TIMREX – a European joint master programme to implement innovative mineral exploration achievements in geoscience education
Authors: Madai Ferenc , Borojević Šoštarić Sibila , Paszkowska Gabriela , Jansson Nils 
Published: February 2023

Mineral resource exploration techniques and methodologies have undergone a very strong development in the last decade: e.g. portable and higher sensitive equipment, robotized exploration equipment, and tools for processing and interpreting of large, multidimensional datasets. In order to meeti the raw materials policy goals of the EU, these technologies should also be incorporated in higher education (M&#225;dai, 2022).&#160;TIMREX is a new EIT-Labelled joint master's program to train geoscience students focusing on innovative raw materials prospecting and exploration methods. The consortium consists of four academic partners &#8211; University of Miskolc, Hungary, University of Zagreb, Croatia, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland and Lule&#229; University of Technology, Sweden. All four academic partners run their mineral exploration-focussed, geoscience engineering-type master programmes which comprise the ground for the joint master programme. Participating Universities are located within Fennoscandian, Fore-Sudetic and Tethyan/Carpathian-Balkan metallogenic belts hosting numerous primary, secondary and critical mineral resources essential for green transition of Europe. Scandinavian and West Balkan countries holds first and second place according to total mineral resources investments in Europe (data from 2019).&#160;The TIMREX consortium incorporates eight non-academic partners who are at the frontier of mineral resource prospecting and exploration equipment and methodology development in the EU. They represent leading European mining companies such as Boliden Mineral and KGHM, but also SMEs and start-ups such as the Unexmin Georobotics (UGR) and the Geogold K&#225;rp&#225;tia Ltd., as well as research institutes such as the Portuguese INESC TEC and the Slovenian Geological Survey (GeoZS).Non-academic partners are actively involved in the TIMREX joint programme as trainers in field programs, internship mentors or thesis topic providers. Students of the programme can join research and development work at the partners. Examples are development of underwater robotized exploration methodologies (INESC TEC, UGR), drone-based multispectral surveys and complex dataset evaluation (Boliden, KGHM Cuprum, GeoZS, Geogold). The European Federation of Geologists provides a wider network of European prospectors and explorers to the joint programme and contributes to teaching of entrepreneurial skills. Therefore, TIMREX directly address major gaps of the Raw Materials sector: limited availability of qualified technical, scientific and managerial personnel involved in the whole mineral cycle (Borojevi&#263; &#352;o&#353;tari&#263; et al., 2022) as well as lack of generic skills crucial for increasing the innovation capacity of universities and their graduates (Grgasovi&#263; and Borojevi&#263; &#352;o&#353;tari&#263;, 2021).&#160;&#160;Borojevi&#263; &#352;o&#353;tari&#263;, S., Giannakopoulou, S., Adam, K. i Mileusni&#263;, M. (2022). The future of mining in the Adria region: current status, SWOT and Gap analysis of the mineral sector. Geologia Croatica, 75 (Special issue), 317-334. https://doi.org/10.4154/gc.2022.26Grgasovi&#263;, P.; &#352;o&#353;tari&#263;, S.B. (2021) Systematic Development of Generic Skills to Enhance Innovation Capacity of Eastern and Southeastern European Universities. Mater. Proc.5, 99, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.3390/ materproc2021005099M&#225;dai F. (2022) Competence requirements of innovation and entrepreneurship oriented training programmes for the mineral exploration sector. In: Veresn&#233; Somosi M.; Lipt&#225;k K.; Harangoz&#243; &#160;Zs.(eds) "M&#233;rleg &#233;s Kih&#237;v&#225;sok - Fenntarthat&#243;s&#225;g" Miskolci Egyetem Gazdas&#225;gtudom&#225;nyi Kar (2022) pp. 537-547