EDUCATION
Latin American education still growing Brazil and Argentina, spurred by expansion in petrochemicals, show increasing output of chemists and chemical engineers Higher education, with increasing emphasis on engineering, continues to expand rapidly in South America. This expansion naturally is fastest in countries such as Argentina and Brazil where industrialization has progressed most. In these larger countries, the chemical industry and, in turn, chemical engineering education show sizable gains even with problems of finance, speakers said at the second joint meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the Instituto de Ingenieros Quimicos de Puerto Rico in Tampa, Fla. Just as Latin American industry receives aid from U.S. chemical companies and the U.S. Federal Government, so does education in South America receive aid from U.S. Government and university sources. But aid to South American education is not limited to that from the U.S. European countries also provide similar assistance— in the form of instructors, money, and equipment. In Argentina, for example, the chemical industry accounted for 8.4% of all industry output in 1965, up from 7.8% in 1960, says Dr. J. M. Parera of Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina. Petrochemicals made up 9.2% of output of all chemicals in 1965, up many times from 0.8% in 1960. Even so, some chemical products—such as soda ash, adipic acid, and polypropylene—will continue to be imported until new production plants under construction are completed. In Brazil, the Commission of Chemical Educational Planning of the Ministry of Education estimates annual expansion of output of petrochemicals for 1965 to 1970 at 20%, caustic at 15%, plastics and auxiliary chemicals at 15%, and fertilizers at 10%, according to Dr. Ernest Paulini, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The commission reported than in 1964, 596 openings for chemists and 307 openings for chemical engineers existed. Graduates that year were 40 chemists and 142 chemical engineers. These high industrial growth rates and numerous unfilled openings explain why most chemical engineers in South America are young. About 60% of
the Argentine chemical engineers received their degrees in the past decade, although chemical engineering education began 48 years ago at Santa Fe, Dr. Parera says. Now students total 3100 with about 200 graduating per year. Undergraduate curriculums in chemical engineering are similar in all Argentine universities and are planned to require six years, although some students take longer to finish an industrial project or a thesis. Besides all of the standard courses basic to chemical engineering, most universities include biochemical engineering because of the importance of the fermentation industries in Argentina's industrial picture. In addition to engineering, three universities in Argentina have courses in chemical technology. These include basic chemical engineering, es-
pecially transfer operations, but don't cover materials, mechanics, or economics. Some emphasis is put on physical chemistry. Graduate studies still are comparatively limited for engineers. In Brazil, only an M.S. can be obtained, Dr. Paulini points out. Students seeking doctorates must still study abroad, he adds. The present graduate program in chemical engineering, called Coordenacao dos Programas Posgraduados de Engenharia (COPPE), moved into its second phase when the first doctorate returned to Brazil late in 1967, says Dr. J. A. Howell of State University of New York at Buffalo. Foreign instructors will be replaced by Brazilians in this phase. Later only foreign visitors on short-term contracts will be in COPPE. This will help the staff keep up with the scientific world.
Brazilian graduate programs largely internally financed YEAR
1963 1964 1965 1966 1967
BRAZIL
AID
U.S.A.—OAS (ROCKEFELLER, FULBRIGHT)
U.K.
FRANCE
NETHERLANDS
$ 17,633 O $10,556 O 0 0 22,364 $ 17,189 7,333 O 0 0 185,956 73,377 O O 0 0 677,415 86,580 333 $30,409 0 0 761,800 180,000 O 43,310 $55,000 $40,000
1
Brazilian engineering enrollment is growing at a rate far greater than that of total population in recent years
E—Latest estimate
Source:
Dr. Ernest P a u l i n i
J U N E 3, 1968 C & E N
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