THE IMPORTANCE OF REDUCED GROUPS IN THE ADAPTATION OF THE ENGINEERING STUDIES TO THE EHEA. THE CASE OF CHEMISTRY FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING

The University of Alicante (Spain) has been offering the degree of Civil Engineering since 1971, preparing very qualified professionals, which are appreciated in the labour market.
The course 2010-2011 has started the new degree of Civil Engineering adapted to the European Higher Education Area. The intention with this change was to adapt the degree to the actual society, and the requirements of the industry, but keeping the quality of the future professionals.
The subject of Chemistry was taught in the first year of the old degree with a total of 150 classroom hours, and there was no control on the hours of study. The subject was taught all along the academic year and consisted in laboratory and theoretical classes where some problems were solved by the teacher as examples for the students.
In the new degree, the total number of classroom hours decreases to 60 hours per year. The students are also expected to dedicate a total number of 90 hours at home for the study and preparation of the required tasks for the following sessions.
Keeping in mind the quality of the formation, and taking into account the reduction of hours, the subject had to change.
First of all a reduction of the topics studied was faced, keeping only the main topics necessary for the understanding of the aspects of chemistry more related with the civil engineering and the construction materials.
After that, the subject was organized in three main activities: theory, laboratory and group tutorship. The number of students for both laboratory and group tutorship were of less than 15 students.
The basics of the topics were given by the teacher in the theory class, and some work was given to the students, that should be prepared for the laboratory or the group tutorship. This changes the passive role of the student into a more active participation on the teaching-learning process.
The results obtained have been quite satisfactory, even though some difficulties have been found.