Challenges and Opportunities of Higher Education for International Mining Engineers in China: Based on the Practice at Chongqing University

Abstract

Under the background of mineral industry transforms towards global and sustainable development as well as the establishment of innovative country in China, higher requirements for the mineral engineering education have been putting forward. Based on the research on the demands of mining engineers in the domestic and foreign, the mining engineering education objective, which includes the characteristics of international, innovative and interdisciplinary (referred as ‘3I’), was determined. To achieve the ‘3I’ education objective, the international outlook, the economics and management knowledge, as well as the practical ability for knowledge using were enhanced in the new curriculum. Substantially, a new education system includes three sub-education models was generated. Practical outcomes show that the education system is effective on improving the overall quality of students, especially the innovative ability. In the end, the flaws in learning and teaching in the current education system were discussed, including students’ concerns on the global level and understanding different cultures should be strengthened, as well as the teaching contents and teaching philosophy have to satisfy the changes and the demands of the industry development.