European Federation of Chemical Engineering

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društvene vijestiEFCE Bologna RecommendationsEuropean Federation of ChemicalEngineering (EFCE) Recommendationsfor Chemical Engineering Educationin a Bologna Two Cycle Degree System(as of September 2005)Foreword by EFCE Scientific Vice-PresidentIn September 2003 European Federation of Chemical Engineeringpublished a statement on the Bologna Process, in which it welco-mes and supports the aims of the Bologna Declaration. Among the-se aims there is the adoption of an easily readable and comparablesystem of higher education, essentially based on two main cycles ofstudy, as well as the development of comparable criteria and met-hodologies, particularly with regard to curricula development, in-ter-institution cooperation and mobility schemes.In its statement EFCE announced the preparation of an update ofthe recommendations for the core curriculum for Chemical Engi-neering studies, published previously in the years 1994/2000. Theupdate was to take into account recent developments in study or-ganization, in curricula accreditation guidelines, and in science andengineering.This update has now been prepared by the EFCE Working Party onEducation, and approved by the EFCE Executive Board on July 14,2005. It is being published below.On this occasion a few words of comment seem necessary.The Federation has no intention to enforce any ready made tea-ching programmes on the institutions of higher learning, or to hin-der the development of new concepts of study. However, it feelsnecessary to point out, that degree programmes comprising hardlyany mention of such fundamental for the profession subjects as, forexample, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, transport phenomena,separation techniques or reaction engineering, cannot be calledchemical engineering programmes (unfortunately, such programesstill do exist at some schools).The Recommendations put the emphasis on the learning outco-mes. The core curriculum covers about two thirds of the total, andleaves space for modifications and innovations.I hope that the Recommendations will be of help in the deve-lopment of Chemical Engineering curricula by individual institu-tions of higher learning, and express my thanks to the members ofthe Working Party on Education for their effort put into preparationof the Recommendations.Ryszard PohoreckiEFCE Scientific Vice-President560 Društvene vijesti, Kem. Ind. 54 (12) 560–562 (2005)Organska hrana smanjuje izloÞenost djecepoljoprivrednim pesticidimaU publikaciji EMORY Health Sciences News od 23. rujna 2005.autor Robert W. Woodruff iz Health Sciences Center piše o studijiposveæenoj prehrani djece organskom hranom koju su vodiliistraÞivaèi s Emory University (Atlanta). U studiji je pokazano daprehrana djece organskom hranom ima vrlo izraÞeni utjecaj u vrlokratkom vremenu na izloÞenosti pesticidima koji se uobièajenoupotrebljavaju u poljoprivrednoj proizvodnji širom SAD-a (engl.:malathion i chlorpyrifos s trgovaèkim nazivom Dursban). Razulta-ti te studije objavljeni su i dostupni u znanstvenom èasopisu Envi-ronmental Health Perspectives (EHP).Voditelj studije Chensheng Alex Lu s Emory University sa suradni-cima s University of Washington i Centers for Disease Control andPrevention tijekom pet dana kada su djeca konzumirala organskuhranu, mjerio je u urinu 23 uèenika osnovih škola iz Seattlea sa-drÞaj navedenih organofosfornih pesticida (OP).U prva tri dana studije ispitivanja djeca stara izmeðu 3 i 11 godinauzimala su uobièajenu hranu nakon èega je u sljedeæih pet dana tahrana zamijenjena organskom, zdravom hranom proizvedenombez upotrebe pesticida. Na kraju je u zadnjih sedam dana ispiti-vanja u jelovnik ispitanika vraæena uobièajena hrana.Odmah nakon uvoðenja u jelovnik organske hrane koncentracijeorganofosfornih pesticida u tijelima ispitanika bitno su se smanjilei bile su ispod granice detekcije primijenjene metode odreðivanjasve dok u prehranu nije vraæena konvencionalno proizvedenahrana.Tijekom uzimanja organske hrane u veæini uzoraka urina nisu semogli izmjeriti metaboliti malationa. Meðutim, odmah nakon po-vratka na uobièajenu hranu srednje vrijednosti koncentracija me-tabolita malationa porasle su za 1,6 ppb s rasponom vrijednosti od1 ppb do 263 ppb. Slièan trend odreðen je i za drugi pesticid pa jeod 1 ppb tijekom uzimanja organske hrane koncentracija poraslana 6 