EARNEST ADVOCACY – A KEY TO SUSTAINABLE MINERALS INDUSTRY EDUCATION – A PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCE

摘要

Mindanao is a mineral rich area in the Philippines. After the new mining law was passed in 1995, the government had issued no less than 265 Mineral Production Sharing Agreements to foreign and national investors to assist the country in developing its mineral industry. However, manpower required by the industry is sorely lacking: geologists, mining engineers, and minerals/metallurgical engineers. Schools that used to offer those programs closed their offerings for lack of students. For the entire country, only two of the three universities are left to offer metallurgical engineering which is the baccalaureate degree that integrates mineral processing, metal extraction and adaptive metallurgy in a five-year engineering course. Problems encountered in establishing programs include: lack of interest among students, absence of faculty members, inadequate training facilities, hesitation of the mineral industries to invest in scholarships to encourage students to take up mineral industry related courses, and inadequate advocacy programs to promote the profession. In Mindanao, the inadequate manpower was partially answered in late 1976, when a steel industry requested MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology to start the program in Metallurgical Engineering. They provided additional support in order to attract faculty members from Manila who will establish the program. The move paid off such that even when the metals and mineral industries were down, there was a steady supply of manpower albeit fluctuating, three to 15 graduates per year. A technician program was also offered to augment skilled manpower. Earnest advocacy is being made in order to continually strengthen the program: faculty development, new government support for upgrading library collection and laboratory facilities, collaborations with industry for student scholarships, on-the-job training and access to company laboratory facilities, annual campaigns for student enrolment in the course, dedicated faculty mentoring, and alumni participation for preparing new graduates for the licensure examination. The efforts are paying off.