On behalf of all of the faculty members and staff, I would like to welcome you to the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Patras.

The studies you have selected may help you to acquire all the skills and knowledge needed to practice a profession that is both diverse and creative, provided that you will make the effort required.

Chemical Engineering is a scientific area which constantly seeks for new applications of methods and technologies which have initially developed for the production of conventional chemical products in a large scale.  Additionally, it plays a leading role in significant fields including the development of advanced materials, soft and renewable energy sources as well as new processes for the environmental protection, without generally neglecting the Chemical Industry and the massive production of consumer goods.

Moreover, in recent years chemical engineers expand increasingly their fields of knowledge, contributing in that way actively in the scientific research and also the development and the production of goods in many fields including nanotechnology, biotechnology, smart and 2D materials and biological engineering. The above evolutions lead naturally to significant changes not only in the content but also in the proportion of the curriculum components, making it wider and more interdisciplinary than any other engineering science.

The result of this training is that chemical engineers receive excellent positions in the international labor market (e.g. recent survey carried out from the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) indicates that Chemical Engineering is the second best paid profession in the UK) and their potential specialized activities are much broader than their scientific field is, the amplitude of which is already broad. You can find chemical engineers in our country and abroad in the industry, at the universities and in many research centers as well as in services, in technical sales support, in quality assurance departments even in banks or in IT industry.

Despite the fact that our department is newly formed, its members had the pleasure to see many of its graduates to excel in many of the fields mentioned above, to become professors or researchers to major recognized Universities and research centers as well as to be assigned in positions of great responsibility and importance in significant enterprises either in Greece or abroad.

Our professors and educational staff intensify their daily endeavors to provide all students everything needed to encounter the highly competitive environment nowadays. These efforts have made our department to be distinguished in many fields, especially in the research sector, at international level.

It is noteworthy that since September 2017 the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Patras became the first department in Greece whose diploma was certified through IChemE and EngC at Level 7 of the European Qualifications Framework as an Integrated Master of Engineering. Therefore, it also outweighs the requirements for awarding the EUR-ACE® label, which is awarded after a thorough audit of the learning outcomes of engineering programs by 14 independent certification bodies.

Efforts to improve the level of education provided are continuous and painful. We are aware of the fact that you have successfully completed a very hard induction process. However, it is very important to remember that the real effort is just starting/commencing.

I hope the years you will spend with us, will be a very exciting, creative and challenging adventure.

September 2022
 

The Head of the Department

Professor Alexandros Katsaounis