Abstract:

During many years the teaching of corrosion science in the degrees of civil engineering and architecture has been considered as a non important subject. It has only been mentioned in basic subjects, such as chemistry. Fortunately this consideration of the subject has been improved in recent years, but it still was not one of the subjects considered as essential for the professionals of these fields.
Since 2008 the new standard for structural concrete in Spain (EHE-08) is in force. This standard introduces the durability of concrete structures as a new limit state that must be introduced in the design phase of the structure. The durability is mainly related, according to the standard, to the corrosion of steel in reinforced and prestressed concrete structures. This essential change forces the students of architecture and civil engineering to acquire knowledge about the corrosion of steel in concrete.
The University of Alicante (Spain) started a new master called “Materials, water, and soil engineering” in the year 2009. This master is a postgraduate program thought for civil engineers and architects, and can be considered as a master for the introduction in the research field of these professionals. Due to the change in the standard, the corrosion science ought to be included among the subjects of the master.
In the introduction of the corrosion in the curriculum of the master, it was taken into account on the one hand the necessity that all the professionals must have since the EHE-08 is in force, and that the students of the master have not received enough formation on the topics related to durability and corrosion. On the other hand, as it was mentioned before, the master is focused on the possible research career for these professionals.
So, attending to this double condition the corrosion was introduced in the curriculum in two subjects. One of them is mandatory, for all the students of the master, and in that subject the topics studied are the fundamentals of electrochemistry and the application to corrosion of steel embedded in concrete. The second subject was offered as an elective subject, and is more focused on the research line of the master. In that subject the topics of study are the experimental techniques more used nowadays for the corrosion study. This subject complements the first one.
The methodology used in the teaching was very interactive and allowed to incorporate the experience, and interests of the students. This gave very satisfactory results, improved the motivation of the students, and also the teaching-learning process and gave excellent results in the evaluation of both subjects.

Keywords:

Curriculum desing, Standarization, corrosion science.