Position

On Wednesday, 1 November, St. Petersburg Mining University will celebrate a significant date - 250 years since its foundation. Despite its advanced age, Russia’s first technical university is a modern institution of higher education that has introduced many advanced technologies, including augmented and virtual reality. Thanks to their availability, future oilfield workers or operators of automated mining equipment can get practical skills in their speciality even in their initial courses without leaving the classroom.

A new structural unit, the Department of Practical Skills and Experience, has been established at the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. Its mission will be to improve the efficiency of practical training and assist students in mastering programmes of additional professional competencies (APC).

It is no secret that in recent years or even decades, the value of a diploma of higher education has noticeably decreased. If earlier this document confirmed that its holder had received both fundamental, basic knowledge and competences necessary for further professional growth, today, in fact, it has turned into a mandatory ”certificate” for employment. If you do not have it, then the vast majority of the most interesting and promising jobs are closed for you, if you have it, you can apply for them. No more than that.

В России идёт реформа системы высшего образования, инициированная Владимиром Путиным. В том, что она назрела, уверен практически каждый житель страны, но мало кто понимает, какие конкретно преобразования должны идти в вузах

На площадке академического центра «Солнечное» Санкт-Петербургского горного университета состоялся семинар, в котором приняли участие 84 преподавателя из числа кураторов студентов первого курса

The transfer of knowledge that is not useful in the workplace is perhaps the main problem of higher education in Russia. It is no coincidence that Vladimir Putin’s August instruction to create a sovereign university ranking focuses attention on assessing the employability of graduates. The decree on the pilot project to improve the higher education system (dated 12.05.2023) is also primarily aimed at strengthening the integration of universities with the real economy.

Rector of Russia’s first technical university Vladimir Litvinenko told about it during a meeting with students. The Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University held a ceremony of awarding educational grants to first-year students who won the School Leader competition. Its winners, in case they scored the required minimum threshold score on the USE, last summer received a guaranteed right to enrol in the university even before the final results of the admission campaign were announced.

In 2023, for the first time since our country joined the Bologna Process, the number of budgetary places in the first year of specialization at the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University was higher than at the bachelor’s level - 982 versus 940. These are the interim results of the reform of higher education, which started in Russia on the initiative of President Vladimir Putin.

Researchers at the Colorado School of Mines - considered the best university in the world for the quality of mining training - have identified a paradox that threatens the sustainability of the entire human race. On the one hand, our civilization is consuming more and more resources. Moreover, the energy transition, that is, the massive adoption of renewable energy on a global scale, is only increasing the demand for many different metals.

Russia’s withdrawal from the Bologna process implies, first of all, raising the level of basic higher education. This is one of the goals of the pilot project involving 6 domestic universities, which was launched in May this year by the decree of President Vladimir Putin. Today’s first-year students of the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University will get not just an additional year and a half of study to the 4-year bachelor’s degree, but a fundamentally higher quality engineering education closer to the needs of modern production.