Global Sustainability

Throughout the summer, the higher school of Russia was shaken by scandals related to existing assessments of the quality of education. For example, the leaders of the 50 largest Russian universities appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a proposal to abolish the current system of state accreditation as ”outdated”. The discussion escalated even further with a beginning of the school year. In fact some universities began planning the complete rejection of traditional lectures and their replacement with online courses. First meeting of the working group involved in development of a new system of state accreditation and licensing of higher education institutions took place on October 10. ”Forpost” asked the Principal of Saint-Petersburg Mining University to comment on this issue. Under the leadership of Vladimir Litvinenko, the University got as high as number 16 in the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings.

The Bologna process was a reason for a few adjustments made to the education systems of many countries. However, some European countries have succeeded in implementing the right to determine their own approach to the process of training future specialists, and Germany was not an exception. Carsten Drebenstedt, Director of Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, told “Forpost” about some specific features of school and university education in the country as well as about the consequences of switching to the two-level qualifications.

Four German students became the participants of the International Summer School ”Geological tour of Crimea” organized by St. Petersburg Mining University.

John Bolton, National Security Advisor of the United States, in his speech at the briefing in Kyiv once again urged European countries to look for new alternatives to the «Nord Stream 2»

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev gave an order to assemble a work team. The team should be ready by the 10th of September, and its primary function is to ensure delivering water supplies to Crimea.

A decision to hold an international youth conference of the World Petroleum Council (WPC) in Saint-Petersburg has fully served its purpose.

Baryte is a mineral that belongs to sulphates, it has a granular structure and perfect cleavage. From Greek the mineral’s name is usually translated as “heavy”, and that is hardly surprising – this stone’s relative weight can be easily felt if one would take it into the hand.

According to survey results, more than 60% of Germany’s population stands for lifting sanctions against our country. One big reason for it is job cuts, as over 60,000 people were fired in those companies, who were mainly oriented on partnering with Russia.

Agate is a semitransparent silicon oxide, which has been known to humanity for over 6,000 years. The mineral itself is easily distinguishable from other stones, as is has specific embedded markings as well as it offers incredibly rich colour palette. Naturally there are more than 150 different variations of this stone: ocellar agate (resembles an eye in appearance), moss agate (its markings look similar to moss in its form), fortification agate (multicoloured pattern looks like the old castle ruins), landscape agate (nature images), magical or black agate as well as many others.

As BRICS Summit, which took place this time in South Africa, is over, field experts continue summarizing the end results of this meeting.