The perspective of mining engineers on new curricular requirements, competency demands, sustainability, energy transition, and learning models: a case study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26507/paper.4689Keywords:
energy transition, sustainable mining, soft skills, citizen participation, innovation, mining regulation, automationAbstract
The mining industry is undergoing a profound transformation that has led higher education to redesign its curricula to respond to the demands of entrepreneurs, communities and environmental sustainability. In the year 2024, a focus group was held with mining engineering students, companies, academics, government entities and specialized networks; where the main objective was to identify the key skills for professionals in the sector in the year 2035. Through questions to industry experts and discussions, technical and social competencies were defined as essential to adapt to a constantly changing mining environment, marked by sustainability, automation and global communication. The participating experts agreed that professional success will depend on the ability to collaborate, lead and adapt to emerging technologies. In addition, they highlighted the importance of seven fundamental and strategic pillars for the energy transition and the dominance of the sector in this scenario, highlighting innovation and financing in a coexistence approach with fossil fuels and sustainability.
References
Adach, K., Gogolewska, A., Górniak, J., Herbert, J. H., Hidalgo, A., Kiełczawa, B., Krupa, J., Lampinen, M., Mamelkina, M. A., Paszkowska, G., Szyszka, D., Tuunila, R., Worsa, M., & Woźniak, J. (2020). Towards Sustainable Mining in the Didactic Process - MEITIM Project as an Opportunity to Increase the Attractiveness of Mining Courses (A Case Study of Poland). Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(23), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310138
Adach, K., Gogolewska, A., Górniak, J., Kiełczawa, B., Krupa, J., Paszkowska, G., Szyszka, D., Worsa, M., & Woźniak, J. (2021). A new face of mining engineer—international curricula to sustainable development and green deal (A case study of the Wrocław university of science and technology). Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(3), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031393
Chikatamarla, L., & Prasad, D. N. (2020). Emerging Mining Trends: Preparing Future Mining Professionals. In S. C. Stapathy, K. S. Raju, K. Molugaram, A. Krishnaiah, & G. A. Tsihrintzis (Eds.), International Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering (ICETE) Emerging Trends in Smart Modelling Systems and Design (pp. 327–336). Springer. http://www.springer.com/series/16172
Findler, F., Schönherr, N., Lozano, R., Reider, D., & Martinuzzi, A. (2019). The impacts of higher education institutions on sustainable development: A review and conceptualization. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 20(1), 23–38. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-07-2017-0114
Hartlieb, P., Jorda Bordehore, L., Regueiro y González-Barros, M., Correia, V., & Vidovic, J. (2020). A comprehensive skills catalogue for the raw materials sector and the structure of raw materials education worldwide. Mining Technology: Transactions of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 129(2), 82–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/25726668.2020.1770406
Krippendorff, K. (1990). Metodología de análisis de contenido. Paidós.
Kulczycka, J., Nowaczek, A., Hałasik, K., Whirt, H., & Szkop, R. (2017). The analysis of factors, barriers and conditions that affect the attractiveness of mining investment in Poland - own research. Mining Science, 24, 209–226. https://doi.org/10.5277/msc172414
Leal Filho, W., Pallant, E., Enete, A., Richter, B., & Brandli, L. L. (2018). Planning and implementing sustainability in higher education institutions: an overview of the difficulties and potentials. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 25(8), 712–720. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2018.1461707
Martins, M. K. (2020). REPORT ON SKILLS GAPS Deliverable 2.1. INTERMIN. www.lapalmacentre.eu
Monteiro, N. B. R., da Silva, E. A., & Moita Neto, J. M. (2019). Sustainable development goals in mining. Journal of Cleaner Production, 228, 509–520. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.332
Schweizer, C. R., Di Giulio, A., & Burkhardt, H. P. (2019). Scientific support for redesigning a higher - education curriculum on sustainability. Sustainability (Switzerland), 11(21). https://doi.org/10.3390/su11216035
Young, A., & Rogers, P. (2019). A Review of Digital Transformation in Mining. Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, 36(4), 683–699. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-019-00103-w
How to Cite
Downloads
Downloads
Published
Proceeding
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Asociación Colombiana de Facultades de Ingeniería - ACOFI
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
| Article metrics | |
|---|---|
| Abstract views | |
| Galley vies | |
| PDF Views | |
| HTML views | |
| Other views | |
