Environmental engineering education in Spain

Abstract

There is a growing demand for engineers and technologists who show multidisciplinary expertise to deal with environmental issues. As a result of this demand, most countries are adapting their old university programs on environmental engineering education. In Spain an official environmental engineering degree does not yet exist, but the Council of Universities is working to present a proposal, based on Bologna agreement concepts. The paper summarizes not only the future perspectives of environmental engineering education in Spain, but also the evolution of the approach during the last decades, which includes the role of the private initiative, the environmental sciences degree, and the intensification in different traditional engineering degrees. Finally, the paper briefly details and compares the syllabus developed in the only four Spanish universities where environmental engineering is offered as a non-official post-graduate course lasting two years.