Domestic expertise in the field of efficient subsoil use will contribute to strengthening the technological sovereignty of the continent.
Participants of the one-year full-time professional retraining program “Management of Subsoil Use Facilities” will include employees of resource extraction companies, government authorities, and universities from Africa. Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University has launched the selection process for the program.
Information about the program is being disseminated through the relevant ministries of the continent’s countries. The number of applicants is already so high that the selection process has been organized in several stages. Initially, finalists are chosen based on the submitted documents, followed by individual video conference interviews with the selected candidates.
The selection criteria include relevant professional experience—specifically, a background connected to the mineral resource sector—personal motivation, and the potential for applying newly acquired knowledge to modernize production processes at specific enterprises or to improve state regulatory frameworks. Proficiency in English, the language of instruction, is also an important requirement. Participation in the program requires candidates to hold a higher education degree at the level of at least a bachelor's, master's, or specialist qualification.
Classes will begin on September 1 of the current year. Participants will spend 864 hours in the classrooms of Russia’s oldest technical university, with an additional 1,656 hours allocated for internships and practical training at resource companies, laboratories, and the university’s research and training sites. The program will provide participants with comprehensive exposure to the entire raw materials value chain at Russian enterprises—from the extraction and beneficiation of minerals to their processing and the production of final industrial products. In addition, they will study the most effective economic mechanisms employed in Russia’s mineral resource sector. Accordingly, the training program is divided into two main modules: technological and managerial.
Africa is one of the world’s most resource-rich regions. It holds up to 90% of global reserves of chromium and platinum, over 50% of cobalt, 40% of gold, approximately 30% of bauxite, 12% of oil, more than 10% of copper, 9.6% of iron ore, and 8% of natural gas. Notably, these resources are often characterized by favorable geological conditions and high concentrations of valuable components in the ore.
Nevertheless, fully capitalizing on this favorable geographic position is far from always possible. One of the major obstacles is the neocolonial policy pursued in Africa by a number of Western countries, particularly the United Kingdom. On the London Stock Exchange, shares of 101 major companies engaged in mineral extraction south of the Sahara are listed. Most of these companies fall under British jurisdiction. They control natural resources on the continent valued at over 1 trillion U.S. dollars and exploit them in a predatory manner.
Foreign businesses take advantage of the weak development of local institutions responsible for technical and environmental oversight, antitrust regulation, and financial monitoring. As a result, the continent loses approximately 195 billion U.S. dollars annually due to illegal mining, deforestation, wildlife trafficking, and unregulated fishing. Moreover, this unfavorable business model for Africa is accompanied by severe negative environmental consequences.
Russia’s policy toward Africa is fundamentally different from that of Western countries. Our nation has traditionally focused its support on the training of highly qualified professionals. As is well known, the availability of a strong human resource base is a fundamental prerequisite for achieving technological sovereignty.
The educational program “Management of Subsoil Use Facilities” is being organized through the continental technical university network “Consortium ‘Nedra Afriki’ (Subsoil of Africa).” The Consortium was established in 2023 at the initiative of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University as a follow-up to the agreements reached during the second Russia–Africa Summit. The program was developed by the International Competence Centre for Mining-Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO, which has been operating at Russia’s oldest technical university since 2018.