Modern analytical chemistry education in Europe at university level

Abstract

Stimulated by the rapid growth of analytical chemistry in research and development, a discussion on the past, present and future role of analytical chemistry as part of the chemistry curricula at European universities is presented in this article. The present status of analytical chemistry curricula is described, based on a recent investigation of the Working Party on Analytical Chemistry (WPAC) of the Federation of European Chemical Societies (FECS) at 229 European universities. The evaluation of the questionnaires has been done for all institutions together, as well as for the 119 institutions with a separate chair or department of analytical chemistry and the 110 institutions without such a separate chair. The distribution of teaching hours between the classical and modern fields is generally significantly better and more flexible to new developments (like chemometrics, environmental and material sciences) at institutions with an own chair of analytical chemistry. This survey is also a key to earlier reviews on education in analytical chemistry stimulated and published by WPAC-members.