LONDON, UK – The first ever ranking of the world’s mineral engineering schools has been compiled as part of the
QS World University Rankings by Subject. The entire list can be found at
www.TopUniversities.com/subject-rankings/2016. Click on “Mineral & Mining Engineering.”
The list was compiled using the expert opinion of nearly 75,800 academics and 44.426 employers. Analysis of 28.5 million research papers and over 113 million citations sourced from the Sopus/Elsevier bibliometric database was done. Seven hundred thirteen schools were compared and a final list of 403 was ranked, based on the data received.
Sadly, there were no Canadian schools in the top 10. Behind the Colorado School of Mines (1) was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2), Stanford University (3), University of Cambridge (4), University of Oxford (5), University of California, Berkeley (6), Imperial College London (7), ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) (8), and the University of Hong Kong. Tied for 10th place were the University of Queensland and the University of Tokyo.
So where were the Canadian mine engineering schools? The highest ranked was McGill University at No.13, followed by the University of British Columbia (14), the University of Toronto (30), Queen's University at Kingston (32), and the University of Alberta (44). Ranked between 51 and 100 were Laval University, the University of Calgary, and the Universtiy of Western Ontario. Kudos to them for being in the top 100.
Missing is any reference to smaller institutions such as the Haileybury School of Mines and the Technical University of Nova Scotia. Certainly their graduates make them worthy of ranking, too.
Any ranking such as this one is bound to generate exceptions among readers. We would love to hear from CMJ readers. Comment below.
(Updated: 11:57 Friday, March 25,2016)
11 Comments
Griffin Lloyd
I think that there is a bias here towards UK schools. It has been more than 60 years since graduation from UBC and during those years I have worked with numerous professionals in about twenty countries and only encountered one from Oxbridge. Perhaps the bias was towards academia rather than the grunts who apply the science.
Leigh Freeman
Most of the schools listed don’t have minerals or mining engineering programs. For starts … No program at MIT. Stanford dropped their program decades ago. I could go on and on. I’ve compile data on US minerals programs with the National Academy of Sciences. Not sure what QS World is ranking. Certainly not minerals and mining programs.
Mike
Well, you learn something everyday. If a resume came across my desk from the schools ranked #2 to #9, then I would be awfully suspicious. Because I didn’t know that #2-9 even had mine or mineral engineering programs. These guys and girls are the true unicorns of our industry! Now, I get to work day in and day out – all around the world – with some of (whom I thought were) the best and brightest mine engineers in the world in my present role, but gee, I’ve never run into anyone from MIT or Stanford. Guess I’ve been sorted out. These results are so far from what I consider a useful reference, that it just reinforces how BS these sort of exercises actually are. Pity the poor kid who enrolls in Berkley to jump start his or her mining career. I imagine that there are a number of Australian, South African, Canafian, and frankly, American engineers who are a bit ticked with this list.
KC Armstrong
Basing a mining school by the number of papers quoted is a bit like judging a beauty contest on the bunions on the contestant’s feet. It probably included very dated quotes. An engineering school is expected to produce practical but knowledgeable people, about as opposite from the image of an academic as can be found.
Oxford’s department consists of one researcher. MIT’s closed in the 1940’s. 713 schools worldwide? With 40 in Canada, OZ, and South America, where are the others? Google only lists 165 on all continents.
Canadian Mining Journal
The 713 number was for all the schools that QS ranked, including the subset of those with mining and mineral engineering programs.
Tim Paquin
Firstly it’s very disappointing that CMJ would even publish such a post without first doing their homework. They call it the “first ever ranking of the world’s mineral engineering schools” , I’d rather call it the first and hopefully last ever ranking.
Secondly why not do a poll of people working in the industry with their opinions of graduates from various mining schools. Thirdly do some research on graduates and get their opinions.
I’ve worked in this business for over 30 years on four continents and have yet to meet an MIT or Stanford Mining grad. Based on comments above I can see why.
I’m sorry CMJ but you’ve lost some credibility in my eyes after this article.
Bern Klein
Congratulations to “QS World University Rankings” to create a Mining School ranking and congratulations to McGill University for taking top spot in Canada. I understand that the rankings are based on publications. It would be good to see how the survey was conducted. The mining academic community is a small one, so academics tend to meet each other at international mining conferences and through institutions such as the Society of Mining Professors. Interesting that I can’t recall meeting mining faculty from 5 of the top 10 mining schools.
Barry Wills
There is intense debate about this ludicrous list on the MEI Blog at http://www.min-eng.blogspot.co.za/2016/04/world-ranking-of-mineral-mining.html We invite further comments
J. MacDonald
Everybody knows that the top 3 – Mining Engineering – Schools are:
1. Colorado School of Mines
2. Queen’s University Department of Mining Engineering
3. Imperial College London
Pip Laycocck
Unfortunately Imperial College London does not have a Mining Engineering Degree, J MacDonald, however they are happy to use the RSM logo and history at every turn.
Valerie
Question for those who work in the mining industry..in your opinion what’s the best university in Canada for a balanced MSc (industry- reseach) in mining engineering?