Identificação de oportunidades e desafios para o curso de engenharia química do campus Ponta Grossa da UTFPR

Abstract

Engineering education plays an important role in society, with engineering being a fundamental area for its construction, development and evolution. Therefore, engineering education needs to be in line with the expectations of society and the rapidly changing labor market, and it is within this context that universities play a key role. Thus, this work aimed to raise possible opportunities and challenges for the Chemical Engineering Course at the Ponta Grossa Campus at UTFPR, in order to keep it updated, thus meeting the demands of the labor market. For this, a mapping of the relevant literature regarding the opportunities and challenges of education applied to engineering was carried out, as well as the analysis of the status of 67 graduates of the Chemical Engineering course (UTFPR-PG) facing the job market, graduated up to the year de 2018. The answers were obtained in partnership with the university's pedagogical extension project, entitled: Quality of Chemical Engineering and Production Engineering Courses from the Perspective of the Labor Market, through the exploratory method, from a questionnaire based on studies on engineering education. The answers obtained in Google Forms were exported to Microsoft Excel and QSR Nvivo software, for the analysis and treatment of qualitative and quantitative data. In this way, with the analysis of the answers, it was possible to identify the points of improvement from the perspective of the graduates: greater integration between industry and the university, encouragement of internships from the first periods, increased supply and encouragement to participate in extracurricular activities, and the need for a more practical teaching model focused on human, technical and conceptual skills. Thus, with the support of the results and theoretical survey, it was possible to establish a strategic map with the main challenges and opportunities for the course, bringing specific points related to the curriculum, teaching model, teachers, offer of opportunities, approximation with the industry , job market, and university. Finally, it is clear that the students' needs meet the current requirements for the training of the modern chemical engineer. Thus, it is concluded that this work has significant relevance, since there is a considerable gap regarding the current teaching model and the reality of the society and labor market scenario in rapid evolution. Thus, this work can support the Coordination of the Chemical Engineering Course (UTFPR-PG) in restructuring the course in order to meet the future expectations of the job market.