The Economic Department of the Mining Institute is 45 years old from the year of its foundation. The main stages of the department development have been considered in this article. Qualifications and fields of training for future specialists have been defined here. The set of disciplines, skills and knowledge, which all graduators have to posses, has been shown. The general trends of the scientific research of department’s scientists and their contribution to the progressing of the domestic economy have been given in the article.