Trends in Chemical Engineering Education in Central Europe
Special Symposium - Education
The Future of European Chemical Engineering Education in a Globalized World
Keywords: chemical engineering, product engineering, teaching requirements
E Favre, V. Falk, C. Roizard, E. Schaer
Chemical engineering, as already stated by Danckwerts decades ago, has to keep permanently in touch with the evolution of the underlying science, as well as with the changes in the Chemical Process Industries (CPI). These two domains, together with the portfolio of new educational means, have undergone significant changes recently, which call for a constant reexamination of the currently existing curricula [1-3].
This lecture intends to provide a brief state of the art analysis of the different degrees in chemical engineering in central Europe, as well as tentatively identify the evolution and needs in the near future.
In a first part, a survey of typical chemical engineering curricula in Germany, France, Netherlands Switzerland, Belgium will be described and compared to other countries.
In a second step, the possibilities of evolution of chemical engineering teaching are explored. Several key issues will be addressed:
i) the role and place of product engineering vs chemical engineering
ii) the teaching requirements of sustainable chemistry and processes, including green chemistry approaches [4]
iii) the possibilities and limitations to include biology and life science topics in a chemical engineering syllabus?
iv) the potentialities and concrete use of modern teaching techniques (such as e-learning).
While scientists tackle problems that can be solved, a chemical engineer has to face problems in the CPI that must be solved. This oversimplified definition is likely to remain true in the future. Nevertheless, the type of problems of the chemical industries, the strong needs for innovation, the minimal "time to market" constraint within a globalized environment have obviously to be taken into account in actual and future curricula.
[1] R.C. Armstrong (2006) A vision of the curriculum of the future. Chemical Engineering Education, Spring Issue, 104-109.
[2] Beyond the molecular frontier: Challenges for chemistry and chemical engineering. National Research Council (2003).
[3] Frontiers in Chemical Engineering Education: New directions and opportunities, creating the future. CCR / NSF Discipline, MIT (2004).
[4] A vision for 2025 : Reaction and Process Design as a driver for sustainable Growth in Europe. European Technology Plattform Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem). (2006).
Presented Tuesday 18, 14:25 to 14:50, in session The Future of European Chemical Engineering Education in a Globalized World - III.