ppb kad su ispitanici organke proizvode zamijenili konven-cionalnim.IstraÞivaèi su posebno naglasili da su zbog osigurnja mjerljive pro-mjene izloÞenosti pesticidima putem hrane koja se moÞe pripisatiuzimanju organske hrane a ne samoj promjeni hrane, uzimali or-ganske prehrambene proizvode koje djeca konzumiraju u oblikukonvencionalih proizvoda. Zamijenjeni organski proizvodi uklju-èivali su svjeÞe voæe i povræe, sokove, obraðeno voæe i povræe kaošto je na primjer šalša od rajèica, te proizvodi od pšenice i kuku-ruza kao što su tjestenina, kokice i prÞeni krumpiri.Poznato je da organofosforni spojevi izazivaju neurološka ošteæa-nja kod ljudi i Þivotinja. Novije promjene propisa s ciljem sma-njenja izloÞenosti pesticidima trebale su ili zabraniti ili ogranièitiprimjenu organofosfornih pesticida u okolišu. Meðutim, u poljo-privredi su ugraðene znatno slabije mjere. Prema godišnjem izvje-štaju amerièkog Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Pro-gram organofosforni pesticidi još uvijek se rutinski mogu izmjeritiu prehrambenim proizvodima koje uobièajeno uzimaju maladjeca.(Izvor: National Institute for Health (NIH); internetska adresa:www.vih.gov; National Institute of Environmental Health Science)IntroductionAs Europe is implementing the Bologna two cycle degree systemthe European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE) believesit would be useful to formulate recommendations for a chemicalengineering education in a Bologna type study organization. EFCEhas earlier, in 2003, published a statement supporting the goals ofthe Bologna process1.According to the 2001 and 2003 communiques of the Conferen-ces of the Ministers responsible for Higher Education, “first and se-cond cycle degrees should have different orientations and variousprofiles in order to accommodate a diversity of individual, acade-mic and labour market needs”. This is a view shared by the EFCE,and has been established practice among the higher education in-stitutions offering a chemical engineering education. Neverthe-less, there are certain methods and techniques common to allchemical engineering. EFCE feels that particularly the first levelstudy must give enough emphasis on what is the common chemi-cal engineering core, which in brief is the technology of modifying,separating, and reacting materials and substances.These recommendations cover– Learning outcomes- general chemical engineering skills and knowledge- transferable skills– Achieving the learning outcomes- Core curriculum- Teaching and learning- Industrial experience- Review of the educational process- Student assessmentThe learning outcomes are formulated in a general way, to em-phasize what should be common to chemical engineering edu-cation. The core curriculum proposed here with additional appro-priate topics in science, in chemical and other engineering, and innon-technical areas will give a variety of concrete contents to thegeneral outcomes. Thus, different chemical engineers will be ableto handle the demands of different industries and tasks: e.g. oil re-fining, bulk and fine chemicals, paper, polymers, food, cosmetics,pharmaceuticals, environmental issues. Particularly second levelgraduates will be able to perform research tasks and go on to doc-toral studies.A large percentage of chemical engineers are now engaged inmaking various specialty products (formulated products), and rela-tively fewer in making traditional commodity chemicals. While allchemical engineers still need much of the traditional chemical en-gineering skills, the EFCE feels there is now a need to include someknowledge of “product engineering” in the common core in orderto reflect the increasing importance of modern materials science.Common general outcomes and a common core curriculum willalso facilitate one of the goals of the Bologna process: More andsimpler exchange in Europe both during and after the studies.The core curriculum proposed here covers only approx. two thirdsof a first and a second level degree study leaving the higher educa-tion institutions freedom for innovative concepts in developingtheir study programmes further.Learning outcomesIn line with recommendations/requirements from other bodies(including accreditation bodies), EFCE has formulated its recom-mendations first and foremost as outcomes, i.e. what the studentsshould know or be able to do right after graduation.First cycle degree chemical engineering