Agile Process Systems Engineering (PSE) education – 1. What should be taught to achieve desired outcomes mastery by graduates?

Process Systems Engineering (PSE) is the branch of the chemical engineering discipline that exploits computational methods and tools for the analysis, design, control, optimization, and effective operation of processing systems, and the design of products, across different scales and dimensions. Our two-part paper investigates the current status and future trends and suggests a framework for teaching of PSE topics that addresses what should be taught and how these topics should be taught effectively in a classroom setting. This first part concerns the “what” – i.e., which specific key PSE topics should constitute the core requirement of chemical engineering education – either a BSc, but in many cases, an MSc, and the coverage of which application areas should be included. Existing gaps and interesting prospects have been revealed with the research leading to suggestions for the future.