The Mining Institute of Empress Catherine II as the main center of training specialists in mining (1896-1917)

The article considers higher educational institutions that appeared in the period from 1896 to 1917 and prepared specialists in mining and metallurgy. The main centers of the mining industry, cities with the highest demand for mining engineers were identified: Ekaterinoslav, Ekaterinburg, Warsaw, Tomsk and St. Petersburg. The factors that prevented the opening of universities and their normal functioning were named: the revolutionary events (1905) and World War I (1914), which led to their temporary closure or relocation to other parts of the country, which caused the turnover of the teaching staff and students. Thus, the Warsaw Polytechnic Institute, as a result of several relocations, was closed, and its administrative and teaching staff moved to the newly created Nizhny Novgorod Polytechnic Institute. The Mining Institute in Ekaterinburg began to operate only in 1917 instead of 1914. The article emphasizes the great merit of the Minister of Finance S.Yu. Witte in the creation of a new type of higher technical educational institutions - polytechnic institutes and the significant role of the mining industry's initiative in raising funds for their establishment. Six higher educational institutions were identified, which, in addition to the Mining Institute of Empress Catherine II, trained specialists in mining and metallurgy. Diplomas for the title of mining engineers were issued by the Ekaterinburg and Ekaterinoslav Mining Institutes of Empress Catherine II, Warsaw (Nizhny Novgorod), Novocherkassk (Alekseevsky Don) Polytechnic Institutes and Tomsk Technological Institute. St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute prepared metallurgical engineers. The training period at the Mining Institute of Empress Catherine II and Tomsk Technological Institute was 5 years, in other polytechnic and technological institutes 4 years. The comparison of the number of students and graduates clearly shows that the Mining Institute of Empress Catherine II prepared more mining engineers than other institutes. Many of its graduates were outstanding scientists with world names while part of the teachers joined the faculty of new universities. Graduates occupied important positions in government structures, in the Mining Department, in the State Council. All this testified to the fact that training at the Mining Institute of Empress Catherine II was carried out at a very high and qualitative level. Therefore, despite the emergence of six new technical educational institutions, the Mining Institute of Empress Catherine II remained the main center of personnel preparation for the mining industry in Russia.

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