Bridging the gap between university studies and industry pathways is something Emily-Jane Schutte is incredibly passionate about. She is about to start the final year of her Environmental Engineering degree at the University of Newcastle (UoN) and is heavily involved in the AusIMM Hunter Student Chapter.
EJ as most people know her as, has been involved in the AusIMM Hunter Student Chapter for the last two years opening up incredible opportunities not only for herself but also for everyone involved in AusIMM at UoN.
Something of a frustration for many students going to UoN is that you can’t study mining engineering specifically. You have the option of adding it onto your degree when you do a Bachelor of Engineering through a Mining Transfer Program.
So, groups like AusIMM are instrumental for Newcastle students to get an insight into the mining industry.
“I got into mining completely by accident. I chose to study a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering – to be honest I didn’t know what that meant, and I still kind of don’t know,” laughed EJ.
“It’s very broad so it’s somewhat of a joke in engineering circles. But there are a lot of places in mining for environmental engineers. Sadly, I couldn’t learn too much about mining through the university because there aren’t any mining programs, but I found AusIMM.
“Sophie Gillogly has been so influential to me throughout my time at UoN. She started a student chapter of AusIMM and was looking for people to join. I thought why not let’s give it a go since I was already involved with the Women in Engineering group at the time as their secretary.
“I joined the AusIMM Hunter Student Chapter as the Vice President and I later took on the President role when Sophie graduated. We went from two of us to a club of 13. It’s honestly been the best thing I have ever been a part of. We go on site tours, plant tours and host industry networking nights.
“I’ve met so many inspirational people in those circles and I just feel so connected. The mining industry has so much to offer,” EJ said.
@ The Coalface first met EJ at the IMARC conference in Sydney last year. She was part of a panel of young people talking about how they would tackle mining’s biggest issues. There was also a lot of conversation about getting young people interested in the mining industry as a career earlier.
Mining is often overlooked as a career for high school students in a lot of areas, particularly those that aren’t based in towns where mining is often the only option of a job or a career.
That lack of interest nearly saw the University of Wollongong lose its Mining Engineering degree last year but thankfully, thanks to the industry and peak bodies like NSW Mining, it was saved.
“It’s very sad to see things like that happening as a result of a lack of interest, and other forces at play too. The funny thing is most of the graduates coming out of the University of Newcastle end up going into the mines anyway whether it’s civil, mechanical or chemical engineering pathways.
“There’s so much work for us in the mines but students are often graduating completely unprepared for those types of industries. That’s where AusIMM is incredibly beneficial.
“We have such a diversity of students across all different fields of engineering, science, business, law and software because while there are the traditional pathways into mining there are so many non-traditional pathways too.
“Through AusIMM those students can join us for industry networking nights where you come and speak to people who actually work in the industry, ask questions and get advice (and have a drink!), we go on mine and plant tours as I mentioned before too. Every year we go to the New Leaders Summit and the National Mining Games, which are two other fantastic experiences.
“This year we’ll have even more events with tech talks and workshops, some discipline-specific panel discussions, and the usual trivia nights, coffee catch ups, a showcase of the vacation programs we got up to over the summer and so much more.
“Something I find really interesting every year is the university’s welcome week stall where we promote what we do. Students approach us and they don’t really know what AusIMM is. At some point it comes out that we’re a mining club and they get a funny look on their face…
“I think the conversation always comes down to one moment. You ask them where they think solar panels and wind turbines come from and you can see their cogs turning… you tell them and their worldview just changes a little bit.
“It’s not their fault they don’t know, they just haven’t been taught.”
EJ added to that saying unless you’re exposed to things in the industry or shown different things, you just don’t know what’s happening. It didn’t help that before the birth of organisations like Coal Australia, Jobs for Mining and other pro-coal groups the industry simply didn’t do a very good job of promoting itself and all the wonderful things it’s doing.
“Unfortunately, that really narrow, limited narrative has dominated that conversation and the unfortunate consequence of that is that we don’t actually have students who want to take up the mantle and join the industry and uphold the standards that are there and improve on it.”
“Students just aren’t aware of all the great things happening. People have been very quiet about it for a bit too long.
“I personally didn’t realise just how much mining did for local communities until I got my first internship. So much money goes into funding community initiatives, the companies are doing a lot, above and beyond what they need to.
“People in the industry are very happy to fund what we do at AusIMM too, and not only provide financial support but actually help the students and mentor them and let them know what’s on offer so they can make a good career decision because there are so many different paths engineering students can go down.
“While we said the industry hasn’t done a great job of promoting itself in the past, the people that I have met all throughout Newcastle and the Hunter Valley do a fantastic job trying to get students on board,” said EJ.
EJ is in her final year of her degree and can’t wait to apply for positions and get to work in the mining industry.
| You can keep up to date with the AusIMM Hunter Student Chapter on LinkedIn and Instagram @ausimm_hsc and https://www.ausimm-hsc.com/ |
