The Competence Center under the auspices of UNESCO has announced international programs for the universities of the Nedra Consortium for 2022.

Vladimir Borzenkov, General Director of the Center of Competence in Mining Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO, made an online presentation of international academic mobility programs for students, postgraduates and young candidates of science for 2022. More than one hundred vice-rectors and university staff members of the Nedra Consortium took part in the remote meeting.

Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Alexey Elizariev, Vice-Rector for Digitalization Evgeny Parfenov, Head of the Department of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics Nafisa Yusupova, acting Head of International Cooperation Department Guzel Ibragimova represented USATU.

In cooperation with major European universities, the Center has already successfully implemented several educational projects. All of them will be continued next year.

The first 20 participants of the joint program of the Nedra Consortium and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) were awarded certificates. 14 postgraduate students and 6 candidates of science from Russian universities were given the opportunity to go for an internship at leading universities in Germany. Among the grantees, there are three representatives of USATU - graduate student Rustem Nagimov, candidates of sciences Andrey Medvedev and Tagir Muslimov.

The Consortium's contract with DAAD is concluded for four years, with the possibility of prolongation for another four. Due to the large number of applicants for an internship, in 2022 it was decided to pre-select competitive applications on the basis of the universities that are part of the association. In addition, by April 1, they must send preliminary lists to Nedra, which will be considered by the international commission.

The requirements for the participants are high. This is knowledge of English at the level of 6 - 6.5 IELTS (alternative - German), and a high-quality research project, agreed with the host. Therefore, a young Russian scientist, even before participating in the DAAD program, must choose the German university in which he wants to intern, and at least be acquainted with the German professor who will supervise him.

 The director of the International Competence Center paid special attention to one more condition. Despite the fact that an agreement is signed with the participants of the program, containing the obligation to return to their home university to continue research, and an agreement has been reached with the German side not to make proposals to Russians unilaterally; such cooperation always raises concerns about the so-called "brain drain". Moreover, here we cannot do with only legal guarantees.

“Please nominate candidates who adhere to our common philosophy. Those who understand that it is precisely in Russia that they need it and connect the future with Russian science and with teaching at our universities,”said Vladimir Borzenkov.

Funding for the program is carried out in equal proportions: 50 percent of the funds are provided by the German government, and the other half - by the Mining University. During the internship, the participants are paid a scholarship. Postgraduate students who spend six months abroad will receive 1200 euros a month, and candidates of science, whose internship is designed for three months, 2000.

Students of the Consortium's universities, who became master's students this year, have the opportunity to participate in another successful international project of the Competence Center - the double master's program. Having applied for it before January 15 through the administration of their universities and having passed a serious selection, they will be able to study in Finland for the second year of the two-year course. The country's best technological university of Lappeenranta, a small town on the Russian-Finnish border, offers more than ten areas of study, from energy and chemistry to management and IT. Such an educational trajectory will not be easy - because, due to the lack of equivalence of curricula, the Russian program will need to be completed remotely. Thesis will have to be defended in two universities - Finnish and your own. But in the end, the graduate will have two documents on higher education at once - domestic and European.

But two diplomas are not the limit. The triple master's program allows graduating, in addition to the Russian one, two more universities - the Mining University of Leoben (Austria) and the Freiberg Mining Academy (Germany). Applications are accepted from bachelors of the last year of study until February 15, also after preliminary selection at their university. Training is conducted in the areas of "Mining" and "Geoecology". The student must spend two semesters abroad, two more in Russia. In the fall of 2021, 20 graduates of Nedra Consortium universities have already started their studies in Europe. The costs of participants in both master's programs for accommodation, travel and meals are covered by grants from the Competence Center, which has managed to build an effective mechanism for identifying and supporting young leaders in the scientific field.

The International Competence Center, created on the basis of the St. Petersburg Mining University, is the only UNESCO institute in the world dealing with topics related to fossil resources. It is not surprising that education abroad occupies such a significant place on his agenda. It is rather a historical tradition. Catherine the Great as the first technical educational institution in the country founded the current Mining University. Today, the largest universities in Russia, united in the Nedra Consortium, with the assistance of the Center, are actually undertaking the same mission - to form a future world-class scientific elite for the country.

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