| UCAS code | N/A |
|---|---|
| Duration | 4 years (part time) |
| Entry year | 2025 |
| Campus | Penryn Campus |
| Discipline | Mining Engineering |
| Contact |
| Typical offer | |
|---|---|
Overview
- This course has been developed to help upskill those already holding roles within the mining industry, who want to develop their career.
- Gain a University of Exeter degree while working and earning a salary.
- Students will study a broad range of topics: the underlying maths, digital, geology and physics skills that inform engineering, then mine design, operations, processing, automation, risk, safety, economics, environment and social governance.
- The programme will involve innovative learning and teaching methods, achieved through online learning, including recorded lectures, live webinars and residentials.
- Students will study for approximately six hours per week throughout the duration of the course.
- Our flexible learning and online resources minimise disruption so students can continue to fulfil their current roles.
- Students will develop new knowledge, skills, and ideas that will enable them to become more effective employees who can add real change to their organisation, and lay the foundation for a prosperous and challenging career.
- Camborne School of Mines has over 140 years of history and a global reputation for training internationally renowned mining engineers.
Top 15 in the world for Mineral and Mining Engineering
QS University World Subject Rankings 2024
1st in the UK for Mineral and Mining Engineering
QS University World Subject Rankings 2024
Study at Camborne School of Mines
A world-class combined geoscience and mining department
Top 15 in the world for Mineral and Mining Engineering
QS University World Subject Rankings 2024
1st in the UK for Mineral and Mining Engineering
QS University World Subject Rankings 2024
Study at Camborne School of Mines
A world-class combined geoscience and mining department
Entry requirements (typical offer)
| Qualification | Typical offer | Required subjects |
|---|---|---|
| A-Level | ABB | No required subjects |
| IB | 32/655 | No required subjects |
| BTEC | DDM | No required subjects |
| GCSE | C or 4 | English Language or equivalent |
| Access to HE | 24 L3 Credits at Distinction Grade and 21 L3 credits at Merit Grade | No required subjects |
| T-Level | N/A | |
| Contextual Offer | Specific subject requirements must still be achieved where stated above. Find out more about contextual offers. |
|
| Other accepted qualifications | ||
| English language requirements |
International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course. The required test scores for this course fall under Profile B3. Please visit our English language requirements page to view the required test scores and equivalencies from your country. |
|
NB General Studies is not included in any offer.
Grades advertised on each programme webpage are the typical level at which our offers are made and provide information on any specific subjects an applicant will need to have studied in order to be considered for a place on the programme. However, if we receive a large number of applications for the programme we may not be able to make an offer to all those who are predicted to achieve/have achieved grades which are in line with our typical offer. For more information on how applications are assessed and when decisions are released, please see: After you apply
Other qualifications of a similar level can be considered. Recognition of prior learning and experience is also available.
How to apply
This programme does not follow the standard UCAS application process. Students will need to already have a position or job offer from a mining company that is willing to support the application. Please get in touch with us to proceed with an application.
If a candidate meets the funding eligibility criteria for a degree apprenticeship, please see our Mine Management Degree Apprenticeship programme. To be eligible for funding, the apprentice must meet the criteria listed in the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) guidance. If you have a query regarding eligibility, please contact Anna Dickinson (Partnership Development Officer) at miningDAPT@exeter.ac.uk.
Course content
As we move towards a world of carbon neutrality there has never been a greater need for the metals that enable renewable energy generation, like copper, lithium, steel and aluminium. That demand translates directly to good jobs for mining engineers.
Our ambition is for our students to graduate, academically ready to grow into senior roles. Students will gain the knowledge and experience to enable them to:
- Understand the mining lifecycle and the investment and fundraising environment
- Design all aspects of mining operations to be safe and productive
- Address the challenges of environmental sustainability, governance and social responsibility
The course involves approximately six hours a week of remote learning, up to four weeks of on-site activity per year and the implementation of this knowledge via practising skills and behaviours in the workplace. Students can expect to be stretched and challenged but supported throughout as they develop the academic skills required to rise through the ranks in the mining, tunnelling and allied industries.
