A competency-based chemical engineering curriculum at the University of Campinas in Brazil

Engineering education is being called upon to move to a student-centered teaching. New challenges demand a curriculum that considers a set of competencies to enable engineers to learn autonomously and to develop solid technical and relevant soft skills. We present a top-down methodology for developing a competency-based curricula, which was employed to conceive a new chemical engineering curriculum at the University of Campinas. Our methodology is based on four main steps: i) definition of the desired profile of students with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and their underlying competencies; ii) delineation of learning-experiences itineraries; iii) a macro conception of the curriculum entailing the logical-temporal arrangement of its learning-experiences itineraries; and the iv) establishment of each curricular component with its learning objectives. This new curriculum is integrated into the external society by experiences that engage students to practice social responsibility and develop technology based on the needs of society. Graduates’ profile and competencies were defined based on extensive surveys. We discuss how active learning methodologies can be an intrinsic part of the curriculum development process and how assessment strategies must fit the learning goals established for each curricular component. Finally, we discuss the current challenges of implementing and evaluating a competency-based curriculum.