Graduate Certificate or Diploma of Mining Engineering overview
Graduate certificates and diplomas provide a succinct learning experience. They take six months to one year of full-time study respectively, with part-time options available at twice those durations. This makes them a highly flexible choice. Institutions like the University of Queensland or Federation University offer units in fundamental mining practices, exploration seismology, the industrial applications of exploration geophysics, applied geomechanics, mine design and much more.
Employment options
Working as a mining engineer for companies like Rio Tinto is a fantastic use of qualifications. They make use of both undergraduate engineering experience in addition to postgraduate mine design skills developed throughout these postgraduate courses. They also make good entry opportunities into higher-level programs, such as a master degree.
Scholarships and funding
There are a number of scholarships specific to mining engineering students as well as students from general engineering disciplines, but most are for master level students. The John Simmons Student Mobility Fund is an example of one that can be taken at the graduate certificate or diploma level. It provides up to $1,500 to mining engineering students willing to study overseas. It can also be applied to interstate travel.
There are also many general scholarship opportunities, which can be browsed here. Some of these include:
- The $69,500 Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships from ANU.
- $65,000 General Sir John Monash Scholarships. These are for students planning to study overseas.
- The whopping $120,000 Westpac Future Leaders Scholarship. Students must argue for why their line of study is relevant to a variety of different subject areas, available for review on their site. Briefly put, these include:
- Technology and innovation
- Strengthening Australia-Asia ties
- Enabling positive social change
Students of mining engineering can easily make a case for any of these. Mining engineers can foster social change through cleaner, more efficient technologies, which in turn improve diplomatic relations through the delivery of resources to customers worldwide.
Prerequisites and selection process
Students of these courses require a bachelor degree in a cognate discipline to enter. This means a degree in engineering, geophysics, geology or some combination of these. Several institutions are likely to require a credit GPA to enter (65%), but not all programs impose this requirement.