Environmental engineering curricula development

The environmental engineering education is discussed in this paper with reference to the European Union’s TEMPUS (Trans European Mobility Programme for University Studies) action, which supports the modernisation of higher education in the Partner Countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean region, mainly through university cooperation projects. Two environmental engineering curricula, worked out through two TEMPUS projects, are presented: (i) the first one, curried out in the period 2005-2008, by the University of Firenze in cooperation with the Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, FYR of Macedonia, was entitled DEREC (Development of Environmental and Resources Engineering Curriculum; (ii) the second project, titled DEREL (Development of Environment and Resources Engineering Learning), is active since October 2010, with participation of 4 EU Universities (from Italy, Greece, Germany and Austria), 7 Partner Countries (PC) Universities (from FYR of Macedonia, Serbia and Albania), 1 PC Ministry, 4 PC National Agencies, 1 PC non governmental organization and 1 PC enterprise. Both the first and second cycle curricula, developed through the DEREC and DEREL projects co-operation, exchange of know-how and expertise between partners, are based on the European Credit Transfer System and are in accordance with the Bologna Process. Within DEREC a new three-years first cycle curriculum in Environmental and Resources Engineering was opened at the University Ss Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, and the necessary conditions for offering a Double Degree, on the basis of an agreement between the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University and the University of Firenze, were fulfilled. The running DEREL project, as a continuation of DEREC, is aimed to introduce a new, up-to-date, postgraduate second cycle curriculum in Environment and Resources Engineering at the Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, FYR of Macedonia, University of Novi Sad, Serbia and Polytechnic University of Tirana, Albania, following the criteria and conditions for setting up a Double Degree. The new second cycle degree curriculum has just been activated in the current academic year 2012/2013.