On June 10, 1944, the Council of People’s Commissars’ resolution on the establishment of the Norilsk mining and metallurgical technical school was signed, and on June 20, the Norilsk combine director Panyukov signed the order. The order said: “The Norilsk Nickel Combine further development prospect puts forward the task of creating new qualified personnel on our own”. The technical school organized three departments: mining, metallurgical-processing and electromechanical. A four-year term of study was set. The mining engineer L.F. Anikina was released from work in the design department and appointed the Norilsk technical school’s director.
On October 5, classes began at the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical College, the country’s northernmost educational institution. The first students sat down at their desks in a small two-story building on Octyabrskaya street. In 1944-1945 there were 240 of them, including 30 indigenous people of Taimyr. One of the first batch students was Izosim Chalkin, later a famous metallurgist, told: “There is one textbook for 10-15 people. Much depended on the teachers, and they were like a selection… The combine did a lot for us: uniforms, food, scholarships”.
In 1952, the alma mater of Norilsk students received a new building on the South Line (now, 50 let Octyabrya street, 7). In 1961, the technical school was transformed into the Norilsk Evening Industrial Institute. In 1962, 1262 students studied at it: 707 evening students and 555 extra-mural students. Another 1113 ones studied at the secondary technical faculty. There was no shortage of professorship in the Norilsk Industrial Institute: Fedorovsky, Urvantsev, Kotulsky taught there.
Read other materials of our photo project in the History spot section.
Text: Svetlana Samokhina, Photo: Nornickel Polar Division archive
