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)

Abstract

The mining industry in the world has undergone a major metamorphosis in recent years. These changes have forced higher education to modify the curricula in a thorough way to meet the mining entrepreneurs’ needs. The paper’s scope is to answer the research question—how to attract students and implement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in higher education in mining engineering? Based on the case of international cooperation carried out at the Faculty of Geoengineering, Mining and Geology of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology (WUST) within the framework of educational projects co-financed by European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities Raw Materials (EIT RM), the authors prove that the idea of sustainable development can be introduced into the system of teaching mining specialists at every level of their higher education (engineering and master’s studies), through developing their new competencies, introducing new subjects taking into account innovative solutions and technologies, or placing great emphasis on environmental and social aspects. Examples of new curricula show a good way to change into the new face of a mining engineer.

Sustainability of mining companies - analysis of social data as a scientific activity of Students

“…Students studying in Polish learned about the means and the range of non-financial reporting as a part of compulsory 'Socio-environmental aspects of the functioning of companies' course conducted for the geoengineering and environmental protection specialization. This signifies a new knowledge for the mining and geology majors, and it is consistent with the current educational offer of The Department of Geoengineering, Mining, and Geology of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology in English [3] or international trends [4]. The applied teaching approach through value co-creation [5] is a new initiative for this didactic and research unit.…”

How Higher Education Institutions Walk Their Talk on the 2030 Agenda: A Systematic Literature Review

“…They often prioritize the dominant SDGs based on the different field/courses and future job profiles, as well as incorporate general sustainability concerns (e.g., gender equity and poverty) into coursework (Baena-Morales et al, 2020;Castro et al, 2020;Gómez-Llanos and Durán-Barroso, 2020;Manolis and Manoli, 2021;Orozco-Messana et al, 2020a, b;Perales Jarillo et al, 2019). The studies that consider all SDGs involve the application of innovative solutions and technologies (i.e., course-tailored and scaffolded methods), along with the redesign of majors and courses to integrate SDGs (Adach-Pawelus et al, 2021;Ashraf and Alanezi, 2020;Ličen and Jedlicka, 2020;Priyadarshini and Abhilash, 2020;Useh, 2021) Table 3 summarizes the main takeaways from the literature on teaching and SDGs at the micro-level.…”

The MEITIM project and the development of future competencies in higher education in the mining industry

“…The MEITIM project responds to the aforementioned demands, with the main aim of creating a new master's degree program in entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology integration in mining. The objectives of the project are presented in Figure 7 [38]. Future students will have the opportunity to obtain triple or double degrees from Wroclaw University of Technology, Madrid University of Technology, and Finland's LUT University.…”

“…To ensure the highest possible quality of teaching, universities also cooperate with companies and research centers such as the Finnish Minerals Group Suomen Malmijalostus Oy, MetsoOutotec Oy, The Geological Survey of Finland, Atlantic Copper S.L.U., and the Spanish National Research Council. [36] - [38].…”

“…It is extremely important that an engineer who graduates from the mining faculty has the competencies to work in a sustainable manner. We want a graduate of the newly created major to: -use creativity when formulating, analysing, and searching for solutions to problems; -be familiar with the technologies used in the basic raw material value chain: geology, mining, mining, mining, and metalurgy, and be able to modify existing solutions in order to adapt them to current needs; -be familiar with stimulating the technological innovation and integrating technologies with the vision of creating new opportunities and added value, -have excellent communication skills, the ability to participate in and lead multidisciplinary teams, -be characterised by knowledge of entrepreneurship and innovation, which they will successfully combine with knowledge of mining technologies, -be a T-Shaped professional [33], [38].…”