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The Education Commission monitors global trends of interest to the Council and the international minerals processing community regarding educational developments, skills development and availability in minerals processing.
Chair: Diana Drinkwater
In 2008 the IMPC Council established the Education Commission to address growing concerns about the supply and demand of minerals engineers, and the degree to which they possess the skills needed to make the best use of available tools and technology. In 2010 the Education Commission was formally constituted and was chaired by Professor Jan Cilliers. In 2013 Diana Drinkwater was elected chair and has continued the Commission’s work.
Education commission work has identified 3 main themes:
- Mineral processing knowledge is important.
- Some skills cannot be taught at university. Graduates require ongoing education in the workplace.
- The old ways of developing knowledge and skills are not working as effectively as they were, and new models are needed.
Education Commission Publications
- Minerals Industry: Education and Training
The Commission established a working group consisting of representatives from almost all mining countries to report on the supply and demand of minerals engineers. The outcome of this study took the form of a Symposium at the New Delhi Congress, and its proceedings were published in 2013 as an IMPC monograph entitled, Minerals Industry: Education and Training, edited by Jan Cilliers, Diana Drinkwater and Kari Heiskanen - A further study undertook two reviews:
• A survey of education providers to compare content and quality of existing minerals engineering programs around the world.
• A survey of key members of industry to establish their view of the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed by minerals engineering employees for effective performance.
The outcome of this study was presented as a Symposium at the time of the XXIII IMPC in 2016 in Quebec City, Canada, and proceedings were published as an IMPC monograph, IMPC Mineral Processing Education Roadmap, edited by Diana Drinkwater.
Links
Mineral Processing Education programs
Metcelerate – A workplace-based training program for metallurgists to translate their academic knowledge into practice
Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Sustainable Mineral and Metal Processing Engineering
Affiliated Bodies
Minerals Engineering International – the largest online source of information on mineral processing & extractive metallurgy
OneMine a collaboration among multiple societies to place the world’s most comprehensive collection of mining and minerals based research in one place