LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Process Systems Enterprise (PSE), the advanced process modelling company, today launched PATH – the Process systems engineering Academic Teaching Highway – an initiative aimed at ensuring that chemical engineering graduates enter industry with 21st century skills.
PATH provides high-quality, modular teaching materials to help course directors and lecturers integrate process modelling and aspects of digital design into all facets of chemical engineering education. PATH has evolved with input from industrial employers of chemical engineers such as Procter & Gamble, ExxonMobil, AstraZeneca and DSM, and the academic community.
A key aim is to align the teaching of these technologies within universities with the rapidly-evolving needs of industrial employers, by providing ready-made materials for use in new or existing modules. Eva Sorensen, Professor of Chemical Engineering at UCL, says: “The current wave of digitalisation initiatives in industry is putting pressure on chemical engineering departments to revisit their taught courses to keep up, as we need to ensure that our graduate engineers have the skill set required for the modern world.”
This sentiment is supported by employers of chemical engineers in industry. Ben Weinstein of Procter & Gamble states: “Modelling is a key enabler of innovation. It allows us to develop our first prototypes virtually, and this allows us to explore a much broader design space than would otherwise be possible”.
PATH provides slides, hands-on exercises and homework assignments that are designed for implementation within any chemical engineering module. The material is offered under a Creative Commons licence, which means that it can be modified and extended as long as the changed versions are offered on the same terms. The material is intended to promote modelling and simulation education, and is not linked to any specific software product.
The initial material has been piloted by several universities, and experience to date has been overwhelmingly positive. “When incorporated throughout the curriculum, process modelling helps students gain a better understanding of both textbook theories and the real world,” says Pieter Schmal, PATH Programme Director. “It not only makes them better engineers, but also provides them with a skill in high demand by future employers.”
For Editors
Website: psepath.com
Watch the video: www.psepath.com/professors#video
PATH workshop, 30 April 2019, London: www.psenterprise.com/events/uk/2019/path/path-workshop-ucl
About: www.psenterprise.com/news/pr190416