DIRK VAN TEIJLINGEN, third year CHEMICAL ENGINEERING STUDENT
‘Experimenting with hydrogen and molecules and making calculations, especially that – those are the things I liked most about chemistry at secondary school. So I knew early on that I wanted to study something technical. The Open Day at the University of Twente and the Student for a Day programme at the Chemical Engineering programme there confirmed my expectations.
I now understand a lot better than I did during my first year as a student why mathematics – which has become much more and difficult and challenging – is so important in chemical processes. During the last quarter of my second year we did all the calculations for an entire chemical plant. I loved it. The practical, ‘real-world’ application in this programme is also great: for one practical assignment, we went on an excursion to Europe's largest chemical plant.
After I graduate I want to work in the chemical industry, designing processes. There are plenty of job opportunities in this sector. It is so complex that no one can be an expert in all of it. As a chemical engineer you work together with other specialists – within and outside your own field. I would enjoy helping make chemical processes in factories more efficient and sustainable.’