Society

The season of the 71st Russian Antarctic Expedition became exceptional in many respects. It marked the drilling of the first research wells at Progress Station and the first Russian studies in Antarctica using the method of magnetotelluric sounding. But there is yet another reason that made the current expedition special. This year, a woman joined the Field Team of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, which has been conducting research at the polar stations of the White Continent for more than 70 years.

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Gabonese Republic, Sosthène Ndembe, paid a working visit to Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. The country is implementing a program aimed at developing domestic mineral processing capacities and therefore needs to strengthen its human resource potential.

By Presidential Decree of February 26, 2026, the ”National Center for Personnel and Scientific Support of the Mineral Resources Complex ”Corps of Mining Engineers was established on the basis of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. Among the tasks assigned to the university are the organization and conduct of scientific research and design work at the Russian Antarctic research station Vostok, as well as scientific research in the field of deep metageology. Why was the role of chief coordinator in these areas entrusted to the country’s first technical university?

On Thursday, February 26, a decree of the President of Russia was signed on the creation of the ”National Center for Personnel and Scientific Support of the Mineral Resources Complex ”Corps of Mining Engineers”.

At Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, the short-term internship program “International Engineering Practice 2026” has been launched. The internships will be delivered in the format of summer schools hosted by the University’s international partner institutions. Students who pass the competitive selection will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the academic and research environments of China, India, Iran, and Latin American countries.

On the Ice Continent, the polar team of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University is summarizing the first results of its completed fieldwork. Geologists, geophysicists, and drillers begin analyzing their findings while still in Antarctica, then continue during the long journey home, although the main body of scientific interpretation will, of course, take place at the university.

Technical inspection of a 220-ton haul truck; driving and maneuvering; loading and unloading into a crusher; dumping to a spoil heap; braking—these and other operations are practiced by students of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University as part of the additional professional competency (APC) “Cat Open-Pit Haul Truck Operator.” The training, however, takes place not at a mine, but in a classroom of the Competence Center for Mining Haulage Systems, equipped with Caterpillar heavy-equipment simulator trainers.

Improving higher education is impossible while the school system remains at a dead end. Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University consistently draws the attention of the public and the country’s leadership to this problem—thereby provoking dissatisfaction within the tutoring community: a high-quality school system would deprive them of their “bread and butter.” At times, open resistance emerges from education entrepreneurs. A recent example is an appeal to the President of the Russian Federation by a Saint Petersburg Russian-language tutor, Roman Minasyan.

Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University has signed an international cooperation agreement with one of India’s most prestigious universities, the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.

In the foreseeable future, India intends to make a strategic shift—from serving as a global supplier of talent to becoming a “magnet” that attracts gifted students from all parts of the world.