Education in mine waste engineering: the Master SIGEO

On 19th July 1985 the failure of two tailings dams at the service of a fluorite mine in the Stava Valley (Italy) took place. The ensuing flowslide caused the death of 268 people and severe environmental and socioeconomic damage. Similar accidents have happened in Sgorigrad (Bulgaria, 1966), Aberfan (U.K., 1966), Buffalo Creek (USA, 1972), Taoshi (China, 2008) and many other places worldwide. The European Union has recognized the seriousness of problems concerning management and disposal of mining waste (over 400 million tonnes per year worldwide). With the 2006/21/CE Directive, the EU has urged all member States to carry out censuses, monitoring and consolidation of existing structures under the supervision of qualified experts. These experts should be provided with interdisciplinary knowledge that is difficult to attain during normal degree courses. For this reason, the Trento and Modena-Reggio Emilia Universities and the Turin Polytechnic have set up a post-graduate Master’s degree in “Analysis and Management of Geotechnical Structures”. The article describes the interdisciplinary approach adopted in the course and aims to stimulate the sharing of this initiative among other European Universities.