A Collection of Papers on Minerals Education Presented During the 2005 SME Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 28

A Collection of Papers on Minerals Education Presented During the 2005 SME Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 28 - March 2, 2005

Technical Session: Global Minerals Education: Issues, Trends and "Best Practices"

Chairs:	M. Karmis, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
	R. Perry, Newmont Mining Corp., Elko, NV

Review of the Work and Recommendations of the Minerals Education Committee: R. Perry, Newmont Mining, Elko, NV
There is a critical sustainability issue with mining education programs in the US. We are not attracting enough students, faculty are retiring with no replacements, and state funding for mining programs is declining. A task force, with representation from industry, academia, and government, was formed at the 2004 SME annual meeting to analyze and propose action to address this issue. Preliminary findings indicate miningrelated engineering enrollments need to be tripled to meet demand, at least 10 Ph.D.'s are required each year to replace retiring faculty, and at least 10 sustainable mining programs are needed to maintain ABET accreditation.
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Metrics for Change: Careers, Competencies, Compensation and Personal Responsibility in the Minerals Industries: L. Freeman, Downing Teal, Denver, CO
The goal of this study was to approximate 'first principles' with respect to competencies necessary for a successful career in the minerals industry that can provide the basis and metrics to track change so that each professional will be better prepared to manage their career, and each company will be better prepared to manage each professional. This work in progress is benchmarking career tracks and competencies of over two hundred industry professionals; it also draws trends from a larger database including thousands of successful careers and job descriptions spanning a broad range of resource-industry sectors including: base and precious metals, aggregates / construction materials, coal, industrial minerals, oil and gas, oil sands, service providers, suppliers, and consultants.
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The Attraction & Retention of Professional Staff – An Australian Perspective: K. Tuckwell, Minerals Council of Australia, Richmond, VIC, Australia and A. Way, Mineral Tertiary Education Council, Canberra, ACT Australia.
In 2000 the Minerals Council of Australia embarked on a program of engagement with Australian universities in an attempt to secure the future supply of technical professional staff. Attraction is about influencing school leavers to choose to study degree programs that prepare them for careers in the minerals industry and about creating opportunities for others, including practicing professionals, to modify learning to gain relevant qualifications. Retention is about providing exciting and challenging career opportunities that are in a balance with lifestyle expectations. The nature of industry engagement in the learning process is critical to securing the viability of undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
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Global Minerals Education and the Society of Mining Professors/Societat der Bergbaukunde: A Vision for the Future and a Plan of Action: M. Karmis, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA; C. Shaw, Royal School of Mines, Richmond, England; H. de Ruiter, Technical Univ. of Delft, Delft, Netherlands
The Society of Mining Professors/Societat der Bergbaukunde, established in 1990 as a predominantly European entity of senior academics in mining engineering, is considered the successor to the Societat der Bergbaukunde, formed in the early 18th century and recognized as the world's first international scientific society. This paper presents the recent initiatives of the society and the action plans it has developed to become the premier global voice of the academic minerals disciplines and leader in the restructuring of minerals education
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Educational Programs and Partnerships in Mineral Engineering: H. de Ruiterand W. Dalmijn, Technical Univ. of Delft, Delft, Netherlands
Experience over the past eight years has proved that partnership and cooperation in mineral engineering education is essential to maintain programs in this field. At this moment the joint European Mineral Masters Engineering Course (EMMEC) has three programs in the areas of mining, minerals engineering and geotechnical/environmental engineering, offered by combinations of nine universities in seven European countries. About 25 companies are associated with the universities in the Federation of European Mineral Programs (FEMP) which coordinates these activities. The EMMEC has applied for recognition under the newly launched EU "Erasmus Mundus" program in which the EU makes 280 million Euro available for bursaries for non-European students.
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MTEC Mining Engineering Education Initiatives in Australia: B. Hebblewhite, The Univ. of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
This presentation will focus on the recent achievements and practices developed through the Minerals Tertiary Education Council initiatives of the Minerals Council of Australia, in conjunction with the three partner universities involved in mining engineering education - Univ. of New South Wales, West Australian School of Mines, Curtin Univ., and the Univ. of Queensland. The collaboration between these partner universities and industry, has led to the development of shared course material, cross-institutional teaching arrangements, and development of a number of distance-based delivery programs. The presentation will then move on to the future initiatives.
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A Collaborative Role for a Mining School: Lifelong Learning in the Mining Industry: M. Scoble, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
This contribution examines the motivation and prospects for mining companies to become learning organizations and integrate lifelong learning into the culture. Mining schools have a potentially central, collaborative role to play in developing learning systems for access by industry. Reference will be made to initiatives to develop a system that is based on collaboration between UBC, Edumine, and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. Recent experiences with this model will be reviewed.
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Initiatives and Opportunities in South America: M. Cedron, Pontificia Univ. Catolica del Peru, Lima, Peru
In the last three years, Latin America has attracted almost 30% of the world's new mining investment. It represents 15% of the total worldwide mining output and has a rapidly growing mining industry. This growth has caused the need for well-trained mining engineers. In response, mining education has expanded in the region to 44 universities offering careers in mining. This paper reviews the state of mining education in Latin America, initiatives and opportunities for global collaboration with mining schools around the world and with industry.
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