Society

On Friday, 24 May, at the regular meeting of the Academic Council of the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University, twenty-four of the best prepared postgraduate students of the 2nd-4th years were solemnly awarded certificates of ”Professional Teacher”. Thus, the leadership of the oldest technical university in Russia emphasised that the mission of postgraduate studies should be not only to train scientists, but also teachers.

A delegation from the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University took part in the International Symposium of UNESCO Centres held in Kuala Lumpur. This platform united specialists from 23 different countries of the world, whose activities are related to solving tasks that contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Forpost decided to find out what initiatives were voiced by Russians at the forum and how delegates from other countries reacted to them.

This was done as a sign of solidarity with partners from Iran, where a five-day mourning period has begun in connection with the death of the country’s President and his companions in a plane crash. On Tuesday, May 21, flags were lowered on all flagpoles of the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University. In addition, a tripod with a portrait of Ibrahim Raisi was set up in the courtyard of the historical building, to which students, graduate students and employees of the higher educational institution carried flowers throughout the day.

St. Petersburg Mining University of Empress Catherine II became the venue for the international festival ‘Meeting of Cultures’. It gathered about 700 participants from more than 30 universities of the city on the Neva River. Representatives of 14 countries - Vietnam, Guinea, Indonesia, China, Tanzania, Tajikistan and others - introduced the peculiarities of their national culture to numerous spectators.

Dmitry Krutoy, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Russian Federation, paid a working visit to the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University. He familiarised himself with the infrastructure of the university and discussed with Rector Vladimir Litvinenko the prospects of cooperation between our states in the scientific and educational sphere.

A delegation from the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University paid a working visit to the Belarusian city of Polotsk, where it held a number of meetings with representatives of the local business and scientific and educational community. The parties discussed the most promising areas of co-operation, including academic exchange of students and teachers, as well as the creation of needle coke production at the Naftan Refinery using the technology developed by the scientists of the Russian university.

One of the priority tasks of the current modernisation of the higher education system is to increase the role of the institute of mentoring. After all, the educational process should not only contribute to the professional development of students through the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, but also provide the process of moral education of young people. Aristotle argued that the fate of empires ‘depends on the effectiveness of this activity’, and Johann Pestalozzi and Konstantin Ushinsky called it ‘the main purpose of the school’.

The delegation of the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, as part of its visit to the Islamic Republic of course, could not help but visit Tehran. Naturally, this was not about tourism, but about getting acquainted with the largest research institute. This item of the program was separately prescribed in the “road map” of interuniversity cooperation with Shiraz University.

The International Monetary Fund has reported that by the end of the first quarter of 2024, Nigeria has fallen from second to fourth place in Africa in terms of GDP, behind Egypt and Algeria. Why can’t an oil-rich country that was producing almost 2 million barrels per day before the pandemic monetize its natural resources and improve the quality of life of a population that has already reached 229 million? Could the reason be the proverbial “green transition” that has reduced demand for fossil fuels?

The culmination of the visit of the delegation of St. Petersburg Mining University to the Republic of Zimbabwe was a working meeting with Amon Murwira, Head of the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development of this country.