DEQ

The Department of Chemical Engineering (DEQ) is located in Polo II of the University of Coimbra, together with the other engineering departments, occupying a modern and pleasant five-story building. The facility includes a vast area comprising classrooms, auditoriums, pedagogical, research, and computer laboratories, study rooms, meeting rooms, lunch spaces, and a text section.

The DEQ is responsible for ensuring undegrade and postgraduate teaching activities, conducting research and development work, and providing services to external entities.

The DEQ coordinates the Bachelor's and Master's programs in Chemical Engineering, the Master's program in Biotechnological Engineering, and the Master's program in Plastics and Sustainability. At the postgraduate level, the DEQ offers the Doctoral Program in Chemical Engineering and collaborates in the Doctoral Program in Refining, Petrochemical, and Chemical Engineering.In addition to the courses it coordinates, the DEQ offers various disciplines to other programs, including Industrial Chemistry, Environmental Engineering, Materials Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Energy for Sustainability."

Its facilities also house the Chemical Process Engineering and Forest Products Research Centre (CIEPQPF), with the respective infrastructures in terms of laboratories and equipment, where numerous projects are developed in the most diverse areas of Chemical Engineering, and where the external collaboration (with industry and other research institutions) is encouraged.

The degree in Chemical Engineering (a 5-year course) was established at the University of Coimbra in 1972, coinciding with the transformation of the Faculty of Sciences (where the initial years of the course had long been taught) into the Faculty of Sciences and Technology. Classes and laboratories operated in temporary facilities at Quinta da Nora (now ISEC) until 1975 when the new engineers, fully trained in Coimbra, graduated. From 1976 onwards, the course occupied the Pombaline building (from 1776) known as the Laboratorio Chimico, currently the Museum of Science.

Department of Chemical Engineering at FCTUC. Left - former facilities at Polo I; Right - current facilities at Polo II.

In 1999, new facilities were inaugurated at Polo II of the University, designed and built to properly house the current Department of Chemical Engineering (DEQ). The Bachelor's degree underwent significant curricular reforms in 1984/85 and 2003/2004, aiming to adapt it to modern trends in specialized education. In the academic year 2007/2008, in line with the Bologna reform, the DEQ started offering the Integrated Master's in Chemical Engineering (MIEQ) with two study cycles (3 years + 2 years). In 2021, the DEQ courses underwent another overhaul, with the MIEQ being split into the Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering (LEQ) and the Master's in Chemical Engineering (MEQ). In 2024, DEQ launched two new Master's programs in Chemical Engineering, the Master's program in Biotechnological Engineering (MEBT), and the Master's program in Plastics and Sustainability (MPS).

DEQ currently has around 230 students in the Master's course and annually welcomes around 40 new students. The he Bachelor's and Master's programs are accredited by the Agency for the Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES), while the Bachelor's and Master's programs in Chemical Engineering have the European quality seal EUR-ACE.