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MINERALS INDUSTRY EDUCATION AND TRAINING II
Overall Performance of Universities
A more open question was asked, requesting comment on specific areas
where Universities performed particularly well or badly. There was a wide
range of responses, but they fell into a few key categories, which are
summarised below.
Universities teach the following topics well:
Basic theory and fundamentals
Unit processes
Mineral processing specialty topics, for example comminution, flotation,
mineralogy
Modelling
Examples of world-class research
Nurturing young talent
Universities do not do so well at:
Keeping abreast of current technology, use of new tools and technologies
Teaching about environmental impacts and other sustainability issues
Arranging practical experience for students (this was not universal –
one respondent from Chile stated that arranging practical experiences
was done particularly well there)
While they do well in educating highly specialised minerals engineers
for the large companies, but not so well for the SMEs, which needs
engineers with a wider scope
Below are some specific suggestions and comments provided:
Do well in teaching theory, poor in practical classes. Curriculum is also
old. Application training is also poor. New teaching techniques required.
Updated industry news and practice’s to be taught. Technology use is
curriculum to be increased.
Strong in general process engineering but poor knowledge of mineral
processing (metallurgical) flowsheets/types of equipment/unit
operations
Developing Guidelines for Mineral
36 Section 2
Processing Education
