The Nihal European University in Sudan

Sudan suffers like many other countries of the region from a not insignificant level of environmental pollution, including bad air and contaminated drinking water, with implications for the health of the population.

The Department of Environmental Engineering should endeavour to make a significant fundamental contribution to the special profile of the Nihal European University in Sudan.

In solving problems involving applied work a high level of research and teaching as well as independent basic research in hydromechanics and water engineering are as important as close cooperation with representatives of other disciplines and non-university institutions.

In including the problems of water-impoverished countries the Department and its curriculum should be distinguished by the following characteristics:

• The disciplines should be primarily practice-oriented. The students should be trained to think independently, learning to grasp and solve problems while being encouraged to approach them with originality.
• Teaching should represent a synthesis of fundamentals that are carefully explained and references to current research. The practical-technical side of the field should receive special attention in research and teaching.
• In order to expand the spectrum of their training students should further be obliged to spend a period of months in a practicum with a partner of the university in order to receive practical qualifications firsthand.
• Including project-based working groups is also an important component of teaching, and it is necessary that students acquire qualifications in applying their learning.

In the Nihal European University in Sudan this discipline will be structured so that engineers who graduate from it have a high level of competence in engineering that is environmentally-friendly and also appropriate to the natural conditions of Sudan. This includes the skills of developing testing and monitoring and creating systematic networks.

Bachelor of Engineering

The first phase of studies lasting two semesters is primarily given over to teaching the foundations of the discipline. Only later can students choose certain specialties. In the second phase the curriculum will be more specialized, dividing itself into a required area for all students and four partial areas, from which every student must choose one. The partial areas are:

1. Sewage engineering
2. Hydraulic engineering
3. Water supply
4. Environmental engineering and protection

In the first two semesters students will acquire knowledge in the basic subjects necessary for getting an overview of the partial areas.

In particular this means basic instruction in the essential knowledge in chemistry, physics, mathematics, hydrology and mechanics. The necessary basic knowledge and working methods will be taught in lectures, lab courses, seminars, practicums and excursions.

At the advanced level the curriculum serves to deepen students’ knowledge. It is divided into three large focal areas, one of which each student must choose. Among others the focal areas should include:

1. Sewage engineering
   • Sewage engineering
   • Waste disposal engineering
   • Clean-up of hazardous materials (land recycling)
   • Matter cycles
2. Hydraulic engineering
   • Dams
   • Management and cleanup of hydraulic-engineering facilities
   • River and lake engineering
   • Waterway engineering
   • Hydro-electric power plants
3. Water supply
   • Water supply
   • Water reclamation
   • Management of underground and aboveground water
   • Environmental engineering
4. Environmental engineering and protection
   • Engineering hydro- and thermodynamics
   • Foundations of environmental protection
   • Materials science
   • Environmental engineering

In all areas content will also be taught in hydraulics, especially pipeline and groundwater hydraulics, as well as installation hydraulics, engineering hydrology, environmental planning and law, efficiency and sustainability in planning and hydrometric measurements.

Master of Engineering

For students with interests and matching qualifications a four-semester master’s degree programme (to be concluded with a thesis project) is available, following the six-semester Bachelor of Engineering programme. The programme accommodates the agenda of interculturalism and interdisciplinarity in line with the goals of the Nihal European University in Sudan. The major concentration can in principle be serve as one of the concentrations available to bachelor’s degree students.

The disciplinary foci should consist of applied engineering components of the degree programme such as:

1. Sewage engineering
2. Hydraulic engineering
3. Water supply
4. Environmental engineering and protection

The degree programme in environmental engineering at the Nihal European University in Sudan combines engineering with natural sciences. Students in environmental engineering have the option of choosing their own specialty in a disciplinary area. This possibility will make it possible for graduates of the Nihal European University in Sudan to have excellent professional chances in the multifaceted field of environmental engineering.

Research foci will most likely be in the following areas:

• Hydromechanics
• Hydraulic engineering
• The use of renewable energy sources
• Energy and environment
• Mechanical and thermal methods engineering

On the basis of data for similar departments and degree programmes we can assume that teaching and research in this Department will require approximately twelve lecturers at various levels, ten teaching assistants and twelve postings for technical personnel. The space required is approximately 2,500 m², while equipment should also be provided for establishing laboratories and a test lab.