The School of Geology and Oil at the Mongolian University of Science and Technology is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. So far some 2,000 people have graduated from here and they have been responsible for almost all mineral exploration in the country. The school credits one of its alumni with discovering coal deposits at Oyu Tolgoi.

A teacher at the school asserts that the skill and qualifications of Mongolian geologists match those of non-Mongolians employed by big foreign-invested companies. Indeed, their familiarity with the “intricate geological structure of our territory” on occasions makes them even better suited for work here, especially in geological mapping and geological exploration.