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The Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University is celebrating its 250th anniversary. Today, Russia’s first institution of higher technical education is not only a forge of personnel for companies in the mineral resources sector, but also one of the country’s largest scientific clusters. There are 8 major structural subdivisions engaged in both applied and fundamental research in a wide range of areas, from reducing the anthropogenic impact on the environment to producing unique high-margin end-use products.

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.

Rector Vladimir Litvinenko emphasized that on November 1, the birthday will be celebrated not only by the university itself, but also by the entire system of higher technical education in the country.

Three of them became holders of the Order of Friendship, thirteen more became holders of medals of the Order ”For Services to the Fatherland” II degree.

Among the main problems hindering Russia’s economic development, the rector of the Mining University named the shortage of engineering personnel in the raw materials sector and the low level of young scientists studying at postgraduate programs.

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.

Among the main problems he named the transition to a two-tier system of higher education, as well as insufficient co-operation between universities.

Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, said that our country should start the procedure of withdrawal from the Bologna process and develop its own system of training graduates. How relevant is the next reform of higher education today? And has the introduction of Western standards really lowered the level of graduates of domestic universities?

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).

In 1949, the investigation of a large group of geologists, called the ”Krasnoyarsk Case”, resounded throughout the USSR. Twenty-seven people, including 4 academicians and corresponding members of the USSR Academy of Sciences and 10 professors, doctors of geological and mineralogical sciences, were put under investigation. The main accused was Joseph Grigoriev, who, according to the investigation, ”maliciously hid valuable mineral deposits from the Soviet state and deliberately directed research work along a false path”.