Mining outlook reveals employment and education gaps – by Tyler Nyquvest (Business in Vancouver – December 12, 2018)

https://biv.com/

A recent report on Canada’s mining sector suggests that there may soon be a rebound in the industry, but it warns that a drop in the number of mining engineering graduates needs to be countered with educational reform to achieve sustainability.

The Mining Industry Human Resources Council’s (MiHR) annual Canadian Mining Labour Market Outlook 2019 notes declining enrolment in mining engineering programs and highlights key occupational gaps in mining employment on- and off-site. According to the study, undergraduate mining engineering program enrolment dropped 12% between 2015 and 2016, the largest decline of all engineering programs.

“Changes are happening so fast in the industry, it is very difficult to keep up,” said Scott Dunbar, associate professor at the Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

“We don’t teach enough [technology] – part of our strategic plan is to teach more of it but as far as educators are concerned, we are falling behind,” said Dunbar. Dunbar is quick to admit that UBC and other Canadian schools have not adapted quickly enough to keep up with industry demands, and now the education system is playing catch-up.

“In the last two years things have exploded, and [the curriculum] hasn’t changed fast enough,” said Dunbar. “There are some major changes going on in respect to data science and machine learning.… We are introducing a new course in the next term that focuses on technology and data science.”

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