TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The University of British Columbia’s (UBC’s) Faculty of Applied Science on the eve of International Women’s Day announced that it would boost the number of women recruited to and enrolled in its engineering programme thanks to a gift from Goldcorp.

The gold major had given the faculty $500 000 to establish a new Goldcorp Professorship in Women in Engineering at UBC.

The professorship would focus on promoting engineering as a creative and rewarding career, aiming to broaden the current talent by reaching out to high school students, parents and counsellors to encourage students with aptitude in science, engineering and math to pursue a career in those fields.

The professorship would assist nation-wide efforts to address the skills shortage of about 100 000 engineers by 2020 as predicted by Engineers Canada.

Engineering remains one of the last professions to see the under-representation of women. Through a targeted recruitment strategy, the faculty aims to increase the number of women enrolled in engineering at UBC from the national average of 20% to 50% over the next five years.

"It's an extremely ambitious goal, but not one that is outside of our reach, with some dedication. Goldcorp has a history of promoting female leadership, diversity and inclusion, and we are confident that with this partnership, we can make great strides forward,” Applied Science Dean Marc Parlange said.

The programme would build on successes at both UBC and Goldcorp in promoting women within the engineering sector. UBC is home to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada chair for Women in Science and Engineering, for the British Columbia and Yukon regions, which had developed several programmes and conducted research to help the sector recruit and retain women. Dr Elizabeth Croft currently holds the chair.

"Diversity in organisations has been shown to bring a wide range of benefits to companies, both cultural and economic. This new initiative will help us recruit women into our programmes, which is the first step towards ensuring that engineering companies have a diverse pool of skilled professionals for the future,” Croft said.

“Goldcorp’s commitment to developing our people is one way to create a competitive advantage. Programmes that promote diversity and technical excellence are a logical step as we look to address the looming skills shortage in our business. This is also well aligned with our aim to create social and economic benefits in the communities where we operate,” senior VP for technical services Maryse Belanger, who was influential in generating support for the initiative, said.

Goldcorp is the first international gold mining company to offer an enterprise-wide programme for women called ‘Creating Choices’. The programme is a tool offered to women across the company to unlock potential, build skills and achieve personal and professional fulfilment.

To date, more than 1 000 Goldcorp women have completed the programme and the results were inspiring: 66% of participants reported improved self-esteem, 72% increased their communication skills, and 75% set new goals for themselves.

The programme has had a profound impact in cultures where women encountered cultural hurdles. Women in Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Canada and the US have participated, and in 2013, Creating Choices extended to Goldcorp operations in Chile and Argentina.

The Goldcorp Professorship in Women in Engineering at UBC will begin its recruitment programmes this summer.