Vocational Skills Challenging All Industries

Agreater emphasis needs to be placed on training geol- ogy and chemistry students

in analytical services techniques, says analytical services consulting company XRD Analytical & Consulting owner and chair of the organising committee for the International Mineralogical Association 2014 conference Dr Sabine Verryn.The University of Johannesburg reports that the number of students awarded BSc degrees, specialising in geology, has increased from 14 students in 2005, to 22 students in 2010.Students including geology in their BSc curriculum have increased from 40 in 2008, to 78 in 2010.Meanwhile, at the University of Pretoria, more than 40 stu- dents graduated with geology honours and more than 40 students graduated with a BSc (geology) in 2010.While the global skills deficit continues to affect all industries, including the analytical services industry, Verryn reports that the increased interest in geology at universities is encouraging.However, she says that, from an analytical perspective, train- ing individuals in analytical work is not a priority at universities. The focus is more on training students to use geological methodologies, or to read the results, rather than becoming analysts themselves.Verryn believes that students need to gain insight into the different techniques and know which techniques can be used for different types of problems, as some techniques may not be suited to a particular analysis.Further, societies, associations and organisations can play a significant role in educating students and potential customers. In this light, the Mineralogical Asso- ciation of South Africa has won the bid to organise the twenty-first General meeting of the Inter- national Mineralogical Associa- tion in South Africa in 2014.The universities can also play a significant role by allowing students to work at universities and learn the different techniques, as this will provide the students with training and experience, Verryn says.This may reduce employee turnover in companies, which also poses a significant challenge. She adds that there is a definite need for well-trained analysts, but that individuals tend to move to other companies once their in-house training is complete.State-of-the-art facilities and training are important, as we need to uphold the countrys educational standards, which means that training facilities for students need to be as good as possible and maintained by well-trained staff. It is of no bene- fit having sophisticated technology but no one trained to use it, says Verryn.South Africas laboratories rank among the best in the world and are at the forefront of automated technology, with a high concentration of high- tech equipment in the countrys laboratories.A lot of technology in the past, such as automated scanning electron microscopes, were designed, to some extent, to suit South Africas mining industry particularly the platinum industry, says Verryn.Meanwhile, she has noticed an increase in commercial laboratories in the country, as some mining companies outsource analytical work, owing to the scarcity of in-house analytical scientists and the cost implications of buying the equipment, servicing it and hiring individuals to operate it.As the professional manufacturer of complete sets of mining machinery, such as Cement making plantCement plant, Henan Hongxing is always doing the best in products and service.Spiral classifier pricehttp://www.hxjq-crusher.com/22.html Mobile crushing stationhttp://www.crusher-machine.com/12.html

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