Introducing integrated product and process development into the education of science and engineering undergraduates: a lecture course with an accompanying case-study programme at the ETH chemistry department

Increased quality requirements in the development of chemical products and a growing awareness within society of the activities of chemical companies present a new challenge to the education of young scientists. Nowadays, the teaching of chemists, chemical engineers and environmental scientists at u niversities has to go beyond the traditional, discipline-orientated knowled ge acquisition. The students also have to learn to work and communicate in interdisciplinary teams, to solve application-oriented tasks and to integra te scientific, economical, ecological and social aspects into their work. F or this reason, a case-study programme was launched at the chemistry depart ment of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. In this paper, we descri be the organisational aspects of the programme, its inclusion into academic and industrial environments and summarise some of the scientific methodolo gies applied. One of the seven case-studies, an assessment of a modern inse cticide, is presented in more detail. Finally, we discuss how far the case- study programme is suitable for introducing a new mode of knowledge product ion to universities. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.