There has been a considerable amount of interest in the discussion of the Future Graduate Profile, which resulted from a major self-evaluation process spanning the period 1977-1979.

The Committee on Academic Policy, the ad hoc Faculty Committee charged by the Faculty with making recommendations for implementation of the Profile study, feels strongly that although the Future Graduate Profile has resulted in many positive changes, there is still a great deal more to be accomplished.  

At the same time, they are beginning to question one of the postulates of the original report.  This postulate assumes that the technical education of the graduates is satisfactory.  

Since the Profile was published, significant changes have occurred in the minerals and energy industries, which appear to have long-range consequences for our graduates.  Our future graduates should have the expertise to compete in a broader range of career opportunities that has been the case in the past.  The committee believes that a serious study should be undertaken to look at this question.

The final report of the study of 1977-79 recommended that steps be taken to improve the Mines graduate in a number of ways, ranging from ensuring better communication skills to developing a broader spectrum of interests in the students.   Since that time, the emphasis has been on the implementation of the following areas:

      (a)      The graduate must have undisputed technical competence in some field related to minerals and/or energy.  This has been the basis of the School’s reputation since its inception, and it must be retained.  It applies a firm grasp of the fundamentals of mathematics, science, and engineering, and the ability to apply them to one’s chosen specialty.  It means that he should have the background, the depth, for any job in his field after an appropriate period of orientation or on-the-job training.  It does not necessarily mean that every graduate must be able to “hit the ground running,” different programs will aim at developing “entry-level skills,” to suit the graduate’s first employer to different extents.  To be able to land on one’s feet and be ready to climb or change direction, however, should be a universal capability.

(b)     He must have the ability to communicate his thoughts and actions orally, in writing, and graphically both to his fellow professionals and to the layman.  He should be competent to the art of working in diverse terms of specialists on multidisciplinary projects, and his ability in this respect will depend greatly upon his communicative skills.

(c)     He should have been inspired, and should have the background and desire to be able to continue to learn independently after graduation.

(d)     His experiences in the School should have stimulated his natural curiosity so that enquiry, analysis, and syntheses based upon fundamentals should be a natural response to any unfamiliar situation.

(e)     He should have the breadth to be able to appreciate the problems of professions allied to his own.  He should realize clearly the potential impacts of his professional actions upon the political, social, economic, and natural environments in which he practices, locally and internationally, and the constraints that these might impose upon his actions.  He should have a broad understanding of why and how governmental laws and regulations affect the practice of his profession and how he may influence governmental processes.  While at the School, he should have continued to develop his own intellectual and cultural views.

(f)     He should have, as any professional, high standards of integrity and self-discipline, and a positive attitude to the professional responsibilities to his job.

Mines Magazine
June 1983