This spring, Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University organized a series of international trips for its students, postgraduate researchers, and faculty members to partner universities and industrial enterprises. Two cohorts visited China: one traveled to Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, where nearly 40% of China’s coal reserves are concentrated, and the other went to Xuzhou in Jiangsu Province, which serves as a major hub for the mining industry’s scientific and technological centers. A third group flew across the ocean to Ecuador in South America.