1. INTRODUCTION

a) Reasons for initiating the course

Materials have always presented one of the greatest achievements of civilization. They are the foundation of progress, security and quality of living. New materials open the door to new technologies with no regard if they belong to the chemical engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering or some other engineering.

At the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, there is at the moment one course which is in 4th year divided into 3 courses: Engineering; Materials; Processes and Products. The course: Materials is divided further into 3 modules: Silicates, Polymers and Leather. It is obvious that such course structure does not enable the acquisition of the complete knowledge necessary for the development, testing and production of materials (in only one school-year, students can acquire knowledge on the determined module, about only one group of materials). The recent program is not comparable with the programs of the foreign faculties on which materials, as a rule, are studied as the separate course. By initiating the course "Material Science and Engineering" the complete approach to the material teaching would be possible, from profession and properties to production, quality control and usage, for all kinds of materials which are traditionally taught at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology.

Contemporary scientific cognitions explicitly influence the development of new materials and the improvement of properties of the existing ones. Good example for that are nanomaterials and biomaterials, two segments of science and materials engineering which are at the moment in the centre of the scientific as well as the commercial interest. Scientific cognitions which scientists achieve by the research work at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology have been recognized as significant ones in Croatia and in the world. The successfulness of the scientific work is the guarantee of the successful implementation of the new contents in the teaching process.

The students' interest for the course/module bound to the materials at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology is constant. Graduated chemical engineers find the employment relative quickly and easily. Material industry in the Republic of Croatia represents important and vital segment of economy and it can be supposed that it will further represent an important receptor of the finished students of the Faculty. Croatia has resources of raw materials, especially for inorganic nonmetallic materials (quartz sand, bentonite, clay, marl, limestone, dolomite) which gives the guarantee for the survival of the material industry. The industries of polymer materials and products, nonmetallic and construction materials and other materials make an important part of the total industrial production in the Republic of Croatia.

The courses of the materials exist on numerous foreign faculties in Europe, USA, Japan, etc. They all have the strong core of the basic natural knowledge, especially the chemical one, engineering one and the basic knowledge about materials. These courses are followed by the specialist knowledge. It depends on the faculty tradition and the areas of scientific interest of lecturers what the representation of polymers, inorganic nonmetallic materials, metals, composites, biomaterials etc. will be. Some of the programs which are equivalent or analogue to the suggested program of the course are the following ones:

• University of Kiel, Faculty of Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering
• University of Leeds, Material Science and Engineering
• University of Aveiro, Materials Engineering
• Israel Institute of Technology, Materials Engineering - Chemistry
• Imperial College, London, Material Science and Engineering
• Faculty of Chemical Technology, Prague, Chemistry and Technology of Materials

b) Past experiences of the lecturers in performing equivalent programs or similar ones

For more than twenty years materials have been studied at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology through several courses/modules. Numerous courses typical for the course of materials (such as Structure and Properties of Materials, Characterization of Materials, Corrosion and Degradation of Materials, Glass and Ceramics, Polymers) have successfully been lectured and upgraded not only in theoretical part but also through organization and through performing the students training. The number of lecturers, their specialties in scientific branches and their experience are the guarantee of qualitative transmission of knowledge to students who will further develop this perspective area on the University and in the economy.

c) Possible partners outside the university-education system that could be interested in its initiating

Material industry in the Republic of Croatia will undoubtedly welcome the foundation of the Material course because the students who finish this course will be better and more fundamentally qualified for their future work. Materials are the subject of numerous scientific researches and the students who finish this course will find their place in the corresponding scientific and teaching institutions. The knowledge of materials is the precondition for their testing and evaluation. The students who finish this course will find their places in the corresponding laboratories and agencies.

d) Possibility for the students' transfer

The possibility of students to transfer from other courses and to the other courses at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology after finishing the first year, is foreseen. Students' transfer to homogeneous courses in the country and abroad has also been foreseen.

2. GENERAL

2.1. Name of the course:

Material Science and Engineering (the same name is suggested for Bachelor's program and Master's program)

2.2. Institution of higher education in charge:

Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology

2.3. Duration of the course:

Bachelor's course: 3 years
Master's course: 5 years (3+2)

2.4. Registration conditions for the course:

Bachelor's program: Achieving the minimum test score obtained by evaluation the secondary school scholastic ability and entrance examination. After the introduction of the state A-level examination the registration for the course will depend on the success at the A-level examination.

Master's program: Any finished Bachelor's course at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology which has to contain the basic engineering courses and the courses from the profession. After defining the course programs on other institutions of higher education the registration conditions will be redefined in the sense of enabling the registration for other students who finished the Bachelor's course at related institutions of higher education.

2.5. Competences which the student achieves after finishing the Bachelor's course; which jobs he/she is qualified for and which Master's studies could he join at the institution - proposer and/or at other institutions in the Republic of Croatia, if he/she decides to continue the course

After finishing the Bachelor's courses, the student will achieve the basic knowledge in natural courses (mathematics, physics, chemistry), basic chemical - engineering knowledge and basic knowledge about different materials which would enable him to work in plants and control laboratories of chemical and related industries, in independent undertaking, in state institutions/agencies...

The student could join the Master's programs at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology: Material Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Applied Chemistry and defined courses at other institutions of higher education, such as Faculty of Science, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Textile and Technology, Faculty of Metallurgy, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, etc.

2.6. Competences which the student achieves after finishing the Master's course; which jobs he/she is qualified for and which Bachelor's studies at the institution - proposer and/or at other institutions in the Republic of Croatia are sufficient or partly satisfactory for his/her joining

After finishing the Master's courses the student should achieve broad knowledge of general and applied chemical disciplines, knowledge of mathematics, engineering knowledge of materials and products which would enable him to work in the research institutions, at the university, to lead industrial plants, undertaking, to work in state institutions/agencies... The Bachelor's programs which are satisfactory for student's joining into the course: At the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology: Material Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering and Applied Chemistry. It can be supposed that particular Bachelor's programs at the Faculty of Science, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnology, etc. will have programs which will also enable the joining of suggested master's program.

2.7. Reasons for uniting the Bachelor's program and the Master's program into one entity

The suggested program of the course in which the Bachelor's course differs in the first three years from the first three years of the Master's course only in the fact that the students at the Bachelor's program make the degree report in the 6th semester, and the students of Master's program have the coarse training in engineering materials instead. The reason for uniting the Bachelor's program and the part of Master's program is the rational approach of the usage of human, space and financial resources. In any case the Master's course of that type must be organized so that the basic knowledge of chemical and engineering courses and the basic knowledge of profession are achieved in earlier years while the basic knowledge of the profession must be broadened in later years. Because of that the Master's program should have similar structure with no regard to the existence of Bachelor's program.

2.8 Professional or academic title obtained after finishing the course

Bachelor's course: Bachelor in Material Science and Engineering (technical field)
Master's course: Master in Material Science and Engineering (technical field)