An important meeting of African foreign ministers and Sergei Lavrov will take place in Cairo on December 19-20. A delegation from St. Petersburg Mining University, which plays a flagship role in educational cooperation with the continent, will take part in the forum. This cooperation is aimed at solving a key problem for Africa – improving the quality of training of engineers for the mineral resources sector.
Africa has enormous natural resources. It accounts for a significant portion of the world’s cobalt reserves, lithium, platinum and other strategic resources, the demand for which will only grow. However, today the continent is almost not involved in the processing of these riches and the creation of finished products. The reason is an acute shortage of our own highly qualified engineering personnel and technologies. This leads to the fact that the main income from mining goes abroad, and the standard of living in most African countries remains extremely low.
To change this situation, it is critical for African states to move along the value chain – from the extraction of raw materials to their deep processing and production. This path is impossible without a modern scientific base and our own professional specialists. It is higher school that becomes the locomotive of these changes, ensuring technological sovereignty.
St. Petersburg Mining University offers practical assistance to African countries in personnel training. The university actively interacts with the continent through the Subsoil of Africa consortium and the International Competence Center under the auspices of UNESCO. Recently, specific agreements were reached at the Russian-African Raw Materials Dialogue with the participation of representatives of 32 countries.
African partners showed particular interest in the International Standard for the Training of Mining Engineers, developed in university. The lack of uniform qualification requirements hinders the development of the industry. The parties also agreed on large-scale cooperation with the Association of African Universities, which unites more than 400 universities.
The new annual program “Management of Subsoil Use Facilities” is very popular among specialists with higher education from Africa. It allows you to deepen your knowledge both in the engineering field and in the field of enterprise management. The competition for a place is hundreds of people, which indicates high demand.
The student community plays an important role in strengthening connections. Young participants in the Dialogue adopted a special declaration, emphasizing their willingness to be an engine of progress and establish effective knowledge exchange between universities in Russia and Africa.
The strategic partnership between Russia and Africa in the field of education is reaching a new level. It moves from theory to concrete projects that help African countries develop national workforces capable of turning natural resources into a source of real economic growth and improved human well-being. St. Petersburg Mining University, as one of the leaders in this process, offers practical solutions and successful experience that is in demand throughout the continent.
Source: ria.ru
