DUSHANBE, December 14, 2009, Asia-Plus — The G. V. Plekhanov St. Petersburg State Mining Institute and Technical University is expected to open its branch in Tajikistan.
Noilsho Nouraliyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education (MoE), told Asia-Plus Monday afternoon that such an agreement was reached at a meeting of Tajik Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov with St. Petersburg governor Valentina Matviyenko that took place in St. Petersburg on September 11 on sideline of the next session of the Interstate Council of the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC).
The G. V. Plekhanov St. Petersburg State Mining Institute and Technical University is Russia’s oldest higher education institute devoted to engineering. Located in St. Petersburg, the institute is one of the oldest mining schools in Europe, and home to one of the world”s finest and most exclusive collections of minerals, gem samples and mining equipment miniatures used for teaching purposes.
The Institute was founded on October 21 OS/ November 1 NS 1773 by order of Empress Catherine II. It was known as the Mining School until 1804 when it became the Mining Cadet”s Corps; in 1833, it became the Institute of the Corps of Mining Engineers. Since 1866, it has been known as the Mining Institute.
During the Soviet period, it was renamed after Georgi Plekhanov, who attended the institute in the 1870s, and became known as “the G.V. Plekhanov Leningrad State Mining Institute and Technical University.” Since 1869 the institute is the headquarter of the Russian Mineralogical Society.
