Opportunities of experiential education in chemical technology and engineering

Abstract

The University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, the Czech Technical University in Prague and ORLEN Unipetrol have established a common University center in the production facility of the refinery-petrochemical complex in Litvínov, Czech Republic. The university center offers higher education to more than 50 students in bachelor and master programs. The connection between the chemical industry and the academic environment has created a unique opportunity to apply experiential learning in many areas of teaching. The University center uses a newly built Training facility, which is equipped with several modules for training operators, engineers and, currently, students. Thanks to the attractiveness of the environment of the training facility premises, the target group of students has been extended to secondary and even primary schools. The University center organizes regular practice for secondary and primary schools at the training facility. The aim of these activities is to practice systematically modern methods of education through experience and to make technical disciplines as popular as possible among young students. Regionally, this experiential education system has achieved high popularity and, in addition to the University center own students, more than 500 students from around 30 secondary and primary schools go through the program every year.