outcomesAfter graduation, a first level degree chemical engineer should1. have a knowledge of relevant basic sciences (mathematics,chemistry, molecular biology, physics) to help understand, de-scribe and deal with chemical engineering phenomena2. understand the basic principles underlying chemical engi-neering:a) material, energy, momentum balancesb) equilibriumc) rate processes(chemical reaction, mass, heat, momentum transfer)and be able to use them to set up and to solve (analytically,numerically, graphically) a variety of chemical engineeringproblems3. understand the main concepts of process control4. understand the principles underlying methods of process/product measurements5. be able to plan, perform, explain and report simple experi-ments6. have a knowledge of relevant literature and data sources7. have a basic understanding of health, safety, and environ-mental issues8. understand the concept of sustainability9. understand basic concepts of chemical product engineering10. have knowledge of some practical applications of process andproduct engineering11. have an ability to analyse complex problems in the chosen ori-entation12. have some experience in using appropriate software13. be able to perform appropriate design in the chosen orienta-tion14. be able to calculate process and project costsSecond cycle degree chemical engineering outcomesA second cycle degree study will be characterized by greater dif-ferentiation both between institutions and between students.Thus, the objective is even less based upon specific commonknowledge but instead on common methods to set up and to solvevarious problems.After graduation a second level degree chemical engineer should1. be more proficient in the first level competencies in the cho-sen orientation2. use deeper knowledge of the underlying phenomena to buildmore advanced models3. be able to use appropriate computational tools4. be able to perform more advanced experiments and to givemore advanced interpretations of the results5. be able to analyse, evaluate and compare relevant alternativesin the chosen orientation6. be able to synthesize and optimize novel solutions7. be able to self study a topic in depthEFCE expects the final outcomes of a second cycle degree pro-gramme to be (at least) equivalent to those of traditional long-cycle (4,5 – 5 years) programmes.Transferable skillsAn engineering education should give the engineer a number oftransferable skills, which are more or less independent of the typeof engineering. These skills are not specific to the core or to the de-gree level, but will be acquired to some extent in the first levelstudy and will be deepened in the second. Such skills have beenformulated in many ways; EFCE has chosen the formulation givenDruštvene vijesti, Kem. Ind. 54 (12) 560–562 (2005) 5611 Chemical Engineering Research and Design (Trans. IChemE) 81/A10,1406, November 2003; http://www.efce.infoby the US accreditation body ABET with some minor modifica-tions:After graduation, an engineer should1. be able to communicate effectively, including in English, usingmodern presentation tools as appropriate2. be able to work in multidisciplinary teams3. have an understanding of the impact of engineering solutionsin an environmental and societal context4. have an understanding of professional end ethical responsibil-ity5. be able to learn on his/her own, and have a recognition of theneed for life-long learningAchieving the learning outcomesCore curriculumTo ensure the proper common content and proper levels of thedifferent first and second cycle degrees, EFCE recommends mini-mum amounts of subjects (e.g. mathematics) for both cycles and inaddition topics (e.g. reaction engineering) for the first cycle. Theseminimum amounts are called the core curriculum. While the firstcycle core curriculum is both specific and extensive, there is stillmuch of the total study left to give variations in orientation. For thesecond cycle the recommendations are very general, making iteasy to give a broad range of different orientations within and be-tween institutions while meeting the general outcomes.There is no exact correspondence between the learning outcomesand the core curriculum. The outcomes can only be reachedthrough the combined effect of the core curriculum and the addi-tional courses in each cycle.Note that the curriculum recommendation lists topics. EFCEmakes no recommendation on the number of courses