EDUCATION CONFERENCE

Brochure

Undergraduate [minerals] education should deliver technical excellence in the fundamental principles of science and engineering, an understanding of broader issues facing the industry and the ability to continue to learn.

The Issue

In the past, responsibility for the environment within companies and government ministries usually lay with environmental specialists. The environment was an "add on", and was not taken seriously by the production personnel. Now, however, "the environment" is everyone’s concern. Today, we understand that care for the environment need not be seen as a cost, but that it provides many opportunities for improving cost-effectiveness. With public attitudes changing all the time, and closer media attention, avoidance of environmental damage now means liabilities avoided later. Because of their planning and decision-making responsibilities, geologists’ and engineers’ decisions have the greatest environmental impacts, whether positive or negative.

Minerals professionals (mining and metallurgical engineers and geologists) need to have this understanding of the broader environmental issues, as well as that of specific technical challenges. In a major study of education in Australia, the Minerals Council of Australia found that "the next generation of specialist professionals must be better equipped to work in and understand the realities of an internationally competitive industry. The specialist professional of the future must be more than technically competent." While some higher education institutions are starting to incorporate sustainable development concepts into their curricula, many are not. In order to address this shortcoming, it is necessary to bring together the "suppliers" of minerals professionals, i.e. academic institutions, and the "users" of education, i.e. government ministries and minerals companies and their associations, so that each group can communicate their needs and concerns to the other. Another requirement is to provide educators with the opportunity to share good examples of curricula and course materials. A meeting of these groups will also help to put like-minded companies, associations and academic institutions in touch with one another.

Objectives

Programme

The conference will be from 6 - 7 October 1999, with an optional site visit on 8 October. The programme is only available by downloading a pdf file: click here. If you have any problems doing so, please contact Andrew Parsons.

Papers

Formal papers that have been received so far are available online. Additional background reading is available here.

Delegates

Fifty to sixty senior academics and senior industry and government managers are expected at the meeting. The purpose is to ensure that decision-makers talk to each other in a business-like atmosphere.

Venue and Date

The conference will be held at the John Curtin Centre, in the Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia on 6-8 October 1999, allowing delegates to easily attend the Minerals Council of Australia’s (MCA’s) annual environmental workshop in Townsville, Queensland on 10-15 October if they wish.

Lead-up to the Conference

The following activities are being undertaken:

1. Survey of Mining Schools

A survey of 25 of the world’s most important centres of minerals education has been carried out. The purpose was to gain an overview of what mining students are currently being taught vis-à-vis the environment, including a critical analysis of what is being done.

2. Survey of Employers’ Needs

A survey is being undertaken of major minerals companies to find what their requirements are of new minerals graduates.

3. Pre-Conference Discussions on the Internet

Funding

Relevant industry associations are encouraged to sponsor the participation of one or more academics from their country or region. This mechanism, where successful, will help to cement the link between academics and the principal body representing the wishes of the employers of their graduates.

Supplementary funding has been arranged by the conference organisers for academic participants.

The Organisers

United Nations Environment Programme
UNEP has three key roles: to

• monitor the world environment;

• develop consensus on responses to priority environmental issues; and

• facilitate implementation of responses.

Through its Production and Consumption Unit in Paris, UNEP organises conferences and seminars, and undertakes training and co-operative activities backed by regular follow-up and assessment. It has carried out extensive work in the minerals sector.

In September 1997, a conference "Engineering Education and Training for Sustainable Development" was held in Paris. The present initiative seeks to focus attention on the natural resources sector.

Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia
The Chamber is the peak minerals association in Western Australia. It represents the interests of companies involved in the minerals and energy exploration, production and processing in Western Australia. Its vision is for a vigorous and profitable minerals industry operating in tune with the aspirations of the community and industry employees, and in harmony with the environment.

The Chamber initiated the Western Australian Minerals Industry Tertiary Education Taskforce in 1995. This led to the Minerals Council of Australia’s National Tertiary Education Taskforce, which published a major report in 1998, "Back from the Brink: Reshaping Minerals Tertiary Education".

Registration Form

The registration form is only available by downloading a pdf file: click here.

Please send the completed form no later than 30 September 1999 to:

Moira Watson
Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia
Locked Bag N984
Perth, WA
6844
Australia
Tel +61 8 93 25 29 55
Fax +61 8 92 21 37 01
Email m.watson@mineralswa.asn.au