Society

As part of its Summer Schools program, Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University has welcomed its twelfth group of international students, postgraduate researchers, and faculty members for the current academic year.

The oldest technical university in Russia celebrated its 249th graduation ceremony—just one year before its landmark anniversary. The graduates included bachelor’s, specialist, and master’s degree holders. Family members and professors gathered to congratulate the former students, now highly qualified engineers. As tradition dictates, the event began with the anthem of the Mining University.

Two groups of students and postgraduate researchers from the Indian Institutes of Technology in Kharagpur and Dhanbad completed a short-term training program at Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University as part of the international summer schools. The academic programs focused on current trends in the oil and gas industry and petroleum geology. The classes were organized by the Department of Petroleum and Gas Geology and conducted in English.

— Here’s English for you. Learn it from cover to cover — I’ll come and check! — Why do we need English? — We’re going to rob an embassy! This was the motivational speech delivered by the Assistant Professor to his ”wards” in the cult Soviet comedy Gentlemen of Fortune. The takeaway: even criminals, bandits, and other “unconscious” citizens acknowledged the authority and potential of learning a foreign language.

One of the key events at this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was the Russia–Africa Business Dialogue. Its central theme could be summarized as the pursuit of economic sovereignty by the countries of the African continent.

Domestic expertise in the field of efficient subsoil use will contribute to strengthening the technological sovereignty of the continent. Participants of the one-year full-time professional retraining program “Management of Subsoil Use Facilities” will include employees of resource extraction companies, government authorities, and universities from Africa. Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University has launched the selection process for the program.

When the scientists of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University planned their two-month trip to the People’s Republic of China, they understood that although the primary objective was scientific research, the visit would be incomplete without exploring innovative enterprises and industrial sites. Bridging the gap between fundamental science and production is a crucial prerequisite for economic development through technology transfer—something well understood in China.

In April–May 2025, nine postgraduate students from Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University completed a scientific internship at Taiyuan University of Technology. Upon returning to their alma mater, they shared the results and impressions of their trip with colleagues — deans, department heads, students, and fellow postgraduates — during an academic seminar. Setting the tone and direction of the event, the university’s rector, Vladimir Litvinenko, cited Pyotr Kapitsa: “Science must be a cheerful, captivating, and simple endeavor.”

The Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University was visited by the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Trương Thanh Hoài. This visit can be considered an ”echo” of the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Tô Lâm, in May 2025, when the leaders of the two countries adopted a Joint Declaration on the main directions of Russian-Vietnamese relations in the framework of comprehensive strategic partnership.

A distinguished delegation from Taiyuan University of Technology met with the leadership of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. The main agenda of the meeting was the creation of a joint educational institution that will train engineering specialists for both countries.