Student league "CASE-IN" opened in MGRI-RGGRU

On February 20, 2018, at the Russian State Geological Exploration University named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze in Moscow hosted the grand opening of the Student League of the International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN", as well as the qualifying stages of the directions "Exploration", "Mining", "Oil and gas business".

President Vasily Lisov, Acting Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Vladimir Kulikov, Acting Vice-rector for Educational Work Yuri Panov, representatives of the faculty and administrative staff took part in the opening of the CASE-IN championship on the part of MGRI-RGGRU. The guests were represented by senior heads of ministries and departments of the Russian Federation, leading industrial enterprises of various forms of ownership.

Artem Korolev, Director of the Reliable Change Foundation and founder of the Youth Mining Leaders Forum, gave a brief introductory speech. He stressed that 111 Russian universities are participating in the Student League this year. "Your University is the first to open the engineering championship. This is especially symbolic in the year of your centenary. But tomorrow other universities will join the championship," Korolev stressed.

Indeed, there is a progressive trend: 11 universities took part in the first championship, and today there are more than 100 of them. In 2018, competitions are held in six areas, and the championship includes 4 Leagues: school, specialized secondary, student and young professionals.

Artem Korolev emphasized that the International Engineering Championship is held under the patronage of 8 federal ministries and departments. These are the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry for the Development of the Far East, as well as Rosmolodezh and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives.

Vladimir Kulikov, Acting Vice–Rector for Academic Affairs, spoke on behalf of the host of the Student League, the Russian State Geological Exploration University. He urged the participants not to worry and to win with the strongest, emphasizing that the competitions are held in the year of the 100th anniversary of MGRI-RGGRU.

After welcoming the winners of last year, the "Handymen" team consisting of Olga Vladimirtseva, Sergey Korotkov, Mikhail Mityugov and Ilya Protasov, Artem Korolev and Vladimir Kulikov, together with them, cut the symbolic red ribbon and the CASE-IN Student League was opened.

Then the trustees and curators of the championship spoke with parting words. Sergey Mochalnikov, Director of the Department of Coal and Peat Industry of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, greeted the participants. He stressed that the Case-In championship is already six years old, and its popularity is only growing. "I wish the championship to achieve the popularity of KVN!" the head of the Department of the Ministry of Energy wished the organizers and participants. He emphasized that the Russian State Geological Exploration University is not opening the championship in the year of its centenary for nothing: "With your staff, the elite of the geological industry, we are confidently looking to the future."

Igor Lobovsky, President of the Association for the Development of International Energy Research and Projects, Global Energy, drew attention to the fact that this project implements a unique technological age chain: childhood – high school students – graduate students – young scientists. Then he spoke about the possibilities of grant programs in the field of energy - the programs "Energy of Youth", "Breakthrough Energy" and "Global Energy", which became the "Putin Prize" in the field of energy for students and young scientists, and congratulated MGRI-RGGRU on its 100th anniversary.

Alexander Smetanov, Deputy Chairman of the Commission on Science and Industry of the Moscow City Duma, welcomed the participants of the championship on behalf of the deputies and his committee of the Moscow State Duma, the Union of Industrialists of Moscow. He said: "Moscow needs your heads, your hands, your new, innovative technologies. The very technologies that you will be offering at this championship. I am convinced that the strongest will win. But in the end, all of you will win. Russia will win, Russian science will win."

Alexey Tarasov, Chief Manager of the Advanced Planning Department of Rosgeologiya JSC, spoke as a representative of a potential employer. He stressed that all participants in this competition will be interesting to Rosgeologiya: "The tasks that we will have to solve in the near future are non–standard. We are interested to see the approaches that you can suggest."

 And Fyodor Strygin, Deputy director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Rospredpriimatel", noted the role of the Championship as one of the new social elevators. "This is a unique project because it started as a student initiative, and now it has an impact on the entire system of geological education in the country. This is one of the tools, social elevators that help a young person build their career and achieve professional success," said Strygin.

After the grand opening, the first qualifying stages of the "CASE-IN" took place, during which the participants presented solutions to engineering cases on the unified theme of the Arctic Development championship. Their decisions were evaluated by an expert commission consisting of specialists from Rosgeologiya JSC, IBM Montan LLC, Micromine Rus LLC and other relevant departments and organizations.

Nine teams competed in the field of Geological Exploration, as a result, the first place was taken by the "Path in Geo" consisting of captain Anastasia Frolova, Anna Vasina, Egor Karmanov and Anna Panova. In the field of Oil and Gas business, Team Energy won out of five teams: captain Viktor Perekrestov, Kamil Omarov and Linar Fahretdinov. And among the seven teams in the field of Mining, the Izumrud team became the best: captain Vladislav Tivonenko, Elizaveta Kochkina and Marat Nurbol Neto. They became the first finalists of the Student League of the International Engineering Championship, which will be held in May 2018.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev noted at the Sochi forum that the change of elites expected in the scientific, technical and educational environment in the coming years will require new innovative solutions. The CASE-IN Championship serves precisely this noble purpose.

In its century–long history, the Geological Exploration University has created a tradition of training the elite of the geological industry. "CASE-IN" is one of such platforms, and the winning students of MGRI-RGGRU once again confirmed the honorary title of guardians of the traditions of geological exploration.

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