Chemical Engineering

Chemical industry is one the fastest growing industries in the Palestine.  It includes industries like pharmaceutical, food, detergents, plastics, paints, ceramics, tanning and fine chemicals, etc.  To serve the needs of this industry, the Chemical Engineering Department at ANU was established in 1995 and is the only department, among all Palestinian universities, that offers the BSc. degree in chemical engineering.  Graduates from this department work in a wide variety of Palestinian, Arab, and even international chemical industries.  The quality of education of this department has been known to be of high standards, as evident by testimonies of chemical industry employers who hired its graduates and international graduate schools at which some of its former students decided to pursue graduate degrees.

Chemical engineering education, by nature, is a branch of engineering education that is well known for its high demand for laboratories and practical skills. Hence, several laboratories were established within the department to fulfill the practical aspect of chemical engineering education that goes hand-in-hand with theoretical education. At the same time, a revised undergraduate curriculum, with respect to its basic sciences, engineering sciences, engineering design, and humanities contents, was initiated in order to comply with the requirements of a contemporary engineering education. For instance, the total number of credits required for the undergraduate chemical engineering degree was decreased from 175 to 164 and the ratio of elective to compulsory courses in the curriculum was increased. Constituencies were reached and assessment/evaluation processes were started in order to build the change processes based on the evaluation of collected data and hence to secure continuous program improvement in the desired directions.

The undergraduate program in chemical engineering was evaluated by AQAC (The Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission), an autonomous body under the umbrella of the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education in 2006. During the last six years, the continuous improvement system has been sustained and further improved.