UNESCO Center

A major international congress ”Africa Seeks Solutions”, attended by heads of leading universities, representatives of executive and legislative authorities, scientists and businessmen from more than 40 countries of the sunny continent, ended in St. Petersburg. Many of these countries have even more mineral resources per capita than Russia, but are unable to monetize them and use them to improve the quality of life of the population.

The initiative group of the new community includes higher education institutions supported by their Governments. This will allow them to participate on equal terms in the implementation of partnership programmes envisaged by the agreement.

The idea for this forum was born during the II Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum. On Tuesday, 12 December, the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University hosted the opening ceremony of the International Congress ”Africa Seeks Solutions”. More than 100 heads of leading universities, representatives of executive and legislative authorities, as well as big business from more than 40 countries of the continent are taking part in the Congress.

In December, the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University will host the International Congress ”Africa Seeks Solutions”, during which the Russian-African Consortium of Technical Higher Education Institutions will be established and the relevant founding documents will be signed. The task of the new structure will be to develop and coordinate co-operation between the parties in the field of education and science, as well as to promote sustainable development of the extractive and processing sectors.

The Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University and China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT) have prolonged the international co-operation agreement. Rector of the first technical university of Russia Vladimir Litvinenko and his colleague from China Song Xuefeng put their signatures on the document. They emphasised their mutual desire for closer integration.

Behrouz Abtahi, Vice Chancellor for International Relations of Iran’s Shahid Beheshti University, paid a working visit to the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. During the meeting with the Dean of the Mining Faculty Oleg Kazanin he discussed the prospects of co-operation between the two universities in the field of research related to deep-sea mining of solid minerals.

The President of Russia has wished the faculty, staff, students, postgraduates and graduates of Russia’s first technical university success and all the best. On Tuesday, October 31, Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory telegram to the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, which will celebrate its 250th anniversary tomorrow.

He noted that without co-operation it is impossible to improve competitiveness in the international arena, to solve the problem of training personnel for high-tech mineral and raw materials complex and to increase the share of scientific and technical component in the educational process.

The Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug will develop professional standards for the industry, as well as mechanisms for effective implementation of innovations at mining and processing enterprises.

On the 319th anniversary of the founding of the city on the Neva, a delegation of Ambassadors of Latin America came to the St. Petersburg Mining University on a working visit.