The International Scientific and Practical Dialogue on Defining Methodological Approaches in Postgraduate Studies, titled "Step into Science," has commenced at Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. To take part in the discussion and exchange experience, 30 young researchers from Taiyuan University of Technology—one of the Mining University’s principal partners among engineering universities of the People’s Republic of China—have arrived in Russia.
TYUT, as the university is commonly abbreviated, comprises 27 faculties, 11 national-level laboratories and centers, and campuses covering an area of 2.13 million square meters. In total, 50,000 students study at this educational and research institution, which exceeds in size even the largest Russian universities. Of these, 500 are postgraduate students.
The Mining University has long-standing ties with TYUT. For several years now, students, lecturers, and researchers from Taiyuan have been actively participating in the Mining University’s short-term educational programs, Summer Schools, and international conferences. A vivid example of the establishment of bilateral scientific groups and their effective work was the two-month internship of nine postgraduate students from Saint Petersburg at Taiyuan University of Technology, which took place in spring 2025. In September of the same year, a representative delegation from the Mining University visited TYUT during a trip to the People’s Republic of China in order to familiarize itself with the partner’s capabilities and to define the direction of further, more intensive joint work.
The event is conducted with the aim of studying the experience of Chinese universities in the development of professional, scientific, and pedagogical competencies, integrating methodological approaches to the formation of "Teacher" and "Researcher" statuses to improve higher engineering education, as well as increasing the quality of candidate dissertations. The conference includes sectional sessions during which postgraduate students will present their research in the following scientific areas: “Prospecting, Exploration, and Extraction of Mineral Resources,” “Sustainable Development of the Mineral Resource Sector,” and “General Industrial Technologies.” The presentations will also need to be supplemented by an explanation of the project methodology, from selecting a topic to the principles for choosing information sources. In addition, the guests will take part in a thematic quiz and visit the Training and Research Facility “Sablino.
«Our task today is to establish a dialogue in understanding the quality of knowledge that postgraduate students in Russia and China are expected to acquire. The technogenic civilization being created within the People’s Republic of China is clear and logical to us—the country’s ideology is directed toward its sovereignization, including through education. It is precisely education that will determine the place of any given state in the twenty-first century; therefore, the requirements placed on scientific research and educational standards must now be an order of magnitude higher than ever before. Against the backdrop of the Global North’s aggressive imposition of digital technologies, it is strategically important for us to train engineers with analog thinking, capable of making independent and well-balanced decisions and of using new digital opportunities rationally for their own purposes—namely, the automation of technological process control», - emphasized Rector of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University Vladimir Litvinenko in opening the conference.
According to the head of the university, only such specialists remain in demand amid the robotization of Chinese enterprises.
«This year marks the 250th anniversary of the emergence of Russia’s first national mining engineer. This took place within the walls of the Mining University—the country’s first technical higher education institution. In addition to training an engineering corps to work with mineral resources, the university laid the foundations for the development of science and progress in the mineral resources complex. Our cooperation with the People’s Republic of China has a very solid foundation. In the 1950s, the USSR actively supported China in social and economic terms. After the victory of the revolution, at Mao Zedong’s request, hundreds of Soviet lecturers went to China, while 10,000 students came to us. At that time, the number of Chinese students at the Mining Institute exceeded the total number of students from all the Union republics», - Vladimir Litvinenko noted.
The Rector expressed confidence that, in the course of the forum, a course of action would be defined that would unite today’s Russian and Chinese researchers. Thanks to the established working relations, the projects of young scientists will be continued, and in the near future the parties will not only formulate effective research areas for joint work, but also create concrete research teams.
«The years 2026 and 2027 have been declared by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin as the Cross Years of Education of Russia and China, with the aim of developing Russian–Chinese relations and expanding bilateral ties in the field of education. This makes our meeting today all the more symbolic. There is another important point. In March 2026, China approved the program of its 15th Five-Year Plan, in which the formation of an integrated system of education, science, technology, and personnel training has been identified as one of the key goals of socio-economic development for the next five years. This means that the comprehensive development of these areas is recognized as the most important strategic path for China’s modernization. In this context, today’s dialogue, devoted to the methodology of training research personnel, acquires special significance. It is not merely an academic exchange within the framework of the Years of Education, but a forward-looking response to contemporary challenges associated with the integration of highly qualified personnel training and technological innovation. This demonstrates the responsibility of two universities—leading institutions of Russia and China—in matters of educational concepts and their commitment to aligning approaches in training personnel for scientific cooperation», - said Luo Zhanhui, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Saint Petersburg.
In his welcoming remarks, Sun Hongbin, Rector of Taiyuan University of Technology, noted that the university’s 100-year history has enabled it to accumulate substantial experience in training personnel responsible for academic and teaching activities. At present, 4,000 mentors are engaged in this work at the university:
«The Mining University is the partner with whom we intend to develop cooperation in the training of Candidates of Sciences and the exchange of educational resources. In addition, scientific collaboration is of particular interest to us. For example, we have the potential to launch large-scale joint research in Antarctica. TYUT has made a significant contribution to the establishment of scientific stations on the Sixth Continent and plays an important role in their operation. I serve as the national-level principal scientific supervisor for the development and application of clean energy technologies in extreme environmental conditions. Accordingly, TYUT is the leading research unit in this field. We are ready to exchange experience in the study of permafrost regions. Today’s conference will strengthen our relations and enable us to jointly address the challenges faced by our countries».
