Teachers of the Department of General Electrical Engineering, Department of Electric Power and Electromechanics, Department of Automation of Manufacturing Procedures and Manufactures visited Siemens’ research and development centers as well as production sites in four German cities. Cooperation of the parties was carried out in the frame of International Competence Centre for Mining-Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO.
Siemens is one of the world leaders in the field of digitization of manufacturing and energy systems. University representatives completed an internship at several sites. They got acquainted with the operation center for training certified teaching staff and students in the field of mechatronic systems. Together with their colleagues from University of Applied Sciences Amberg-Weiden, the guests from St. Petersburg discussed prospects of training of highly qualified personnel for the industry.
"Currently an intense debate is going on in German and international scientific and industrial community regarding what skills the engineers are required to possess under the current trends of the fourth industrial revolution. They must be able to adapt to the rapidly changing technological world of collaborations. The Mining University has a skillful, competent team and excellent laboratory facilities. It is a strong foundation for forming the competencies of the future, necessary for the digital transformation of the mineral resources sector," said Yury Zhukovsky, an associate professor of the Department of Electric Power and Electromechanics.
At the Siemens Innovation Center, the guests learned the "Machine Learning" technologies, which are used to control the manufacturing machinery and robots.
In addition, a tour to Festo and Festo Didactis companies’ real manufacturing sites was organized for the delegation members. There the guests got acquainted with modern developments in the field of automation.
It is noteworthy recalling that on March 7th an agreement on the establishment of the International Competence Centre for Mining-Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO based in the St. Petersburg Mining University was signed in Paris. Its main goal is raising the engineering educational level as well as ensuring capitalization growth of domestic public companies and their experts’ qualifications; hence, attracting world-leading technologies to the industry.