The main one is defending a dissertation and solving a specific engineering problem within it, related to progress in a particular scientific direction.
On Monday, October 4, St. Petersburg Mining University launched a two-week scientific and educational course called “Basic Competencies of a Postgraduate Student.” The idea is to familiarize young scientists, entering the first year of postgraduate school, with the infrastructure of the university, its instrumentation, and laboratory facilities, to tell them about the changes occurring in the system of scientific work organization, and motivate them to actively participate in it.
“Our science is divided into two major blocks," Rector Vladimir Litvinenko addressed the audience in the congress hall of the IFC Gorny. “The first one aims at generating new knowledge, while the second one is an incubator focused on getting a concrete result - either a natural product in the form of technology, which is then implemented in production or an engineering service as part of our business contracts. The first block is fundamental for us, so about 80% of time should be spent on it.
For the system to be effective, the university is constantly modernizing its facilities, opening new specialized laboratories focused on interdisciplinary research, and developing centres for collective use. A recent trend is the creation of scientific incubators, each of which is a specific project aimed at the production of innovative products. Their task includes, among other things, attracting young scientists with similar scientific interests to the experiments. All of this allows us to create an environment of trust, to constantly improve the system of training by attracting the most talented graduates from Mining University itself and other domestic institutions of higher education.
"A postgraduate student’s task is first and foremost to defend a dissertation, which should propose a solution to a specific engineering problem related to progress in a particular scientific direction,” continued Vladimir Litvinenko. “This is a research-based on a large amount of knowledge and culminating in a certain result supported by mathematical and physical calculations. You need to learn as much as you can about your area of interest, be motivated, and spend as much time as possible in the lab because you can’t know the truth without experimenting.”
For the 99 young men and women enrolled in the first-year postgraduate course at Russia’s oldest technical school, 120 areas are offered in which they can write their PhD theses. Among those are energy saving in consumption system, environmental and social principles for mining companies, evaluation of mining companies’ efficiency from the standpoint of the energy transition, hydrogen technologies, use of associated petroleum gas, and so on. In other words, the emphasis is placed on topics that are not only relevant today but are likely to remain so in the long term.
“In the two weeks that the course will run, you should not only finally decide on the area of your work, but also study the opinion of leading experts on the trends that take place in the field of your scientific interests. That is, if we are talking, for example, about hydrogen, you must understand whether we can talk about it as a mineral or not, know what problems exist in the field of its storage and transportation, as well as the application in the electromagnetic induction cycle in thermal power plants and so on. This is a minimum task. Only this way you can become an integral part of the scientific community in the future,” summarized Vladimir Litvinenko.
All vice-rectors, deans, and heads of scientific centres of Mining University attended the meeting. They emphasized that they will help the young scientists to choose the direction of their dissertations and prepare articles for publication in a high-ranking scientific journal (this is a prerequisite for postgraduate students of Mining University). At the same time, “we are talking about a two-way responsibility,” so yesterday’s students should understand that “there are certain expectations associated with their academic work.”
The salary level of postgraduate students is also a strong argument here. During the first semester, in addition to a stipend of 10,000 rubles, they will get a monthly allowance of 50,000 rubles. Its exact amount next year will depend on several indicators, such as the level of English proficiency and the fulfilment of the individual work schedule, which spells out the stages of preparation of the dissertation.
