Universities in China, especially those who offer courses preparing students for careers in the mineral industry, should turn out graduates with a comprehensive knowledge of the full spectrum of 21st-century disciplines, said Shi Jinfeng, president of the Liaoning Technical University.

"In the past, we followed the former Soviet Union's education mode and system in mine surveying. Specialization existed to a degree that no longer suits the development of education and social demands," said Shi, who was attending the ongoing 12th International Congress of International Society for Mine Surveying(ISM).

"We now have surveying engineers, a job that covers a wide range of surveys such as mine, engineering and maritime," Shi said Unlike European countries, the United States and Japan whose main education mode in mine surveying is general, China's main mode is highly specialized, following the education system of former Soviet Union, said Jiao Minglian, an expert with China's Huaihai Institute of Technology.

"Those countries supply kinds of professional education according to the demands of society, while mine surveying education in China reflects a planned economy and traditional education thoughts," said Jiao, while delivering a paper at the ISM congress.

Specifically, he said, universities in China have over-emphasized practical skills and ignored fundamental theories, and they have paid great attention to teaching while ignoring innovation.

Talented people in the field should not only be familiar with knowledge of their own profession, but also related subjects. More important still is that they have high self-awareness and creativeability, said Jiao.

"According to the experience of my school in the past years, weshould teach students to adapt to the the needs of China's socialist market economy, master fundamental theories and skills and enhance their innovation abilities," he said.

Innovation is an eternal theme for humans, said Jiao, adding that a top task for universities in China is to teach students to acquire creative ability.

"If they their students to survive and develop in the 21th century, which features tough competition, universities in China should change their education thoughts and concepts, and build a new education system for mine surveying," he said.

The ongoing congress was the first ever held in China, and alsoin Asia. More than 300 experts and scholars from over 20 countries were present at the meeting.

Source: Xinhua