Rethinking Mining Engineering Education – Implementation of Conceive – Design – Implement – Operate (CDIO™)

In the context of the fourth industrial revolution, mining is bound to undergo significant changes within the coming decades. Mining in the sense of Mining 4.0 will not only prioritise the efficient, sustainable and responsible use of available resources, but will also be characterised by digitalisation and automation. In order to adapt to those changes and challenges of the future working environments, the requirements and training profiles of future mining engineers will have to adapt accordingly. Founded in 2000, as an initiative between four universities from Sweden and the USA, the CDIO Initiative provides an innovative framework for the conceptual design of future engineering courses. Its superordinate goal is to define principles and standards, so that engineering principles can be combined with practical applications in the sense of CDIO – Conceiving, Designing, Implementing, Operating. As part of a project funded by the EIT Raw Materials, the CDIO approach is, for the first time on a global scale, transferred to raw materials education by an international consortium consisting of representatives from academia, research and industry.