The result of the working group's trip from Saint Petersburg Mining University to Eastern India was two roadmaps signed with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur and Dhanbad.
The parties agreed to hold the Youth Scientific Forum in Saint Petersburg in 2025, with active participation from PhD students from each of the universities in Kharagpur and Dhanbad. In total, these universities plan to send up to 200 PhD students to the Mining University.
The high interest, particularly from the oil and gas faculties, was sparked by the opportunity to participate in the short-term educational programs of the Mining University ("Summer Schools"). This year, 150 students from India will come to Saint Petersburg to undergo interdisciplinary training in drilling, mining, digital engineering, and several other programs.
Indian and Russian professors will teach at partner universities for 3-6 months in both in-person and online formats, while PhD students will undergo full cross-training.
In the near future, the Journal of Mining Institute will appear in the all-India information database, and the experience of the innovative hub TexMin will be used in the Mining University to create technological platforms in collaboration with partner enterprises.
In 2026, Saint Petersburg miners will participate in the Youth Scientific Forum, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Dhanbad Mining Institute.
Nothing characterizes universities more than their individual business style. At the Mining University, for example, it is the uniform and the overall design of the entire infrastructure, while in India, it is the obligatory introduction of all department staff to guests and the mandatory tea while presentations are being exchanged.
However, this is not the main point. India's National Educational Policy (NEP), formulated in 2020, has already shown its first results at all stages of the system, from primary schools to PhD training. The main goal is to eliminate barriers between various social groups and the system of quality education. In some of the leading institutions in the country, the quota for applicants from lower socio-economic groups and specific religious castes can be as high as 40%.
Continuous professional development for teachers throughout their lives (Life-long learning) takes place both through individual courses and at specialized universities. These are not pedagogical universities but those focused on specific fields of study.
All textbooks undergo strict control and must comply with the CBSE standard developed by the Central Board of Secondary Education in India. They are unified for all students in the country and are available in both Hindi and English.
From first to tenth grade, children study basic subjects, and for the next two years, they deepen their knowledge in a consciously chosen, broad professional field. Based on this, they select the main subjects for the final two years, which determine the exams they will take after graduation. Without passing the unified national exams JEE Main and JEE Advanced, students can only apply to colleges.
If a graduate manages to pass only JEE Main, which is held in two stages (in-person and online), they can apply to national technical institutes. However, if they successfully pass JEE Advanced, they can enter elite engineering educational institutions, which are united under the brand Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). These institutions have unified educational standards and technologies, despite their various specializations. Only a few percent of high school graduates are admitted to these institutions.
IITs are not just leading educational institutions; they set the highest standards of quality in the educational process, which even the largest Western universities might envy. The language of instruction is impeccable English.
The typical model of scientific clusters in Indian universities looks like this: the university selects a promising PhD student and sends them for study, an internship, or dissertation defense at a Western university. After that, the students return to their alma mater, and using the experience gained, they form a group of young researchers around themselves, who then solve real scientific and industrial problems. The average commercialization of such centers is 80%. The activities of these clusters are supported by the government and partner companies, and there is intense competition between the clusters, which determines their effectiveness.
However, what truly stands out in Indian universities are their libraries. The staff of the Central Library at the University of Hargpur are implementing the National Electronic Library project, which is one of the largest online libraries in the world. Tens of millions of units of educational and scientific literature are available here for free. Across the country, there is continuous digitization of doctoral and master's theses, scientific articles, school textbooks, and popular science publications.
The library provides access to materials from the largest international publishing houses, which are acquired for all of India under a single national subscription. It also provides access to leading international scientific databases, such as Scopus and WoS.
Any scientific activity is impossible without its reflection in scientific articles. But no matter how interesting they are, they must be made accessible to users. How does the Hargpur Library achieve this?
Information about a published scientific article, with approximately 4,000 articles published by university staff annually, is posted on the department boards. It is then sent to all professors, assistants, and PhD students, and further to departments and professors from other universities in India, and then to 1,500 specialized universities worldwide. This is how the highest level of citation is achieved.
For students, a course on academic work formatting and scientific ethics is taught for several weeks. For graduate students, guest lectures are organized by editors of leading global publishing houses, who explain in an accessible way the principles of interacting with international scientific journals.
And of course, the library here is a hub of demand. It is worth mentioning that it operates 24 hours a day.
As one of its leaders, Dr. Sutradhar, believes, "It is obviously impossible to create a new system that forms the worldview of the population, cultivates culture, instills high values, and allows for the prompt delivery of various crucial information through its informational resources without the 'heart of the university.'"
This is what the life of Indian universities is like. In comparison with the Indian street, it's a whole different world.
