Enrolments are down at Curtin U’s WA School of Mines but the university is upbeat about a new curriculum

The university says it plans to “position” the Kalgoorlie-based school to “train the mining workforce of the future” with courses in “emerging areas, … such as robotics, data analytics and additive manufacturing.”

The new curriculum will be a response to the “downturn” in mining and resources and a “sustained period of low enrolments.”

A new curriculum was a core recommendation of a school review, chaired by former Rio Tinto executive John McGagh.  The university has retained mining education veteran, David Brereton (ex Uni Queensland) to ensure the curriculum “will equip graduates to work in a highly technical, sophisticated and evolving industry.”

The university says the downturn led to “recent staffing changes … which have involved eight positions.” CMM thinks that means positions abolished or restructured. However, Vice Chancellor Deborah Terry says, “there is no expectation that the rollout of the new curriculum will be associated with any job losses.”