CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN IRAN Mohammad Khoshnoodi Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, P.O. Box 98164-161, Zahedan, Iran E-mail: khosh@hamoon.usb.ac.ir ABSTRACT This paper reviews the education of chemical engineering in the Iranian universities along with the developments in the petroleum, petrochemical, gas and the chemical industries before and after the Islamic revolution. The chemical engineering departments in the governmental and nongovernmental universities are introduced with the number of student admitted into the B.Sc, M.Sc and Ph.D levels for the day and evening programs. Various chemical engineering disciplines or subtitles are also presented in undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Faculty members, publications, and the chemical engineering institutions in Iran have also been reviewed in the paper. KEY WORDS Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Iranian Universities, Engineering Education. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING IN IRAN A BEFORE THE REVOLUTION ( 1900 1980 ) The profession of chemical engineering in Iran is more than a century old and started when the petroleum exploration began in western and southwestern provinces before 1900. The first oil production from the well No.1 in Masjid Suliman was reported in 1906, and the establishment of Abadan refinery plant goes back to 1920s. With 6 crude distillation units and 600,000 bbl per day capacity, this was once the largest refinery in the world. To provide the various experties for this refinery as well as for the growing petroleum industry, a technical school was founded in Abadan in 1938. This was then upgraded into the Abadan Institute of Technology (AIT), one of the best engineering schools in Iran and the middle east. AIT trained hundreds of general, mechanical, civil, electrical and chemical engineers as well as the management, business and accountancy graduates until the Islamic revolution. Then after a lull of some years during the war,
AIT resumed in 1989 with a new name; The University of Petroleum Industry which has campuses with modern facilities located at Ahwaz, Abadan and Tehran now. Tehran University founded in 1934 introduced Industrial Chemistry curriculum in its faculty of engineering, which was then followed by the Teachers Training University (1945). Expansion to the chemical engineering is reported to begin first in the Iran University of Science and Technology (1940), and later in the Tehran University and the Tehran Polytechnic (now, Amir Kabir University of Technology, 1953). After the nationalization of the petroleum industry in 1953, several universities were established in Tehran, Tabriz, Shiraz, Esfahan, and Mashhad introducing many engineering disciplines including the chemical engineering [1]. National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC founded in 1953), National Iranian Petrochemical Company (NIPC, 1961), National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC, 1967), together with the energy, water, chemical and metal industries employed many chemical engineers graduated from the Iranian universities as well as from abroad. AIT started with training general engineers at the early stages, but around 1960 opened two separate petroleum engineering disciplines; the field engineers with geology, reservoir, drilling and upstream courses, and the refinery engineers with distillation and process engineering courses. It is worth mentioning that AIT was one of the first Iranian institutions utilizing computer facilities starting with an IBM 620 main frame in early 1960s. Practical summer training and working in the relevant units and workshops were also made compulsory for all students. In 1969 gas engineering and chemical engineering programs were added to the AIT curriculum. Mechanical, electrical and computer engineering were also included gradually. Several universities were founded around Iran during 1960 to 1980 with chemical engineering departments including Sharif University of Technology (former name Aryamehr, 1966), University of Mazandaran (1974), University of Kerman (1975), University of Sistan and Baluchestan in Zahedan (1975) and Esfahan University of Technology (1975). Petroleum Industry Research Center and the Materials and Energy Research Center were also formed during this period. B AFTER THE REVOLUTION ( 1980 2006 ) After the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iranian universities were kept closed during a cultural revolution till 1983. Reopening of the engineering schools took place with introducing many applied, professional disciplines and a numerous two-year techniciantraining programs. The chemical engineering subtitles were: petroleum, refinery, petrochemical, gas, polymer, process design, biochemical and inorganic chemical engineering tailored for full time 4 year B.Sc degree as well as several 2-year chemical technician training programs. The later were gradually merged in the technical colleges and vocational schools spread over most provinces. Applied chemistry curriculum was also introduced in the science departments of many Iranian universities. Several modern academic institutions were formed during 1980-90 including University of Tarbiat Modarres for postgraduate studies and admitting in-service academic members, Iran Research Center for Science and Technology (IROST), Polymer Research Institute, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Research Center, Society of the Chemistry and
