The CASE-IN Championship helps AmSU students find a job during their studies

There are scarce specialists who can find work while still studying — this is what they say about their graduates at the Department of Geology and Environmental Management at Amur State University. Over the past 20 years, more than 300 people have graduated. Today they work at the leading enterprises of the mineral resource complex of the region. Meanwhile, the labor market is now clearly demonstrating the shortage of personnel in the mining sector: with 1,832 vacancies available, there are only 0.3 resumes per place. These data are indicated in the navigator of sought-after professions in the Far East for 2022-2026. At the same time, the competition for the "applied geology" program among applicants is low. Professor Dmitry Yusupov, Acting Head of the Department of Geology and Environmental Management at AmSU, explained why this is the case and what requirements employers place on young professionals.

AmSU is a partner of the International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN".  Far Eastern students regularly participate in the prestigious presidential platform project "Russia – the Land of Opportunities", demonstrating their innovative developments to the industry community. The university acts as a platform for the qualifying stages of the championship and a dialogue between industry youth and the largest industrial companies.

Passing grade on the way to the profession

During the two decades of the IsU department's existence, its students were most often graduates of schools in the north of the Amur region — Tyndinsky, Zeya, Selemdzhinsky districts. It is not uncommon for young people whose relatives are engaged in mining to choose the profession of a geologist.

"A paradoxical situation has been developing in recent years. The demand for mining engineers in the labor market remains high, and there is still an acute shortage of specialists. At the same time, the competition among applicants for the field of applied geology is less than two people per place," says Dmitry Yusupov. — There are several reasons why this is happening. One of them concerns the recruitment of applicants for engineering specialties in general, and not only at our university. The fact is that school graduates sometimes do not get the required minimum score on the Unified State Exam in order to apply for admission. The list of entrance tests for applicants of our department includes Russian language, physics and specialized mathematics. It is physics that is often the "weak link" for applicants."

According to the head of the department, now an applicant can replace physics with computer science or a foreign language when applying for documents, if the score in these disciplines is higher.

To look at geology "from the inside"

There is another reason why the competition for "applied geology" remains low. "Many students who demonstrate academic success prefer to enroll in universities in the central part of Russia," says Dmitry Valerievich.

To attract the attention of boys and girls to a sought-after profession that provides guaranteed employment, the department's specialists conduct career guidance among young people, organize events for schoolchildren, telling them about which specialists in the field of subsoil use the department trains, about employment prospects for graduates, and career growth for specialists.

The AmSU has established museum rooms: the Museum of Mineralogy and Petrography, as well as the Museum of Historical Geology. Guided tours and master classes are held here, allowing you to look at the profession of a geologist "from the inside".

Despite the fact that geologist is traditionally a male profession, there are girls in almost every group of students studying at the Department of Geology and Environmental Management.

"As a rule, it is the girls who become the group leaders and help with discipline. We are always very happy if there is a representative of the fair sex among the students in the new group of applicants on September 1," say the staff of the department.

Olympiads, championships, and scientific work

Almost from the moment of its foundation, the department has been actively engaged in scientific work. So, from 2006 to 2022, the staff of the Department of IsU published 15 monographs at the AmSU publishing house on topics related to the study of mineral deposits and rational use of natural resources in the Amur Region. Most of the monographs have a practical focus.

Students are also involved in events, including scientific ones. For two years in a row, future mining engineers from AmSU have been participating in the annual All-Russian Student Olympiad in the discipline "Modeling the structure of solid mineral deposits." The event is organized by the Institute of Mining, Geology and Geotechnology of the Siberian Federal University. Last year, the team from AmSU took the third place at the Olympics. For three years in a row, students of the department have been participating in Student League of the International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN", in the field of "geological exploration". Last year, the Amur University team reached the finals of the championship.

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