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MINERALS INDUSTRY EDUCATION AND TRAINING II
Universities are businesses and many governments do not support
investment in mining industry education because of low student
demand. Funding needs to come from elsewhere, and many university
programs are directly supported by large mining companies. The level
of support is highly dependent on the commodity price cycle.
It is not possible to include really specific job-related content in
education programs at Universities because of the huge diversity of
industry roles and constantly changing technology and work practices.
Collaboration between industry and universities does not necessarily
assist with overall financial viability of departments. There is no financial
incentive and often an increased workload on individual academics, so
it is hard to make it happen
Experienced staff are retiring from universities and there are fewer
replacements than in previous times
Many new lecturers come straight from PhD or MSc studies with no
industry experience
Employment practices in mineral processing
In some regions, a large proportion of graduates are chemical engineers
and have very little specialist knowledge of mineral processing or the
mining industry.
Knowledge and skills will decline as the baby-boomer generation
retires, The way professional development is delivered in industry
Ongoing professional development can be provided in-house or
externally, and programs are offered by groups including universities
who also provide undergraduate education, commercial organisations,
research institutions and consulting companies
Programs need to be managed for best outcomes. Often this is done by
employers but individuals (graduates) can also manage their own career
development by means of pathways and guidelines – often provided by
professional societies or other industry bodies.
Training was described by one contributor as being “important but not
urgent”. There is an assumption that “If we need it we can always bring
in an expert”. The danger of this is that at some point the experts die
out or move to a different industry.
18 Section 1
