Nguyen Thang

Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University has launched the selection process for candidates to participate in the international professional retraining educational program ”Management of Subsoil Use Facilities.” The project is being implemented with the support of the International Competence Centre for Mining Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO.

South Korea is the gold standard of automation; there is already one robot for every 10 employees there. In Russia, the coverage is 100 times lower, but it will still be impossible to keep the country within the previous technological paradigm.

One of the problems hindering the development of the engineering sector is the deep divide between high school and university: the dominance of the Unified State Exam (EGE) destroys systemic thinking and interdisciplinary connections, forming a fragmented, ”clip-like” perception among adolescents. Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University has developed a system of ”seamless” transition that synthesizes elements of both domestic and international educational models.

This spring, Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University organized a series of international trips for its students, postgraduate researchers, and faculty members to partner universities and industrial enterprises. Two cohorts visited China: one traveled to Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, where nearly 40% of China’s coal reserves are concentrated, and the other went to Xuzhou in Jiangsu Province, which serves as a major hub for the mining industry’s scientific and technological centers. A third group flew across the ocean to Ecuador in South America.

At Saint Petersburg Mining University, the outcomes of this year’s first season of the federal project ”University Shifts” were finalized, featuring the participation of 45 tenth-grade pupils from the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics. The participants were able not only to rest but also to feel like students of a top-tier higher educational institution: to acquire new knowledge, interact closely with professors and university students, and—for some—to firmly decide on their future profession.

On the eve of Russian Language Day, a presentation session for students of the preparatory department for international students was held at the Center for Language Competencies of Saint Petersburg Mining University. Upon the completion of their one-year course of study, they demonstrated their proficiency in the Russian language within the conditions of a real conference, featuring a panel of judges and spontaneous questions from the audience.

A Mongolian delegation led by the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Gongor Damdinyam, visited the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. The delegation included the leadership of the Russian representative office of the state-owned company ”Erdenes Mongol” and two of its subsidiaries: ”Erdenes Gaz,” which is responsible for the construction of the ”Power of Siberia” gas pipeline through the territory of Mongolia, and ”Erdenes UTP” (Industrial and Technological Parks of the Mining Industry).

On Thursday, June 4, during the main business day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a thematic session titled ”Rare, Strategic: Sovereignty and International Cooperation in the Field of REM and Critical Minerals” was held. It became one of the central events of SPIEF-2026. As noted by the moderator, Ilya Dronov, Managing Director of the RBC TV channel, everyone today talks about artificial intelligence, yet frequently forgets that its very existence is owed to rare-earth metals.

The first three groups of students from Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University have returned from their internships in China and Ecuador, which took place from April 27 to May 12. These programs became the largest-scale in recent years, both in terms of the number of participants (59 students and instructors) and structural content. Two delegations visited the Chinese cities of Taiyuan and Xuzhou, while their colleagues traveled to Ecuador. For two weeks, the St.

Representatives of Algerian and Indonesian media outlets and internet channels visited Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University as part of a media tour aimed at attracting students from foreign nations to Russia.

During the period from April 29 to May 13, 2026, a delegation from Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University participated in the international short-term educational program for acquiring supplementary competencies titled ”Scientific and Technological Development in the Sphere of Energy Security,” hosted by Taiyuan University of Technology.

The delegation from Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University spent nearly two weeks in the PRC. The trip was organized by the International Competence Centre for Mining Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO as part of the Summer School program.

In late April and early May, a delegation of faculty members and students from Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University completed an industrial and academic internship at Taiyuan University of Technology and Shanxi University of Technology, as well as at various enterprises across the People’s Republic of China.

On Wednesday, May 20, on World Metrology Day, Sergey Gustov, Director General of OOO Gazprom Mezhregiongaz, presented Vladimir Litvinenko, Rector of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, with a symbolic key to a new training metrology laboratory dedicated to preparing specialists for the gas industry.

A delegation from Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University has returned from the Republic of Ecuador, where they participated for two weeks in the “International Engineering Practice 2026” educational program, conducted in a “summer school” format.

Recently, Bloomberg published an article stating that the United States’ sanctions capacity has reached its limit and is beginning to lose momentum. Even prior to this, Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged that, as dedollarization gains strength, Washington is losing its ability to pursue a policy of sanctions pressure against its opponents and competitors.