IChemE accredits Santiago de Compostela

IChemE has accredited the chemical engineering MEng course of the Real Universidade de Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain.

The course is the second IChemE accredited course IChemE in Spain, following the 1999 accreditation of the Universidad de Valladolid. The accreditation runs from the academic year 2010-11 until 2012-13.

According to the university’s head of chemical engineering Gumersindo Feijoo, the five-year-long course is designed to produce chemical engineers with good safety skills, ethical values and working culture, who are well-informed about best environmental practice.

The accreditation process gave the university an opportunity for “critical self-analysis”, and allowed the “establishment of strong and weak points, resulting in implementation of actions which may improve the degree in the short and medium term”.

The IChemE accreditation committee highlighted several strengths of the course including yearly improvements to the training process, the commitment to the improvement of the students’ English, with one or two subjects per semester taught in the language, and the assessment centre, which evaluates individual students and ensures they learn ‘soft skills’ such as teamwork and communication.

The chemical engineering department was also praised for its close links with industry and strong research-led teaching.

Feijoo says that accreditation will not only lead to improved employment opportunities for students, but also enable the department to set up international links, including joint degrees with other universities and increased opportunities for student exchanges under the Erasmus programme.