Rector Evgeny Rybnov and Vice-Rector for Research Evgeny Korolev took part in the meeting of the consortium of universities "Nedra", which took place at the St Petersburg Mining University.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Valery Falkov, Head of the Educational Foundation "Talent and Success" (Sirius) Elena Shmeleva, representatives of the State Duma and the Federation Council, rectors of the universities of the consortium.

The meeting discussed ways to improve engineering education and the quality of training of technical personnel. Valery Falkov recalled that in accordance with the instructions of the President of Russia, work is underway to improve the national system of higher education. As the minister explained, it is proposed to introduce basic (main) higher education with the training of specialists with different duration of study (from four to six years). For the purpose of in-depth industry training of personnel who already have a basic higher education, an opportunity will be provided for obtaining a specialized higher education (master's degree).

“The restructuring of higher engineering education should be considered today as one of the most important tasks for the accelerated socio-economic development of the state. It is necessary to revise the form, duration and content of training of technical personnel so that they are qualitatively correlated with each other. It is important to move away from the opposition of a specialist's degree and a bachelor's degree in the direction of flexibility in the duration of study in the format of basic education. At the same time, the educational process must maintain a balance between fundamentality and applicability of knowledge in the face of changing tasks in the labor market,” said the Minister.

Rector of St Petersburg Mining University Vladimir Litvinenko reported on the specific proposals of the consortium members aimed at developing higher technical education.

Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Science and Higher Education Sergey Kabyshev expressed confidence that technical education should be systematic and continuous.

During the meeting, an initiative was made to develop qualification of teachers on the basis of technical universities. The head of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia proposed to discuss at the next meeting of the consortium the connection between school education and higher technical education, as well as the advanced training of teachers. At the end of the meeting, the minister expressed gratitude to the participants for the constructive discussion of issues and noted the need to create working groups to work out related topics.

The social and professional community of universities "Nedra", of which SPbGASU is a member, unites universities whose fields of study are related to the training of specialists for the mineral resource complex. It was created with the aim of increasing the level of adaptation of universities to the demands of the labor market, supporting talented young researchers and ensuring the stable development of the Russian economy.