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

Abstract

In recent years, the raw materials industry has focused on digitization and automation and on the implementation of concepts such as Industry 4.0, smart mines, etc. However, higher education does not offer a master’s program that includes the integration technologies and entrepreneurship for the development of professionals needed by the raw materials industry to increase its competitiveness. The International Project Master in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Technology Integration in Mining (MEITIM), which is co-financed by EIT Raw Materials, aims to create a new Master program in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Integration of various technologies in mining. The Master’s program is the result of a four-year collaboration between the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), the Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT), and the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (WUST). The program aims to educate new technologists and entrepreneurs who understand the entire value chain related to the raw materials economy and are able to integrate new technologies with feasible and innovative business solutions with high impact and added value in the mining sector. The current educational opportunities in the mining sector and the results of the research of the labour market in the mining sector in Poland and selected EU countries are presented. The system of education in the fields of Mining and Geology in Poland, Spain and Finland is described. The project orientation and the goals of training an engineer for the mining of the future were defined.