dump and set a goal to find a cost-effective way to dispose of waste. According to the young man, it was the knowledge he received in the Philosophy of Science course that helped him choose a promising research vector capable of finding a solution to such an urgent scientific problem in the foreseeable future.
"When you know what you need, but don't know how to do it, a basic science competency course is what will help you. After it, I clearly understood what actions I would take at the field and in the laboratory. Then I began to monitor the articles of Russian and foreign authors and found interesting publications of Australian scientists who used the waste for building materials. I studied their proposal, the original composition and the final product, and on this basis I am developing my own method using other chemical components and reagents. It can improve the strength, thermal conductivity and a number of other indicators," says Alexander Turkovsky.
Today the young man is at the beginning of a long journey, beginning with experiments in laboratories and ending with the creation of an innovative product. As a master's student, he got a job as a laboratory assistant at the Ecosystem Research Center and is now actively engaged in research. In the future, after the experiments that he is conducting in the university labs are completed, he will describe the results in his dissertation and several scientific articles, after which he will turn to the management of the Mining and Processing Division with a proposal to implement his development.
The modern reality of high-tech production requires serious scientific knowledge from engineers; today's reality of scientific experiments requires production experience from the scientist. The synergy of science and production is the concept of the course implemented by the St. Petersburg Mining University "Philosophy of Science". The word "philosophy" is translated from the Greek as "love for wisdom." Here it is deciphered as the "Archimedean lever" on the way to Russia's post-industrial economy.