Accent: Laurentian as ‘Harvard of Hardrock Mining’ – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – February 7, 2015)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Note: This is the first of two parts.

Laurentian University economics professor David Robinson, who ran for the Green Party in Sudbury’s provincial byelection on Thursday, has done a terrific job in highlighting mining issues and his plans to ensure that Sudbury continues to become Ontario’s centre of mining excellence.

It’s a refreshing policy approach that often gets overlooked by other politicians, but in fairness to Glenn Thibeault and even Premier Kathleen Wynne, both have also mentioned — but not with the same passion as Robinson — and promoted Sudbury’s mining sector.

However, as with many issues related to Premier Wynne and the mining sector — including the Ring of Fire — there seems to be more “political talk” and very “little solid walk.” Actually, dodging and spinning would be a better description of her government’s mining policy in general.

If Premier Wynne is truly serious about promoting and establishing Sudbury as a centre of mining excellence, then she must merge and relocate all of Ontario’s university mining programs to Laurentian and significantly expand and establish a “Global Harvard of Hardrock Mining” with a mandate to educate the next generation of miners in Canada and from around the world.

With this consolidation, not only would the premier solidify Sudbury’s premier role in underground mining, supply and services, mining education and research in Canada, she would also dovetail with current policy proposals from her own Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities that are trying to cut duplication in the university sector and increase the number of international students attending the province’s universities.

The Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, an arms-length advisory group on post-secondary education, was established to improve the quality and effectiveness of universities and colleges in this province at a time of severe funding restraints due to unsustainable billion-dollar deficits. Their key policy initiative is called “differentiation.”

“Research shows a differentiated post-secondary education system supports greater quality, competitiveness, accountability by allowing institutions to spend resources more efficiently, focusing on their areas of strength,” a government release said.

In other words, all universities can’t be all things to all people and they should start focusing on specializations that will enhance their global standing and further entice international students who pay much higher tuition fees, which considerably helps their stressed operating budgets. Obviously, one of Laurentian’s “strategic mandate specializations” was its world-class mining engineering and earth sciences programs, combined with the Goodman School of Mines.

Last summer, the province finalized Strategic Mandate Agreements that run from 2014-2017 with each of its colleges and universities in order to end costly duplications. There are complaints that the process is moving too slowly and that the ministry is just too respectful of the traditional autonomy universities have traditionally had. Other than a reduction of funding, there is no proverbial big stick to force powerful college and university presidents to consolidate and/or transfer smaller faculties to other institutes.

There are three mining engineering faculties – University of Toronto, Queen’s (Kingston) and Laurentian – and, astonishingly, 11 earth sciences/geology departments in Ontario’s 20 publicly funded universities. The only communities that have operating mines are Sudbury and Windsor, which has an underground salt operation. However, I would keep the geology programs at Windsor and Lakehead in Thunder Bay as the mineral potential of northwestern Ontario, including the Ring of Fire, is so vast.

Would Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Reza Moridi be determined and bold enough to demand that the presidents of Queen’s and U of T start the process of transferring their mining engineering and earth sciences faculties to Sudbury?

Southern universities will not want to give up the potential of multi-million dollar donations from mining alumni and Premier Wynne will need a “nickel/steel reinforced backbone” to stand up to these very powerful men.

For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.thesudburystar.com/2015/02/07/accent-laurentian-as-harvard-of-hardrock-mining-2