Faculty of Chemistry: Positioning with society

2000/09/01 Roa Zubia, Guillermo - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Kimika
• Unibertsitateak

"We have very good relations with the industry. There are collaborations with many results and great benefits. However, interests must be analyzed. For us the award has to do with academic results. But what companies are looking for is an economic prize. This can cause tension. Therefore, from the beginning the objectives must be well set. That is the difference. However, relationships are good," says Fernando Cossío.

"The number of projects depends on the area: more in engineering and less in physics or theoretical chemistry. But in general, it can be said that there are many projects. Compared to the United States, Holland or Germany, of course, we have few collaborations. But when we compare it with other states, we're working a lot." The dean, for example, mentioned the case of England. Its chemistry has greatly decreased performance. In 1996 he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry Harold W. According to the British Croto, today the discovery of Fulerenes in this country could not occur.

"We must keep in mind that normally the image of chemistry in society is quite bad. Chemistry is often considered synonymous with pollution and it is true that chemicals do nothing to change this situation. XX. The delinquent of the twentieth century has been the atom and perhaps the next century is the gene. To get money we have to convince people and governments. That is why it is increasingly important to develop an informative policy," explains Cossío. "But our research is increasingly expensive. Therefore, people have to know what the money gets into."

"The other problem we have as a public institution is that our university is not publicized. The teaching offered here is nothing bad. However, some prefer to send their children to private universities. In our faculty we have two problems, the scientist and the institutional."

Within the University we have a good level. However, it should be noted that the quality of research is easy to measure in science through the number of articles, etc. But in other areas, as I have been told, it is not so easy. The origin of this imbalance is therefore related to ease of measurement. If not, we can say that we have a good level. Almost half of the high-performance groups of the Autonomous Community are in this faculty.