that shouldbe given, or on how topics should be grouped in courses. Further-more, in practice many of the listed topics will be part of largercourses containing more than just the core.As the common European credit unit is the ECTU (EuropeanCredit Transfer Unit) of which there are 60 per year, all recom-mendations here are given using ECTU. EFCE has chosen a 3 + 2years two cycle scheme as an example. For other schemes the fig-ures have to be adapted accordingly.First cycle degree core curriculumScience and mathematics: min 45 ECTUMathematics, statistics, numerical methods,information science min 20Chemistry, physics and molecular biology(incl. laboratory) min 25Chemical engineering: min 65 ECTUMaterial and energy balance calculations min 4Thermodynamics / physical chemistry min 10Fluid dynamics min 6Separations (mechanical, equilibrium based,mass transfer based) min 5Heat transfer min 3Reaction engineering min 3Materials of construction min 2Basic product engineering min 3Process control and instrumentation min 3Process analytical techniques min 3Safety, health, environment min 3Chemical engineering laboratory min 6First cycle thesis / Chemical engineering project min 12Non-technical topics: min 10 ECTUEconomics and management min 2Total sum min 120 ECTUTypically, a first cycle study will contain 20-30 % science courses,40–50 % engineering courses, and up to 10 % non-technicaltopics. The core recommended here gives a science content of25 %, an engineering content of 36 %, and a non-technical con-tent of 6 % of the total study (180 ECTU), leaving one third todeeper coverage of some of these topics and to other topics.Second cycle degree core curriculumAlthough no topics are specified here, it is clear from the recom-mended learning outcomes that central chemical engineering top-ics such as transport phenomena, chemical reaction engineering,dynamic modelling as well as general topics such as statistics/opti-mization/parameter estimation must be included to the extentthey have not already been covered in the first cycle study.Science and mathematics: min 15 ECTUChemical engineering topics: min 40 ECTUSecond cycle thesis / Chemicalengineering project min 20 ECTUTotal sum min 75 ECTUThe core curriculum makes up 63 % of the total study (120 ECTU),leaving approx. three quarters of a study year for additional spe-cialization and broadening.Teaching and learningIrrespective of the degree structure, the teaching and learningmethods must be appropriate for the topic in question, and bechosen so that the learning outcomes can be achieved. The teach-ing and learning methods should also help develop students’ skillto work both independently and in teams. Thus, to learn to func-tion in teams, group work is necessary. To be able to communi-cate, communication tasks must be given and solved. To learn tolearn and to take responsibility for their own learning, studentsmust be given appropriate self study and problem solving tasksduring their study. To understand ethical, societal, environmentaland professional issues, suitable examples for illustration or discus-sion must be included. The study should be organized to ensurethat students work during all of the semester, and are able to makethe relevant connections between the different subjects.All courses should as far as possible give examples from several ar-eas, to show the broad applicability of chemical engineeringmethods.Industrial experienceIndustry has an important role to play in the education of chemicalengineers. Industrial experience serves to illustrate the applica-tions and limitations of theory, helps to set the courses in a widercontext and motivates for the remaining study. In addition, it pro-vides social skills for later leadership roles. Industrial experiencefor all can only be obtained if industry accepts the responsibility ofproviding sufficient placements.Review of the educational processEach educational institution should have an ongoing review of theeducational process, to ensure that the parts are up to date andproperly coordinated, and that each and every part contributes to-wards the aims of the course, and in general to improve the educa-tional outcomes.Student assessmentEFCE would like to emphasize the need for appropriate feed-backto maximise the learning effect of the assessments.562 Društvene vijesti, Kem. Ind. 54 (12) 560–562 (2005)

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