Mineral Resources Engineering Programme at Universiti Sains Malaysia

1. Mineral Resources Engineering Programme at Universiti Sains Malaysia

2. School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering There are 3 programmes within the school: Mineral Resources Engineering Materials Engineering Polymer Engineering

3. History Prior to 1984, A Bachelor of Applied Science and Mineral Technology was offered at USM In 1984, an Engineering programme for the Mineral Industry was introduced namely the B. Eng (Hons) Mineral Resources Engineering. It is a four-year programme. Qualification to enter is satisfactory result in the HSC, matriculation or Diploma.

4. USM started the School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering in 1984 in Pulau Pinang. In 1986 moved to a temporary campus in Ipoh. In 1990 move to a permanent campus in Tronoh. Then the whole campus moved to new site in Nibong Tebal when UTP bought the Tronoh campus from USM.

5. Initially the course was run by lecturers in Geology and Chemistry background. Ironically none from the graduates of the former B Sc in Applied Science and Mineral Technology USM formed the teaching staff. Initially not much input from mining engineers except from the late Dr Hussin (Director of the Mines Research Institute of the Department of Mines Malaysia) and a few other mining engineers on part time basis.

6. Mining engineers are not attracted to work at USM mainly the pay at a government university are not attractive. Also many (include some mining engineers) thought that mining is a sunset industry

7. USM maybe the only university in the world and Malaysia that offered a programme in mineral resources engineering. An external examiner commented the programme is about equivalent 70% of the Mining Engineering degree in the University of New South Wales.

8. Other universities (outside Malaysia) offer courses in mining engineering, mineral process engineering or mineral engineering. In a way it could be a blessing in disguise. In the 80s the word mining in Malaysia is not that popular.

9. Curricullum for the B.Eng (Hons) Mineral Resources Engineering

10. By looking at the curriculum now, it is the same as that of any mining engineering course in other universities. So the mineral resources engineering at USM are accredited and the PE will be registered under the mineral resources engineering discipline.

11. Graduates of Mineral Resources Engineering after graduation work as: Mining Engineer Quarry Engineer Blasting Engineer Mineral Processing Engineer Extractive metallurgist Drilling Engineer with Petroleum companies Safety Engineer

12. Academic requirement for students to graduate 1 unit or 1credit-hour is defined as 1 contact hour per week for 14 weeks in 1 semester. Core Courses 108 units University requirement 15 units Elective Courses 12 units Total 135 units Engineering Accreditation Council Requirement = 120 units Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC) is made up of: Lembaga Jurutera Malaysia Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam Lembaga Akreditasi Negara To graduate – A Cumulative Grade Point Average of 2.0+ is requred.

13. Short courses Industrial minerals Geology Blasting and quarrying Cement processing

14. Complains from the quarrying industry is that USM mineral resources engineering graduates do not stay long. The main reason is that they are paid quite low as compared to their peers working in the mines and factories or even in the government sector or teachers. So they don’t focus and try to get jobs at the industries or being a teacher. Thus we loss the manpower trained in mining and quarrying to other industry such as manufacturing.

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