Kseniia Pavlova

After visiting the Mining University, the Ambassador of Australia to the Russian Federation stated the need to expand academic cooperation between both countries.

This August, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a visit to Finland to meet his Finnish colleague Sauli Niinistö. It is expected that one of the fruitful areas of our partnership will most likely be introduction of innovations in the field of environmental protection and landfill reclamation.

This September, a new academic year has begun and, with the start of the new school year, traditional discussions on the role of education and universities in Russia have once again resumed.

A number of Finnish universities is keen on cooperating with higher education institutions of St. Petersburg. Why would they do so?

This September marks the 78th anniversary from the day the siege of Leningrad started (Leningrad is a former name of Saint-Petersburg, commonly used throughout the Soviet period or, more precisely, from 1924 till 1991). During that time, up to 1.5 million people were presumably killed - more than nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused, if combined.

The first thing a person probably pays attention to when gets to see a mineral is its color. It also plays a major role in defining the stone’s value. But what if the stone is able to change its appearance and may change from emerald to ruby right in front of your own eyes? As a matter of fact, a mineral in possession of such a rare feature was considered an asset of the premium quality in the Soviet Union. Throughout the whole period of existence of the USSR, there was not a single natural sample sold. Discovery of each mineral was also monitored closely. Moreover, even now many Russians are not aware that their grandmothers’ jewels, kept as family relics, are nothing but the finely crafted by the Government fakes.

Throughout the history, people’s attitude towards minerals has been somewhat mixed. Some stones were believed to be sacred, the others were considered cursed, while the rest were essential to our very existence.

The Korkinsky open-pit coal mine was named as one of the most heartbreaking examples of technological environmental impact in our country.

Among the five thousand minerals known to mankind, there is only one stone that we cannot live without. This one is crucial for the human body, same as food or water, but a completely irrelevant one from the perspective of jewellery.

Over the past 20 years, the global petrochemical industry has seen steady growth - up to 7% per year. What about Russia though? Will we stand the competition with the countries as Saudi Arabia, the US and the others who invest billions of dollars in the industry?

LUT University is now the key partner university in Finland for the International Competence Centre for Mining-Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO.

Beauty is power. Surprisingly, the same statement may be applied with success to the world of minerals. At all times, people were ready to do a lot to gain natural wealth. Thus, to get their hands on one of the most beautiful gems on the planet, people were killing, betraying and plotting against each other at the state-level scale.

Students of Lanzhou University of Technology came to the Mining University to participate in the International Summer School, named ”Modern Energy Technologies”. Last summer, both undergraduate and postgraduate students from Chinese university took training within exactly the same programme. Upon finishing their internship, they admitted being impressed by Saint-Petersburg as well as by the studies themselves. This year, three groups of students - over a hundred people - participated in the programme.

Until the middle of the twentieth century, mankind was unaware of the existence of this stone. During the next twenty years, the mineral had no official name, and American and Russian scientists were fighting for the right to be considered its discoverers.

It has been a second year in a row for students of the AGH University of Science and Technology (Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza im. Stanisława Staszica w Krakowie) at the Mining University. For the second time as well, they have chosen the two week-long international summer school programme ”Modern Technologies of Drilling Wells, Transport and Storage of Oil & Gas.”

Among the most expensive minerals on earth are diamonds, sapphires, rubies, platinum and gold. The majority of people on this planet would consider owning these precious metals and stones as a sign of prosperity. However, 1.4 billion Chinese are unlikely to share the same opinion.