Almost ten years ago, four mining departments in different European universities decided to join forces in a joint program, bringing their students together for one year. During that year the students would visit each university for a couple of months, doing specific courses there.

In 1996, the first edition of the European Mining Course was established and has been a annually phenomenon ever since. Two years later, it was followed by the European Mineral Engineering Course, and in 2003 by the European Geotechnical and Environmental Course.

The Federation of European Mineral Programs (FEMP) was established as legal organisation of those international programs. It has led to the establishment of three different international programs in the specialisation phase of the M.Sc program, accommodating 60 students per year all together.