Depletion of available academic staff either to industry or offshore opportunities.
Continued decline in state funding to higher education institutions offering minerals-related education.
Ongoing concerns about the academic preparedness and career readiness of current cohorts of undergraduate students.
The prospect of a downturn in the industry resulting in reductions of the contributions (based on head counts) of current contributors. As many industry partners as possible need to be drawn in to maintain the pool of funds supporting institutions.
The ongoing imperative for the local industry to ‘grow’ its own high level staffing pipeline to ensure survival, growth and readiness for the inevitable changes and challenges faced by the industry.
Skills Development and B-BBEE imperatives provide additional pressures/incentives.
Unless industry acts jointly to counter these threats, suitably qualified staff will not be available to the South African minerals industry in the future.
