YEKATERINBURG, December 24. /TASS/. Starting from 2022, students at Ural State Mining University will be able to get a diploma with a double major. The new approach is caused by the high demand of employers for versatile specialists, as engineers often need to be able to competently make estimates or negotiate a contract, USMU press service told TASS on Friday.

"Freshman students majoring in a number of fields of study, who enrolled at USMU in 2021 will receive two majors as part of a single educational program upon graduation. From 2022 this practice will be extended to students in all specializations and profiles. <...> Additional competencies for specific specialties were developed based on the requests of employers and the analysis of a future graduate's potential place of employment. That is, the university estimated that competencies in economics, human resources and so on might be most useful for a design engineer," the university said.

The program is currently being tested out on 150 first-year students out of 800. In total, students will be offered 43 modules to choose from. For example, a "Development of ore deposits" student may additionally major in artistic processing of jewelry. The university notes that it expects an increase in demand for engineering specialties among applicants in connection with this new system.

"The demand for a new generation of engineers, for versatile specialists, comes from our main customers - large industrial enterprises. For example, it is very common when a company, which is engaged in equipment adjustment and maintenance, needs its employee, a person with engineering education, to be able to competently make an estimate or negotiate a contract, i.e. to have certain competencies and skills in the field of economics. That's why we launched pilot modular programs starting this academic year. The students will be the first in Russia to receive a single diploma with two majors," the university quoted Rector Alexey Dushin as saying.

The Ural State Mining University was founded in 1914 as the Yekaterinburg Mining Institute which was the first institution of higher education in the Urals. In 106 years of its history the school has prepared more than 100 thousand mining engineers to work for mining and geological exploration companies and research and design institutes of the industry.