Three Ural teams qualified for the finals of the All-Russian Fuel and Energy Case Solving Championship

On April 14, 2015, Yekaterinburg hosted the qualifying stages of all three leagues of the All-Russian Fuel and Energy Case Solving Championship: mining, geological exploration and the electric power industry. More than 100 future engineers took part in the competition: power engineers from the Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin and mining engineers and geologists from the Ural State Mining University.

The first to compete for a ticket to the finals of the Championship were energy engineering students who competed on the site of the UrFU Energy University. He addressed the participants with welcoming words UrFU Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Sergey Knyazev. He congratulated the participants on the opening of the qualifying stage and expressed confidence that UrFU students would perform well in solving cases and would be able to claim a prize at the Championship finals.

Ural Federal University and Ural State Mining University are strategic training centers for future fuel and energy specialists not only for the Urals, but also for the whole of Russia, so all three qualifying stages of the Championship in Yekaterinburg were held with the support of the Government of the Sverdlovsk Region. Igor Chikrizov, Deputy Minister of Energy and Housing of the Sverdlovsk Region, He noted the role of the Championship in preserving and transferring experience between generations of professionals: "The championship allows us to maintain stability in the training of personnel for the fuel and energy complex, to maintain the continuity of generations in various sectors of the fuel and energy complex. I wish you success at the Championship, so that future employers will pay attention to you, so that you can perform well at the finals."

The championship attracts the attention of leading fuel and energy sector employers who are interested in forming a talent pool and attracting promising young professionals.

The general partner of the Championship is JSC SO UES, for which participation in the Championship is This is an additional opportunity to evaluate the quality of training for power engineering students, including students enrolled in specialized System Operator programs. Performance Peter Erokhin, Advisor to the Director of JSC SO UES, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor of the UralENIN UrFU Department of Automated Electrical Systems, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Reliable Change Foundation, It became a real historical sketch of the formation of the Reliable Change Foundation, its interaction with JSC SO UES and UralENIN UrFU. Being one of the first heads of energy companies who supported the idea of the Engineering Case Solving Championship, P.Erokhin described the case method as a truly useful and progressive format that complements academic learning and highlighted its key advantages: "Case solving provides for competitive conditions that motivate participants. The assignment of a case is never based entirely on the material covered. This encourages participants to search for the necessary information on their own and apply the newly acquired knowledge. The case is always based on reality and the deep interconnection of production processes. Finally, a case study is the acquisition of teamwork skills." At the end of his speech, Peter Erokhin wished the participants successful work, the attention of their employers and victory in the finals.

JSC Volzhskaya TGC became the partners of the UrFU stage, and its representatives were able to assess the level of education of UralENIN UrFU students, as well as students of the target area of JSC Volzhskaya TGC. Welcoming the participants of the qualifying stage, Irina Ermakova, Deputy Director, Head of the HR Department of the Sverdlovsk Branch of JSC Volzhskaya TGC, She compared the work of energy engineers with creativity and encouraged the participants to show maximum creativity when solving the problems of the case.

The participants of the Championship from UrFU already have experience in solving cases: in 2014, the UralENIN UrFU team participated in another major project of one of the organizers of the Championship, the Reliable Change Foundation, the Interregional Educational Forum Energy of Youth.

On the day of the competition, the participants of the UrFU stage had to defend their ideas for solving the case  "Development and selection of the optimal scheme for the supply of electric energy to a thermal power plant during its reconstruction".  

The jury, which evaluated the work of the participants, included experts from the Ministry of Energy and Housing of the Sverdlovsk region; representatives of the Ural energy companies: the Branch of JSC SO UES "United Dispatch Management of the Ural Energy System", the Sverdlovsk branch of JSC Volzhskaya TGC, the Branch of JSC NTC UES "Automatic Control Technologies"; the coordinators of the subcommittee C6 NP RNK CIGRE, Schneider Electric CJSC; UralENIN UrFU teachers. 

The winner of the qualifying stage was recognized as The Star and Triangle team The team consists of Grigory Shabalin, a graduate student of the UralENIN UrFU NPP Department (team captain), and Olga Vozisova, Sergey Shevchuk, and Anton Kulikov, 4th-year students of the UralENIN UrFU NPP Department. 

The participants of the stage received memorable prizes from JSC SO UES and certificates. Diplomas and valuable gifts awaited the winners and prize-winners.

The Championship competition in Yekaterinburg was continued by future mining engineers and geologists from the Ural State Mining University. The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of the Department of Subsoil Use for the Ural Federal District (Uralnedra), the Ministry of Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Policy of the Sverdlovsk Region, and the heads of UGSU.