Chemical Engineering, and the Iranian Association of Chemical Engineering (IAChE). Postgraduate studies were promoted nationwide in this period by diverting the huge funds spent by the government for thousands of Iranian students studying overseas into the Iranian universities and research centers. M.Sc and later Ph.D programs were gradually introduced in many chemical engineering departments after1990.this took place along with the expansion of the oil, gas, petrochemical and chemical industries throughout the country, such as Arak and Bandar Abbas new refineries (added to the Abadan, Kermanshah, Tehran, Shiraz, Tabriz and Esfahan refineries), petrochemical and fertilizer complexes in Arak, Tabriz, Shiraz, Esfahan and Mahshahr, water and waste water treatment plants, textile and color factories, food and pharmaceutical units, cement and glass plants, coal and mineral processing, aluminum, copper and steel complexes. The new gas fields in the South Pars off-shores sharing with Qatar triggered the fast growing petrochemical mega projects in Assaluyeh and Mahshahr economic free zones around 1995. The large LNG exporting programs and nationwide gas utilization projects for the domestic, commercial and industrial applications and the CNG-automobile and vehicle manufacturing sites were boosted. These together with the upstream oil and gas enhancement developments, investment in the downstream chemical, plastic, rubber, biochemical, food, water, sewage and metal industries and the growing defense projects required thousands of chemical engineers to be trained in the Iranian universities at all levels with various orientations. PRESENT CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN IRAN A STUDENTS AND THE CURRICULUMS Chemical engineering is now taught in more than 20 Iranian universities at technician, B.Sc, M.Sc and Ph.D levels. Most universities are governmental with international accreditation and run by the Ministry of Sciences, Research and Technology. They offer day programs with no tuition fees and evening classes with a tuition fee of about US$ 500-1000 per semester. There are also few nongovernmental and private universities, the most recognized one is the Islamic Azad University with over 170 branches all over the country with several branches in the neighbouring countries. The private university charges range between US$ 500 to 2000 per semester depending on the field, level and locality. The government provides long term loans for the heavily subsidized tuition fees, dormitory, food, health and other educational costs for more than 4 million university students. Student selection is carried out through a tough competitive entrance examination held once a year for the undergraduate and the M.Sc levels separately. The acceptance chance is around 1 to 3 out of 10 depending on the subject, level, university, and the city. This ratio is improving continuously especially for the 2- year skill gaining programs. The total number of the students admitted into the Iranian universities in October 2006 was increased about % 60. Table 1 shows the details of the student admission for the B.Sc degree in chemical engineering in October 2005 [2]. Approximately 2000 students, more than half of whom are females, entered into 22 chemical engineering departments of the Iranian
universities. The different orientations are also mentioned below. Table 2 shows details of the student admission for the M.Sc degree in chemical engineering in October 2006 [3]. This is a full time two year program including advanced courses and a research project with submitting a thesis. Approximately 700 students entered into 19 universities throughout the country for the following subtitles: 1- Advanced Chemical Engineering 2-Thermokinetics, 3-Separation Processes, 4-Transport Phenomena, 5- Process Design, 6- Pulp and Paper, 7- Catalysts, 8- Energy Systems, 9- Environment, 10- Medical Engineering, 11- Process Control, 12- Simulation and Modeling, 13- Polymers 14- Biochemical Engineering,15- Nano Chemical Engineering, 16- Inorganic Industries, 17- Nuclear Chemical Engineering, 18- Hydrocarbon Reservoirs, 19- Biotechnology, 20- Gas Processing and Transmission, 21- Safety and Inspection, as well as many interdisciplinary programs. The total number of the Ph.D chemical engineering admission into the Iranian universities and research centers is estimated around 70 students per year. This is planned for four years full time working on the advanced knowledge frontiers and submitting a final thesis with the international standards and at least two papers published in the international ISI journals. Table 3 shows approximate number of the chemical engineering graduates in Europe and USA, comparing with the target and the present age figures in Iran [4, 5, and 6]. A developed country with 70 million populations, which Iran is heading for, is set the target. This indicates the necessity for the expansion of the available facilities up to 7 times in special cases and by introducing the E- Learning and the Long Distance Education methods. On the other hand, sufficient and proper