Foreward to the EFCE Bologna Recommendations

In September 2003 European Federation of Chemical Engineering published a statement on the Bologna Process, in which it welcomes and supports the aims of the Bologna Declaration. Among these aims there is the adoption of an easily readable and comparable system of higher education, essentially based on two main cycles of study, as well as the development of comparable criteria and methodologies, particularly with regard to curricula development, inter-institution cooperation and mobility schemes.

In its statement EFCE announced the preparation of an update of the recommendations for the core curriculum for Chemical Engineering studies, published previously in the years 1994/2000. The update was to take into account recent developments in study organization, in curricula accreditation guidelines, and in science and engineering.

This update has now been prepared by the EFCE Working Party on Education, and approved by the EFCE Executive Board on July 14, 2005.

On this occasion a few words of comment seem necessary.

The Federation has no intention to enforce any ready made teaching programmes on the institutions of higher learning, or to hinder the development of new concepts of study. However, it feels necessary to point out, that degree Programmes comprising hardly any mention of such fundamental for the profession subjects as, for example, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, transport phenomena, separation techniques or reaction engineering, cannot be called chemical engineering programmes (unfortunately, such programmes still do exist at some schools).

The Recommendations put the emphasis on the learning outcomes. The core curriculum covers about two thirds of the total, and leaves space for modifications and innovations.

I hope that the Recommendations will be of help in the development of Chemical Engineering curricula by individual institutions of higher learning, and express my thanks to the members of the Working Party on Education for their effort put into preparation of the Recommendations.

Ryszard Pohorecki
EFCE Scientific Vice-President

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