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MINERALS INDUSTRY EDUCATION AND TRAINING II

Summary of Findings

1. There is strong agreement about the fundamental topics
needed in minerals engineering programs

The traditional fundamentals of Minerals Engineering programs emerge
as the top five topics that graduates need to know about: Mineralogy,
Comminution, Flotation, Physical Separation and Sampling. The same top
five were specified by industry practitioners and academics alike.

Employers who employ graduates from materials, chemical and process
engineering programs need to ensure that graduates can develop the
knowledge and skills they need in these areas, either on the job or through
professional development.

2. Universities are doing a fairly good job, but…

Universities are doing an adequate job of preparing graduates for industry
but few are prepared to describe them as excellent. Their programs deliver
a solid base in process theory and fundamentals but could do better
at preparing students to work effectively with professionals from other
disciplines. Some areas where they can improve include staying abreast
of current technology, use of new tools and technologies and more use of
real industry data and case studies.

One criticism of Universities is that they do not provide sufficient industry
experience. Effective industry exchange programs are heavily dependent
on the goodwill of industry partners, so Universities will not be able to
solve their problems in isolation.

Ongoing Professional Skills Development is Ad-Hoc

Although there are examples of large companies with structured Mineral
Engineering skills development programs for graduates, many employers
approach technical competency development in an ad-hoc way,
exacerbated by limited funds and lack of urgency. One survey respondent
commented that there is ”nobody allocated to look after graduate training

Developing Guidelines for Mineral
26 Section 2
Processing Education