New School of Mining and Mineral Resources approaches final stage of approval
Tucson, May 2021
We are pleased to update those of you following the progress of the new interdisciplinary School of Mining and Mineral Resources. The school has been approved by UArizona leadership and is progressing toward final approval by the Arizona Board of Regents later this month. We hope to be announcing some very good news, soon!
This school has been a long time in the making, with input and support from many, many stakeholders. As we approach our final hurdle, it’s worth taking a look at how we got here.
The process began by gathering input from the mineral resources industry regarding top concerns of executive leadership, change drivers and related workforce and innovation implications. Stakeholders represented 20 different companies (and USGS) across 9 different areas of the business and operating in over 12 different countries. Feedback was largely consistent and key points are as follows:
- Mining skills of the future are broader and more sophisticated, requiring more data, systems, social, complex problem solving, and resource management skills in addition to solid traditional technical skills,
- There is a perceived widening gap between industry and academia, with universities often seen as operating in isolation,
- Mining curriculum is seen as outdated, and too narrow, failing to incorporate the latest technology, or critical issues like environmental and social aspects,
- Minerals programs fail to attract the very best talent, and are currently facing critically low enrolments globally, with workforce shortages projected,
- Siloization and a lack of diversity in the workplace is not only hindering progress and innovation but is considered a threat.
The importance of minerals is increasing, and demand for a new kind of talent that few can provide is rising. Isolated siloes—disciplinary or organizational, are widely recognized as standing in the way of achieving the sea change needed. So, a small industry-academic taskforce began exploring the best ways to meet these needs and determined that UArizona has what it takes, and that the time to act is now.
The taskforce felt that breaking down siloes between existing programs and extending interaction to other programs like business, social and environmental sciences had the potential to improve the sustainability and competitiveness of each individual program. Rallying students and faculty around a real-world challenge rather than a single discipline would not only improve the quality of education, but also increase research output, bring visibility to an important topic, and enhance the student experience.
With a generous gift from the Lundin Family, UArizona was able to secure the resources and support needed to pursue a new interdisciplinary school. Comprised of faculty from across campus, the school will consider the evolving education and innovation needs of sustainable mineral resources against UArizona’s capacity. Over the course of this past academic year, a dedicated, interdisciplinary working group of faculty fleshed out plans to meet these needs and defined clear goals and programs for development.
At an open-invitation faculty and researcher briefing held in January 2021, 86% of responders agreed or strongly agreed that this is an important initiative for UArizona, and 83% of responders agreed or strongly agreed they would like to participate in this initiative.
At a recent industry-academic assembly, participants described the new school concept with words like: important, exciting, necessary and ahead of the curve. On a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being “no value at all” and 10 being “game changer,” participants rated the new school at 8.7, agreeing it had great potential value to the mining industry.
What do students think?
To ensure alignment with student needs and priorities, we’ve engaged a Student Advisory Panel comprised of six undergraduate students from Science and Engineering, many of them double majoring across the colleges. As we move into Fall 2021, we will expand this panel to at least 12 students from more disciplines, and include graduate students. The panel is currently helping us refine our program design and test our value proposition, playing a prominent role in shaping the school and continuous improvement efforts.
Since we do not yet have that broader, more diverse Student Advisory Panel to consult, we decided to do some polling in a new general education course, “Nonrenewable Resources and Human Civilization” attended by a healthy representation of social sciences and business students, along with those studying science and engineering.
Findings from this survey are consistent with those we’ve conducted previously with UArizona engineering students and students in general. The more they know about mining and mineral resources, the more interested they become.
Based on three years of research on students and their choice of studies and career, we’re confident that with our school offerings we can attract the diversity, quality and quantity of students needed to meet the grand challenge of providing a sustainable supply of responsibly sourced mineral resources for this, and future generations.
As we move into the final stages of school approval, and begin to build out our academic programs, we welcome continued input and questions.
