The 1st International Workshop on Skills and Competencies of the XXIst century workforce kicks off in a hybrid mode

On 18 – 19 November 2020, the EIT RawMaterials MEITIM project launched the 1st International Workshop on Skills and Competencies of the XXIst century workforce. This year, the workshop was organized in hybrid mode and connected online and on campus participants at LUT University, Finland. Keynote speakers gave their talks from the main stage at LUT University, covering topics related to the future skills and competencies the mining professional will need.

Over 60 professionals representing 20 organizations, including universities, companies, research institutions and associations, defined the future skills and competencies, as well as kicking off the development of a new Master’s programme in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Technology Integration in Mining, that will equip the mining professionals of the future with the skills and competencies required.

The workshop consisted of a mix of a keynote talks, plenary sessions, and discussions in small, more focused groups. The discussion was led by professors from LUT University, the Technical University of Madrid and Wroclaw University of Technology, who together with the participants, defined and categorized the skills and competencies of a graduate as innovator, entrepreneur, data-analyst, and engineer.

The workshop concluded that, facing the need to educate future mining engineers, it is essential that the curriculum be flexible, and that students have enough freedom to plan their studies.  It was underlined that engineers will always need a solid background in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Moreover, in an integrated education programme it is important to decide what to leave out of the programme, as well as what to include, due to the impossibility of including everything. Last but not least, more strategies are needed to update and modernize the image of the skilled mining-engineer of the future.

The event was broadcast live, and the material is available to view on YouTube here and here.