job vacancies should be provided to the Iranian university gradates and those returning from abroad. This can be responded in conjunction with the continuous expansion programs in the oil, gas, petrochemical, chemical, energy, water and related industries as well as the research centers and the technology parks. B ACADEMIC STAFF AND THE PUBLICATIONS The total number of the faculty members for the chemical engineering teaching and research in the Iranian universities and relevant research institutions exceeds 650 persons, giving the ratio of academic staff to the number of students to be approximately 1 to 20. More than % 60 of the faculty members hold a Ph.D degree and about % 10 are promoted to the high rank of full professor. Some universities recruit young and top M.Sc graduates as their academic staff and after few years teaching experience they are assigned for the Ph.D education in the Iranian universities or abroad. Most Iranian academics can enjoy a long sabbatical leave after every five years working, to travel overseas for gaining fresh and modern experiences through international collaboration. Iranian Association of Chemical Engineering (IAChE, www.che.ir) is the organizer of the annual chemical engineering congresses, student conferences, and many professional seminars and workshops. The11 th Iranian Chemical Engineering Congress was held on 28 th -30 th November 2006 in the University of Tarbiat Modarres, Tehran (www.ichec11.com). More than 1000 papers were presented, %35 orally in 15 parallel sessions and the rest as posters. An exhibition of the oil, gas, and chemical industries together with the academic, educational and research institutions was held simultaneously. The 12 th Iranian Chemical Engineering Congress is due for 2-5 January
2008 in the Kish island free zone. IAChE publishes Journal of Chemical Engineering in Farsi and The Iranian Journal of Chemical Engineering in English. Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Journal of Polymers, International Journal of Engineering, Journal of Chemistry, Journal of Engineering Education, Iranian Journal of Science and Technology, Iranian Journal of Biotechnology, Scientia Iranica, and the Journal of the Petroleum Engineering are also published in Iran in Farsi or English or both. The medium of instruction in the Iranian universities is Farsi (Persian), but standard English textbooks and the international journals are widely used especially for the postgraduate education. However, many textbooks are written by the Iranian authors or translated into Farsi and published and distributed by the main governmental academic publisher, The Iran University Press or the private publishers. Iranian faculty members and the postgraduate students have increasing contribution in publishing English papers in the professional ISI journals as well as presenting in the international conferences. CONCLUSION The chemical engineering education in Iran can be traced back to 1940s officially in the Abadan Institute of Technology (AIT) run by the petroleum industry and in the Iran University of Science and Technology run by the ministry of culture and education. Presently about 10,000 undergraduate students are being trained in 22 chemical engineering departments throughout the country. The different B.Sc orientations include; chemical, petroleum exploration, reservoir, refining, gas, petrochemical, polymers, process design, technical inspection, loss prevention, inorganic and biochemical engineering. More than 2500 chemical engineering postgraduate students are also working in the Iranian universities and research centers on the advanced topics including ; separation, transport phenomena, thermo kinetics, catalysts, process control, simulation, medical engineering, biotechnology, energy, environment, nano, nuclear chemical engineering, and also other interdisciplinary subjects. Most universities are equipped with modern laboratories and workshops, computer facilities with process simulators, and libraries with the technical English and Farsi textbooks and up to date periodicals and Internet E-Journals. The medium of instruction in the Iranian universities is Farsi but English textbooks and journals are recommended and widely used especially at the postgraduate level. The total number of the faculty members for the chemical engineering teaching and research in Iran exceeds 650 persons, out of which about % 60 with a Ph.D degree and about % 10 are in the rank of full professor. Some universities employ selected M.Sc graduates for their academic staff, and after few years they are assigned for the Ph.D education in the Iranian universities or abroad. The growing investments and the expansion programs in the upstream oil, gas, reservoir, offshore, and the downstream refinery, petrochemical, polymer and related chemical industries provide job opportunities for the chemical engineering graduates at various levels with different orientations. The ministry of Sciences, Research and Technology of the Islamic Republic of Iran is expanding progressively the engineering universities including the chemical engineering departments throughout the country. The number of undergraduate and postgraduate students, faculty members, academic facilities and research organizations are increasing with a rapid pace.
