Diego Monterrey

На площадке академического центра «Солнечное» Санкт-Петербургского горного университета состоялся семинар, в котором приняли участие 84 преподавателя из числа кураторов студентов первого курса

This August, 140 students of the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University had a holiday at the educational base of Russia’s first technical university in Kavgolovo, on the shore of one of the most beautiful lakes in the Leningrad Region. Forpost decided to find out for what merits they were awarded vouchers to the summer fitness and recreation camp and what impressions from their stay in it remained with young people.

The transfer of knowledge that is not useful in the workplace is perhaps the main problem of higher education in Russia. It is no coincidence that Vladimir Putin’s August instruction to create a sovereign university ranking focuses attention on assessing the employability of graduates. The decree on the pilot project to improve the higher education system (dated 12.05.2023) is also primarily aimed at strengthening the integration of universities with the real economy.

Rector of Russia’s first technical university Vladimir Litvinenko told about it during a meeting with students. The Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University held a ceremony of awarding educational grants to first-year students who won the School Leader competition. Its winners, in case they scored the required minimum threshold score on the USE, last summer received a guaranteed right to enrol in the university even before the final results of the admission campaign were announced.

In 2023, for the first time since our country joined the Bologna Process, the number of budgetary places in the first year of specialization at the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University was higher than at the bachelor’s level - 982 versus 940. These are the interim results of the reform of higher education, which started in Russia on the initiative of President Vladimir Putin.

Researchers at the Colorado School of Mines - considered the best university in the world for the quality of mining training - have identified a paradox that threatens the sustainability of the entire human race. On the one hand, our civilization is consuming more and more resources. Moreover, the energy transition, that is, the massive adoption of renewable energy on a global scale, is only increasing the demand for many different metals.

Russia’s withdrawal from the Bologna process implies, first of all, raising the level of basic higher education. This is one of the goals of the pilot project involving 6 domestic universities, which was launched in May this year by the decree of President Vladimir Putin. Today’s first-year students of the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University will get not just an additional year and a half of study to the 4-year bachelor’s degree, but a fundamentally higher quality engineering education closer to the needs of modern production.

A new structural unit, the Institute of Basic Engineering Education, has been established at the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. Its task will be to work on improving the quality of knowledge and skills of the students who entered the first year this year. During three semesters they will study according to absolutely the same programs, regardless of their direction of training. That is, they will master general education and general technical disciplines, which are necessary to form the fundamental base underlying any professional competencies.

The South African city of Gkeberha hosted the Young Scientists Forum, which included the sixth BRICS Young Innovators Competition. A total of 20 applicants from five countries - Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa and India - were selected to take part in the intellectual competition. One of them was Alexandra Buldysko, a postgraduate student of the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University.

Ambassador of India to Russia Pavan Kapoor paid a working visit to the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. He donated more than 50 books on the culture, religion, art and language of his country to the university, and discussed with Rector Vladimir Litvinenko the prospects of cooperation between the two countries in the field of science and education.

Its distinctive feature will be that for the first time in 20 years, the number of first-year students studying at the speciality level will be higher than at the bachelor level.

As it was specified in the university rectorate, this year 500 new studios will be put into operation for students, postgraduates and teachers. All of them are built in accordance with the concept, which absorbed all the best solutions that exist in the world. Forpost decided to find out in what conditions students of the oldest higher technical education institution in Russia live today, how much they pay for a place and what are similar international standards.

”Nizhny Novgorod Archimedes”, as contemporaries called Ivan Kulibin, did not graduate from any university, which, however, did not prevent him from becoming a member and head of the mechanical workshop of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Russia. At a young age, the famous inventor, born in 1735, was trained in locksmithing, turning and watchmaking, but the main baggage of knowledge still received thanks to his curiosity, persistence and feverish desire to create. But how did he feel about the idea of the need for a classical education?

Alexander Fersman’s boisterous scientific activity, assertiveness and even his appearance were reflected in the nicknames he received from his colleagues. He was called ”ball lightning” and ”uncle elephant”. Students and admirers, wishing to demonstrate their involvement in his research, called themselves no other than ”Fersmanides” and ”Fersmanoids”.

In May 2023, Vladimir Putin signed a decree on improving the higher education system. This document initiated a reform designed to bring the training process to a qualitatively higher level and increase the number of competent engineers in the country, which is essential for the sustainable development of the national economy. The Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University became one of the six participants of the pilot project, which have already started to implement the initiative of the Russian President.

The acceptance of original documents on education for admission to specialization and bachelor’s degree programs on a budgetary basis in St. Petersburg universities is over. Already today, August 4, Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University published an order with the results of the admission campaign. In 2023, the oldest technical university in Russia received a record number of applications from applicants: it exceeded 40 thousand. In previous years, this figure varied between 33-35 thousand.