George Siemiencow .ofoyette C3I1e;?
Ecston.
Pennr,lvan a
I
I
Chemistry in the Engineering and ~ ~ r i t u l t u i Institutes al of the USSR
Through the kindness of the illustrious scientist and educator, Professor Emeritus Stephen P. Timoshenko of Stanford University, author of "Engineering Education in Russia," ( I ) , I was able to study a book prepared by the Methods Department of the Ministry of Higher Education of the USSR (9). This book contains detailed curricula for all specialties offered by the engineering and agricultural institutes of the Soviet Union. The book states that there are 166 specialties in these Soviet institutes, but only 164 are listed. With two versions for some specialties, 169 curricula are altogether included. They are divided into 16 groups, based on industrial practice. For example, the agricultural schools train mechanical engineers for farming. Many
specialties under such listings as Technology of Food Products, of Consumer Goods, and of Wood, Cellulose, and Paper Industries could be classified as Chemical Engineering. Only one curriculum does not require chemistry: Organization of Land Exploitation. Only one chemistry course is required in 94 curricula, and mostly is called general chemistry or simply chemistry, or in one case "applied chemistry"; this is usually 6 to 7 semester hours.' The number of contact hours of chemistry in most curricula is lO(n40; 48 curricula require about 70 lecture and 50 laboratory hours. For ten curricula, the distribution between lectures and laboratory is 68 for each. For another ten the distribution is 36 lecture and 68 laboratory hours. Four curricula 1 As in America, s. "semester hour" is 50 minutes each week for a semester.
144
/
Journal of Chemical Educofion
require 54 hours each for lecture and laboratory. The distribution between lectures and laboratory for other curricula varies greatly. The symposium on chemical and technological education of the Eighth Mendeleev Congress in the spring of 1959 resolved that the time allotted to a general chemistry course should be 16&180 hours (5). In general, the engineering curricula requirements are not unlike those in this country. One general chemistry course is a basic requirement. Specialties related to geology require somewhat more. Metallurgical specialties require some analytical and physical chem- istry. Four agricultural specialties require (semester hrs) 12 combined inorganic and analytical, 7 organic, 3 physical and colloid, 6 agrochemistry, and 9 plant physiology with elements of biochemistry. The specialty Soil Science and Agrochemistry requires still more. Chemical Engineering specialties require (semester hrs) 13 inorganic (100 lecture, 122 lab), 14-17 analytical (30 lecture, 260 lab). All but one require 15 or 16 organic (lOOlecture, 162 lab). All require 10-18 semester hours physical (110 lecture, 154 lab), and 4-6 colloid chemistry. One to six special chemistry courses also are included. Technolorn of Food Products s~ecialtiesrequire 12 inorganic, 13 analytical, 12 organic, 13 and colloid chemistry together, and 5-10 biochemistry (all in semester brs). Trends in Soviet Chemical Education
Some information about the recent status of chemical education in the Soviet Union may be obtained from the pamphlet published by the USSR Academy of Science (4). This pamphlet contains a paper presented by N. S. Torocheshnikov a t a symposium on Problems of Higher Chemical Education a t the Eighth Meudeleev Congress, as well as abstracts and resolutions. Some of the resolutions of the symposium deserve to be quoted: Introduce an entrance examination in chemistry for all institutions of higher learning where chemistry is taught. Advise the institutions of higher learning that general chemistry ehould be taught after physics. Establish the position of lecture-demonstration assistant for each chemistry chair. Review the syllabi for chemistry courses. Create a set of textbooks and manuals for chemistry courses taught to nonchemical specialties (among others, a manual of lecture demonstrations). Organize systemsrtically conferences far instructors of chemical subjects to exchange experiences in teaching methods and to acqusjnt them with recent advances in chemical science and technique. Broaden the coume of physical and colloid chemistry for the agricultural, mining, medical, and construction fields, and also for other specialties. Offer elective courses involving recent advances of chemistry (synthetic and semiconductor materials, corrosion of metals, new alloys, etc.).
Take measures to improve the means of supplying each chair of chemistry with reagents, chemical utensils, apparatus, and laboratory equipment. Organize centralized manufacture of visual aids for chemistry courses (models, charts, apparatus, etc.) for lecture demonstrations and supply them regularly t o all institutions of higher learning. Organize the publication of a journal, devoted to higher chemical education, intended for improving the methods of teitching through publication of review articles, elucidating recent advances in science and techniques in the field of chemistry and chemical technology. This journal has also to contain material on methods of exposition of specific chemical problems, methods of experimentation, lecture demonstrations, etc. The Ministry of Higher Education of the U. S. S. R. is to be asked t o take necessary measures for the publication of such e. journal.
I n the curricula for 1959,140 hours were added to the chemistry courses taught to chemical engineers. The distribution of these by subjects is not given, but in the Conference on Methods of Teaching of Analytical and Inorganic Chemistry held in Novocherkassk in 1960 there was complaint that the number of hours for analytical chemistry was decreasing all the time (5). The tendency has been to increase the number of laboratory hours a t the expense of lectures. This has been done to increase the creative potential of future specialists and to encourage their desire for research. The conference asked that the number of hours for qualitative and quantitative analysis be increased a t the expense of some special courses containing mainly descriptive material. It recognized as necessary the teaching of qualitative analysis on the basis of the classical hydrogen sulfide separation, and advocated more stress on physical-chemical methods of analysis. It also discussed the problems of teaching quantitative analysis to correspondence students. Detailed tables have been prepared showing the total number of lecture and laboratory hours for all chemistry courses in specialties offering more than one chemistry course. The semesters in which these courses are offered are also given. These will be furnished by the author upon request. Literature Cited (1) TIMOSHENKO, S. P., "Engineering Education in Russia," MeGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New Yark, 1959. (2) Ministerstvo vysshego obrazovaniya S.S.S.R. Metodicheskoye upravleniye. (Ministry of Higher Education of the USSR Office of Methods.) "Uehebnvve nlanv no &tairsl,tr,.stynm vyrihykh tokhrlirlt4ikh ~ ' ? e l ' ~ k , k h w . y:~istrrnnykh z:,vvdmit" ("(.'urrirul.l for Sperivltirs of Engineering and Agricultural In~nstitutionsof Higher Learning"), Sovetskaya Nauka, Moscow, 1956. (3) Akademiya Nauk S.S.S.R. (Academy of Science of USSR), "Problemy vysshego khimicheskogo i tekhnologicheskoga obrsrovaniya" ("The Problems of the Higher Chemical and Technological Education"), Isdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk S.S.S.R., Moscow, 1959, p. 36. (4) Akademiya Nauk S.S.S.R. (Academy of Science of USSR), loe. cit. (5) PETRASEEN',V. I., AND AGRINSKATA, N. A., Veslnik tiysshey shkoly (HrraldojtheHigher School), No. 7, July 1960, p. 54.
.
~~
,.
.
Volume 39, Number 3, March 1962
/
145