Table 1: Number of the student admission into the Iranian universities, for the B.Sc degree in Chemical Engineering, October 2005 [2]. Name of University (place) Day Admission Evening Admission 1 Arak 40 25 2 Esfahan 30-3 Tehran 85-4 Booshehr 25 15 5 Razi (Kermanshah) 20 20 6 Semnan 35-7 Sistan & Baluchestan (Zahedan) 30 30 8 Kerman 25 45 9 Shiraz 60 10 10 Petroleum Industry (Ahwaz) 250-11 Kashan 20 20 12 Gilan (Rasht) 30 13 Mazandaran (Babolsar) 60 35 14 Mohaghegh Ardabily (Ardabil) 30 15 15 Ferdowsi (Mashhad) 45 15 16 Yasooj 30 15 17 Esfahan University of Technology 90-18 Sharif University of Technology (Tehran) 105-19 Amir Kabir University of 210 - Technology (Tehran) 20 Sahand University of Technology 80 - (Tabriz) 21 Iran University of Science and 50 - Technology (Tehran) Total 1350 245 22 Total(Day + Evening) 1595 Islamic Azad University, braches 405 in several cities, (Approximately) Grand Total (Approximately) 2000 The chemical engineering orientations or subtitles for the B.Sc degree are ; chemical, petrochemical, gas, refinery, petroleum exploration, production, hydrocarbon reservoirs, polymer, color, biochemical (food processing), process design, technical inspection, safety and loss prevention and inorganic chemical engineering. All curriculums include one or two summer training program for 8 weeks practical work in the relevant industry and a design project of 3 credit units in the last semester.
Table 2: Number of the student admission into the Iranian universities, for the M.Sc degree in Chemical Engineering, October 2006 [3]. Name of University (place) Day Admission Evening Admission 1 Arak - 10 2 Esfahan 13 12 3 Booshehr 6 6 4 Tehran 41 31 5 Tarbiat Modarres (Tehran) 30-6 Razi (Kermanshah) 14 6 7 Semnan 10 6 8 Sistan & Baluchestan 16 12 (Zahedan) 9 Kerman 9 9 10 Shiraz 18 8 11 Ferdowsi (Mashhad) 10 4 12 Mazandaran (Babolsar) 7 8 13 Petroleum Industry (Ahwaz) 58-14 Esfahan University of 23 - Technology 15 Sharif University of 83 20 Technology (Tehran) 16 Amir Kabir University of 22 13 Technology (Tehran) 17 Sahand University of 33 - Technology (Tabriz) 18 Iran University of Science 27 27 and Technology (Tehran) Total 420 172 19 Total (Day + Evening) 592 Islamic Azad University, 108 braches in several cities (Approximately) Grand Total 700 (Approximately)
Table 3: Approximate number of chemical engineering graduates in Europe and USA, (per million population per year ), and compared with Iran ( per year ) [1,5]. REFERENCES Rank 1965 1995 I.R. Iran Target * 2005 Ph.D in Chemical Engineering 0.5 2 140 70 Ph.D in Chemistry 5 20 1400 140 M.Sc in Chemical Engineering 5 20 1400 700 B.Sc in Chemical Engineering 50 200 14000 2000 * Target figures are the third column figures multiplied by 70. 1. Khoshnoodi, M., 2000. Chemical Engineering; Past, Present and Future, Iranian Journal of Engineering Education. Academy of Sciences, I.R. Iran, No. 3, Vol. 2, pp. 51-62. 2. Guidebook for the University Entrance Examination, No. 2, 2005, Sazman Sanjesh, www.sanjesh.org, The Ministry of Sciences, Research and Technology, I.R. Iran. 3. Guidebook for the Postgraduate Entrance Examination, No. 2, 2006, Sazman Sanjesh, www.sanjesh.org, The Ministry of Sciences, Research and Technology, I.R. Iran. 4. Koch, D.H. 1997, The Future: Benefiting from New Tools, Techniques, and Teaching. Chemical Engineering Progress. Translated into Farsi; Khoshnoodi, M., Journal of Chemistry, No. 2, 10 th. yr., pp. 13-20. 5. Landau, R.1997, Education: Moving from Chemistry to Chemical Engineering and Beyond. Chemical Engineering Progress. Translated into Farsi, Abedini, M., Journal of Chemistry, No. 1, 10 th. yr., pp 2-13. 6. Muller-Steinhagen, H. 1998, The Future of Chemical Engineering Education Proc. 3 rd National Congress of Iranian Chemical Engineering, University of Petroleum Industry, Ahwaz, Iran, Nov. 1998.