Objectives & career opportunities

There is an important relationship between the environmental and mining fields; this double degree is born out of a natural need to combine environmental engineering (geology, edaphology, hydrogeology, environmental geochemistry, environmental impact assessment, solid waste, etc.) with mining engineering in a way that can lead to a professional future with a wider work option spectrum. A mining or environmental engineer with a very solid background in environmental or mining engineering respectively, certainly translates into very high career potential. Furthermore, the sustainable development trends of recent years in the mining sector point to the promotion and increase of all activities related to the recovery, reuse and recycling of mineral products within the framework of the circular economy. This represents an important meeting point between environmental engineering and mining.

Students from this double degree will see their career opportunities broadened with regard to students from just one of the two bachelor's degrees. Therefore, bearing in mind the different fields in which students from these two bachelor's degrees can work separately, we may highlight the following fields of work for our double degree students:

• Quality control of groundwater, as well as water from rivers, lakes, seas and oceans.
• Water supply to cities.
• Treatment of waste water.
• Decontamination of soil and groundwater.
• Control measures on air and noise pollution.
• Environmental biotechnology.
• Management of solid waste.
• Environmental impact of products and processes.
• Evaluation of the impact of climate change.
• Restoration of degraded lands.
• Introduction of renewable energies.
• Environmental and natural resources economy.
• Circular economy.
• Sustainable transportation and mobility.
• Smart cities and sustainable construction.
• Green infrastructures.
• Supervision of underground and open-cast mining activities. Management of work teams and machinery.
• Design and planning of mining activities.
• Blast design in mines and civil works.
• Civil works: excavating, tunneling, and ground movements.
• Management of minerals and waste.
• Industries related to construction materials.
• Technical work in spatial planning and management.
• Groundwater management.
• Research for R&D projects.
• Technical work in areas of public administration and teaching at secondary schools and universities.
• Technical work in occupational safety.