The Mining University has been participating in the Championship for the third year. In 2013, UGSU won the competition for the best organization of the qualifying stage and won the Energy of Education award, established jointly by NP Global Energy and the Youth Forum of Mining Leaders. In the same year, Gorny's team became the silver medalist of the Championship finals.

Opening the stage, First Vice-rector of UGSU Mikhail Nosyrev He emphasized the innovative role of the Championship in the system of training future engineers:  "Now a competence-based approach is being introduced into the higher education system, and the Championship, as a project based on this approach, is maintained at the highest level.  Case solving is one of the most advanced technologies when solving a task that is as close as possible to the realities of production. The tasks that you will be solving today will allow you to take a fresh look at your future profession."

During the three years of the Championship, each qualifying stage has gained not only permanent partners, but also real friends and like-minded people - representatives of regional departments, companies, and scientific associations who participate in the stage as guests and experts, and without whom the stage is no longer possible.  In Yekaterinburg, at the Mining University, such friends became Evgeny Silchuk, Deputy Minister of Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Policy of the Sverdlovsk Region and Nikolay Kokorin, Deputy Head of the Department for Subsoil Use in the Ural Federal District. 

Evgeny Silchuk, which He participates in the Championship stage at UGSU for the second time, congratulated the students on the opening of the competition: "The Championship is a unique project that brings education closer to production for our industrial region. The championship is growing, attracting new partners, including employers who want to get the smartest, most experienced and active graduates. And today your participation in the Championship is this is the beginning of your future career."

Nikolai Kokorin, also a permanent expert of the stages at UGSU, Addressing the students, he noted the advantage of Championship methods over academic teaching methods: "You have been given a unique opportunity to solve specific complex tasks right now. Whether you solve them correctly or incorrectly is another matter. The most important thing is that you boldly take them up and try to solve them. You are the future of mining science, the mining industry not only in the Sverdlovsk region, but throughout Russia. I wish you good luck!"

At the end of the opening ceremony Artyom Korolev, Chairman of the Management Board of NP Youth Mining Leaders Forum He told the students and guests about the history of the Championship and the opportunities that its participants face.

In 2015, students of the Mining University actively participated in solving cases, which was greatly facilitated by the active organizational work of the branch of the Youth Forum of Mining Leaders at UGSU. 16 mining and exploration league teams joined the fight for a ticket to the finals at once, the guys had only 10 days to solve the case.

Future mining engineers presented case solutions "Choosing the most efficient option for a mining and transportation complex and improving its efficiency". The participants of the geological exploration league solved the case "Increasing the profitability of a deposit based on a geological study with the preparation of a work project".

The ideas of the participants, which included even special daredevils, first-year students, were highly appreciated by an expert jury consisting of representatives of mining companies and departments of the Urals.: Uralasbest OJSC, the Ministry of Industry and Science of the Sverdlovsk Region, the Department of Subsoil Use in the Ural Federal District (Uralnedra), UGSU, the Institute of Mining of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The jury also included Artyom Zhuravlev, a participant in the 2013 All-Russian Mining Case Solving Championship, now a senior researcher at the Laboratory of Quarry Transport Systems and Geotechnics at the Institute of Mining of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

She won the Mining league competition The Altruists team students of the UGSU Faculty of Mining and Technology Mikhail Petukhov (team captain, 4th year, Department of Open-pit Mining), Sergey Baltachev (4th year, Department of Open-pit Mining), Andrey Artemyev (4th year, Department of Mine Construction) and Artyom Kolotushkin (1st year, Department of Open-pit Mining). 

In the exploration league stage, she reached the final The Scouts team Anton Mishin, 4th year students of the UGSU Faculty of Geology and Geophysics (team captain, Department of Geology, Prospecting and Exploration of Mineral Deposits),  Laysan Bayramgalina (Department of Geology, Prospecting and Exploration of Mineral Deposits), Alyona Shaidulina (Department of Geoinformatics).

All teams received certificates of participation in the Championship from the university, the winners and prize-winners were awarded with diplomas and memorable gifts. The winners were also awarded a scholarship from the partner of the Seversky Granite Quarry stage.

The finalist teams of the qualifying stages in Yekaterinburg will represent their universities at the Championship finals in Moscow on May 28-29, 2015.

The general partners of the Championship are: JSC "System Operator of the Unified Energy System", JSC "Siberian Coal Energy Company", Micromine company, JSC "MHC "EuroChem", JSC "Siberian Generating Company", EVRAZ company and JSC "Raspadskaya Coal Company", RUSDRAGMET Management Company, LLC "Dassault System Geovia RUS".

The partners of the stages are JSC Volzhskaya TGC KES-holding, JSC System Operator of the Unified Energy System, JSC Seversky Granite Quarry and JSC Uralasbest.

More photos: Mining and Exploration Leagues

More photos: Electric Power Industry League