Nguyen Thang

Why do young researchers in China and Russia face fundamentally different challenges? What led the Celestial Empire to technological leadership, and Russia’s first engineering university to top positions in international educational rankings? Which scientific fields interest candidates of sciences in both countries today?

The International Scientific and Practical Dialogue on Defining Methodological Approaches in Postgraduate Studies, titled ”Step into Science,” has commenced at Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. To take part in the discussion and exchange experience, 30 young researchers from Taiyuan University of Technology—one of the Mining University’s principal partners among engineering universities of the People’s Republic of China—have arrived in Russia.

Participants in the international program Management of Subsoil Use Facilities at Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University completed an interactive course under the guidance of former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl. This experience enabled them to receive an impartial assessment of the development prospects of the African continent from a well-known diplomat, expert in international relations and the global economy, and head of the Geopolitical Observatory for Russia’s Key Issues (G.O.R.K.I.) at Saint Petersburg State University.

Namibia, a country in southwestern Africa with a population of about 3 million, has in recent years become one of the most attractive destinations on the continent’s investment map. With a GDP of approximately 30 billion dollars and a per capita income of around 11 thousand dollars, the country demonstrates steady economic growth, largely thanks to its exceptionally rich mineral resources.

The UBRSP-100 unit for the development and servicing of oil and gas wells was manufactured by Hydropromservice Research and Production Association LLC by order of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. It will become part of the equipment complex for the superdeep research well in the Komi Republic.

The season of the 71st Russian Antarctic Expedition became exceptional in many respects. It marked the drilling of the first research wells at Progress Station and the first Russian studies in Antarctica using the method of magnetotelluric sounding. But there is yet another reason that made the current expedition special. This year, a woman joined the Field Team of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, which has been conducting research at the polar stations of the White Continent for more than 70 years.

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Gabonese Republic, Sosthène Ndembe, paid a working visit to Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. The country is implementing a program aimed at developing domestic mineral processing capacities and therefore needs to strengthen its human resource potential.

By Presidential Decree of February 26, 2026, the ”National Center for Personnel and Scientific Support of the Mineral Resources Complex ”Corps of Mining Engineers was established on the basis of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. Among the tasks assigned to the university are the organization and conduct of scientific research and design work at the Russian Antarctic research station Vostok, as well as scientific research in the field of deep metageology. Why was the role of chief coordinator in these areas entrusted to the country’s first technical university?

Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University cooperates with colleagues from the Islamic Republic across a dozen areas. These include general academic internships for students, “summer schools” and programs devoted to the study of culture and history, joint cross-publication of scholarly articles, and regular seminars.

On Thursday, February 26, a decree of the President of Russia was signed on the creation of the ”National Center for Personnel and Scientific Support of the Mineral Resources Complex ”Corps of Mining Engineers”.

At Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, the short-term internship program “International Engineering Practice 2026” has been launched. The internships will be delivered in the format of summer schools hosted by the University’s international partner institutions. Students who pass the competitive selection will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the academic and research environments of China, India, Iran, and Latin American countries.

On the Ice Continent, the polar team of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University is summarizing the first results of its completed fieldwork. Geologists, geophysicists, and drillers begin analyzing their findings while still in Antarctica, then continue during the long journey home, although the main body of scientific interpretation will, of course, take place at the university.

Technical inspection of a 220-ton haul truck; driving and maneuvering; loading and unloading into a crusher; dumping to a spoil heap; braking—these and other operations are practiced by students of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University as part of the additional professional competency (APC) “Cat Open-Pit Haul Truck Operator.” The training, however, takes place not at a mine, but in a classroom of the Competence Center for Mining Haulage Systems, equipped with Caterpillar heavy-equipment simulator trainers.

Improving higher education is impossible while the school system remains at a dead end. Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University consistently draws the attention of the public and the country’s leadership to this problem—thereby provoking dissatisfaction within the tutoring community: a high-quality school system would deprive them of their “bread and butter.” At times, open resistance emerges from education entrepreneurs. A recent example is an appeal to the President of the Russian Federation by a Saint Petersburg Russian-language tutor, Roman Minasyan.

Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University has signed an international cooperation agreement with one of India’s most prestigious universities, the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.

In the foreseeable future, India intends to make a strategic shift—from serving as a global supplier of talent to becoming a “magnet” that attracts gifted students from all parts of the world.