The modules we outline here provide examples of what you can expect to learn on this degree course based on recent academic teaching. The precise modules available to you in future years may vary depending on staff availability and research interests, new topics of study, timetabling and student demand.
The first year includes an introduction to the business of mine, the core engineering disciplines of maths, mechanics and fluid mechanics, and engineering thinking, introduced through the Mine Challenge Project.
Compulsory modules
| Code | Module | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CSM1288DA | Mining Life Cycle and Professional Practice | 30 |
| CSM1289DA | Engineering Fundamentals | 30 |
| CSM1290DA | Mine Challenge Project | 30 |
In second and third year, the focus shifts to mining engineering skills such as geology, rock mechanics, safety, ventilation, and allied skills such as sustainability and mine closure.
Compulsory modules
| Code | Module | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CSM1291DA | Resource Characterisation | 30 |
| CSM2320DA | Digitisation and Automation | 30 |
| CSM2321DA | Material Processing | 30 |
In final year, strategy subjects are introduced, and the course ends with a group project that demonstrates students' competence.
Compulsory modules
| Code | Module | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CSM3405DA | Excavation Design and Optimisation | 30 |
| CSM3406DA | Economics and Risk Management | 30 |
| CSM3407DA | Feasibility and Business Improvement Project | 30 |
Fees and funding
The employer fully covers the cost of this programme; students do not pay for any of the eligible training costs. The student will be an employee of the organisation, gaining a University of Exeter degree alongside working and earning a salary.
Learning and teaching
On average, approximately six hours per week of a learner’s contractual working time will be given over to directed learning, typically consisting of around six hours per week of remote learning and up to four weeks per year of site visits and residentials on various mines and at Cambourne School of Mines (CSM).
The first year provides fundamental knowledge underlying mining engineer including mathematics, mechanics and fluid mechanics. The mining business is also introduced, and students undertake a challenge project alone or in small groups at their place of work.
In the second year, further basic skills are acquired, such as electrical engineering, geology and geomatics, and the course starts to move into the core mining subjects such as excavation design, geomechanics and safety and hazard management. The third year continues the pairing of core mining subjects including tunnelling and underground space, and ventilation with important related subjects such as mine closure and risk management.
In final year, the focus moves to tools for strategic thinking: economics, business evaluation, planning, and environmental and social governance, and the year ends with a major project, to put into practice all the skills learnt in the four years of study. Students will complete an individual or group project in the final year: an opportunity to apply knowledge and skills to devise an engineering solution at a professional level. The individual or group project should be done in collaboration with employers, giving the company a tangible benefit.
Residentials will consist of two-week study blocks and on-site introductions to mining topics. The opportunities to meet as a group will allow students to share learning from their own experiences and their own mines and to grow their technical peer network.
During and outside of this time students will also be able to meet one-to-one with their academic mentor, as well as participating in progress review meetings with both their academic and workplace mentors approximately every six weeks.
Optional modules outside of this course
Each year, if you have optional modules available, you can take up to 30 credits in a subject outside of your course. This can increase your employability and widen your intellectual horizons.
Proficiency in a second subject
If you complete 60 credits of modules in one of the subjects below, you may have the words 'with proficiency in [e.g. Social Data Science]' added to your degree title when you graduate.
- A Foreign Language
- Data Science
- Entrepreneurship
- Innovation
- Law (Penryn Campus only)
- Leadership
- Management
- Social Data Science
Your future
About the course
Students on this course will be a full, salaried member of an organisation. Much of the learning will take place at work, either through projects linked to academic content or time set aside for distance learning. Students will be working in an exciting and relevant job from day one of their studies, meaning when they graduate, they'll have both the professional and academic experience sought after by employers.
Employer-valued skills
Solid industry experience is what employers look for when recruiting. The structure of the course means that students will gain knowledge, skills and behaviours to be a fully-fledged mining engineer at the end of the programme. They will have gained experience in areas including mine design, operations, geotechnical, business, safety, environment, tactical and strategic thinking – all routes to careers within mining and related industries.
