OpenYourMine 2021
3rd edition of Master education project
October 2021 – December 2021
OpenYourMine (OYM) is a Master education project dedicated to mineral resources and sustainability. It is an education program for master students financially supported by European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and EIT Raw Materials.
This project consists in organizing away lectures, workshops and field projects/classes for students of partner universities. Such meetings were assumed to be organized annually by a different partner, and their topics were to cover geological, technological, environmental, social and legal aspects of the exploitation of non-fossil resources in a given country.
The project is conducted by three universities: Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) - project coordinator (France), New University of Lisbon (Portugal), Wrocław University of Science and Technology (WUST) (Poland) and KGHM CUPRUM Ltd. Research and Development Centre. The task of the industrial partner is to provide geological and environmental data to prepare case studies and project assignments for students. The project received funding for three years, from 2019 to 2021.
The project is open to MSc students (about 30 every year) having backgrounds in geology, economy, sociology, and environmental protection. The OpenYourMine Master education program aims at strengthening MSc students creativity, entrepreneurship and skills for the sustainable development of mineral resources in Europe.
Every year, the project will bring together about 30 MSc students to attend 4 teaching units (3 ECTS each) dedicated to mineral resources and sustainable development in a European perspective, namely i) Mineral resources and sustainable development, ii) Raw material energy nexus, iii) New communication strategies for mining business, and iv) Field projects/classes. These ECTS are included and shared among already existing master curricula dedicated to resources, the economy of sustainable development, and sociology of innovation from the 3 partner universities (University Grenoble Alps - France, Nova University of Lisbon – Portugal, and Wroclaw University of Science and Technology - Poland).
OpenYourMine relies on innovative educational approaches based on blended-learning, inverted pedagogy, crowdsourcing contest, and use of state of the art tools for data visualization and integration. It also relies on a strong industry involvement (e.g. AREVA-Orano, Rio Tinto, KGHM, Almonty) at several levels in the proposed curricular: co-creation of case study, participation to short-courses and workshops, adaptation of teaching contents, and placement of the student. By embedding these experts within the university curriculum the project builds a strong dedicated network of skilled geoscientists that can steer the mineral resources industry going forward, following the principles of environmental protection and social coexistence. To ensure the conditions of sustainable mineral supply, the project opens the mind and imagination of the next generation of mineral resource managers. The objective of this education project is to train students in geology, environment, economy and sociology to work together successfully.
In 2021 all the 4 teaching units are open to all participating students (30 students: 10 from UGA, 10 from Nova Univ and 10 from WUST The Faculty of Geoengineering, Mining and Geology. They started in September and will end in December 2021. They are as follows:
1. Mineral resources and sustainable development – 3 ECTS teaching unit
2. Raw material energy nexus – 3 ECTS teaching unit
3. Communication and sustainability in the Mining Industry – 3 ECTS teaching unit
4. Field projects/classes: Metallogeny, ore targeting, mining and ore processing, environmental remediation – 3 ECTS teaching unit.
In 2021 the project planning had to be changed due to SARS-CoV-2 pandemic constrains. It was impossible to travel through Europe. Therefore, each project partner organized field projects/classes in their own country: field classes in Poland, in France and in Portugal.
The full report is available HERE!
