Saint-Petersburg Mining University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia:

O. I. Kazanin, Dean of the Mining Faculty, Professor, Doctor of Engineering Sciences, kazanin@spmi.ru
I. B. Sergeev, Dean of the Economics Faculty, Professor, Doctor of Economic Sciences

In focus are the key issues of qualified and competitive mining engineer training in Russian universities. The role of the mining industry in the sustainable development strategy implementation is highlighted, and the present-day challenges in the mining technologies and mine personnel training are structured. After characterizing the main systems of mining education in the developed countries, the authors point at the global orientation of training, possibility to choose individual educational trajectories as well as at the importance of the international acknowledgment of the documents of education and qualification. The top-priority goals on modernization of research activities at mining universities are indentified toward improvement of quality of research findings, extension of cooperation with mining companies and introduction of the results in the training processes. It is shown that continuous professional advance of mining engineers is the basic term of their competitive power. The role of the professional mining societies in the formation of educational framework, in stimulation of continuous professional development of engineers, accreditation of educational programs and in certification of mining engineers is emphasized. The article gives information on the international professional associations of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (Denver, USA) and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (London, GB), on their activities with a view to developing mining education and on the cooperation with the National Association of Mining Engineers of Russia. The positive experience of the international cooperation between mining universities is illustrated.

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