Chemical Engineering Education in Europe – an industrial perspective
Special Symposium - Education
The Future of European Chemical Engineering Education in a Globalized World
Keywords: Bologna process, chemical engineering, German universities, educational process
Talking to German professors about chemical engineering education in the past five years one word drew all the attention: Bologna.
In general, we support this process, and we fully support the recommendations given by EFCE in July 2005. I do not want to summarize what is written down in the respective papers. There are, however, developments in the current implementation steps, which should be reviewed critically:
For European politicians Bologna appears to be a highly welcome opportunity to cut the cost of education, increasing the number of graduates while keeping or even reducing budgets. In our opinion, the strength of the European Universities is to provide an excellent education, reducing its quality means to jeopardize the innovative strength of the European Industry.
A chemical engineer graduating in the first cycle degree (bachelor) should be qualified for an industrial job. Some universities transfer their traditional long-cycle programs with only few modifications to the new curricular demands giving the qualification of the first cycle graduate only little attention. The first cycle degree is considered only an emergency exit for those less qualified for higher education. To make it really clear: We have no job opportunities for these graduates.
EFCE asks for scientific, innovation oriented skills in the second cycle degree. It shall combine deepening the knowledge on certain topics, train problem solving skills including analysis, evaluation and selection of alternative solutions and the synthesis of novel solutions. We consider this an excellent aim.
Some courses offered by German universities of applied science however do not really include those skills profoundly. In other cases, some graduates had even been admitted to PhD work right after their first cycle degree. We were in some cases disappointed when talking to them about topics outside the area covered directly by the PhD thesis. Students should select carefully the second cycle degree, checking whether EFCE recommendations have been implemented.
Second cycle degree should be kept a qualification required for PhD work.
One of the most positive effects of the Bologna process is the higher mobility achieved by defining ECTU credits for all the educational topics. In general, we are in favor of mobility, of students having the proven ability to adapt to a new environment. This proof is especially valuable when not only lessons are taken when staying abroad a limited time but a thesis or a chemical engineering project is performed under conditions the student is not completely familiar with.
EFCE asks industry to play an important role in the education of chemical engineers. We fully agree that industrial experience serves to illustrate applications and limitations of theory, puts contents in a wider context, provides social skills and motivates for the remaining study. We are willing to provide the respective placements, especially for second-degree thesis’s and for design and conduction of experiments. The industrial assignment should be at least 3 months, else we loose too much time for the initial training and other non-productive issues and of course we like to define the topics jointly with the professors.
Bologna is dramatically increasing the number of educational programs, making it more difficult for industry to judge which one suits best for a certain job family. Therefore, we strongly support audits, assessments and other review options for the educational process.
Chemical engineering will serve to solve Europe’s problems in the century, which has already begun: energy, sustainability, mobility and innovation in a more and more competitive globalized world. Well-trained chemical engineers are the key to accept this challenge.
Presented Tuesday 18, 11:25 to 11:50, in session The Future of European Chemical Engineering Education in a Globalized World - II.
