SPbPU Contributes Expertise at the International Congress ‘Africa Seeks Solutions’

From December 11 to 15, the polytechnic took part in the international congress «Africa is looking for solutions». Delegates from more than 25 countries gathered at the St. Petersburg Mining University of Empress Catherine the Great.

From the African side came more than 100 heads of leading universities, representatives of executive and legislative authorities, big business. Among them were Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Development of Zimbabwe Murwira Amon, Minister of Natural Resources of Nigeria Oladele Olake, Deputy Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Egypt Alaa Hashab.

SPbPU was represented by Pavel Nedelko, Assistant Vice-Rector for International Affairs, Maxim Zalyvsky, Head of the Project Office of the Russian-African Network University (RAFU), Togo Issa and Natalia Braila, Associate Professors of the Graduate School of Hydraulic and Power Engineering, and Irina Zaichenko, Associate Professor of the Graduate School of Production Management, as well as students from Algeria, Uganda, Botswana, Zambia, Morocco, Egypt, Angola, Ethiopia and other countries.

Working with international undergraduate and graduate students involves, first of all, building competent communications. It is important to know the peculiarities of historical, cultural and religious development of a particular country. Attending such events allows us to better understand the specifics of working with foreign students and graduate students, said Irina Zaichenko.

International students of Polytechnic also shared their impressions of the Congress.

Boudjenah Mohamed, a preparatory faculty student from Algeria: At the event, experts analyzed the problems of Africa and got acquainted with a variety of opinions on the possibility of Russian investment to improve the situation and chart the right path to ensure a better future for the African continent.

Audu Bello, PhD student at the Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade: Participating in the congress was a rare opportunity to interact and listen to a variety of opinions on Africa’s subsoil developments, challenges and development strategies that contribute to the welfare of the continent’s countries.

Moussa Ismael Diomande: I am grateful to the Graduate School of Production Management and its director Olga Kalinina for inviting me to the forum. While I was working on my thesis on the conceptualization of socio-economic development of Côte d’Ivoire, it is very important for me to participate in such events, where I can get the most relevant information and ask questions to the speakers. In addition, I was very pleased to meet and communicate with graduate students from other universities from my country.

Maxim Zalyvsky summarized the event: At the congress «Africa is looking for solutions» we once again made sure that the African continent at the current stage of development is in urgent need of new professional staff with modern competencies in the field of engineering, technical sciences and, in particular, specialists for prospecting and exploration of mineral resources. The importance of organizing academic exchanges with Russia for young researchers and students who can receive in our country all the knowledge and skills necessary for work in their African countries was emphasized. Russia is ready to share not only the best practices of training highly qualified specialists, but also the real experience of effective management of industrial enterprises, including mineral and raw materials sector, processing plants. In this regard, the importance of building cooperation with African countries in three directions — academic, industrial and at the level of state structures was also emphasized. This approach is the most effective for achieving real positive results in Russian-African cooperation in higher education and science.