Modernization of Education in Nuclear and Particle Physics - Swiss-Bulgarian Partnership (BUCHEDU)
1. Summary
BUCHEDU project aims at modernization of education in Nuclear and Particle Physics & Radioecology at graduate level in the Department of Atomic Physics of the University of Sofia and increasing attractiveness of the respective Master program. Number of traditionally strong aspects and weak points of the education at Master level in this field have been identified and analyzed by collaboration institutions. Among strengths of the Master program is highly qualified staff of lecturers from the Faculties of Physics and Mathematics as well as from research institutions, diversity of compulsory and optional courses, existence of equipped laboratories and active research groups in the field. Weaknesses are related to a bit old fashioned method of teaching, outdated and worn out laboratory equipment, lack of textbooks and scientific literature, obscure situation with realization of graduates after the university study, almost no advertising in the relevant target groups.
Goals of the project encompass implementation of modern multimedia tools in the educational process, setting up and exploiting a Web site with educational content and easy access to it for students, update of courses’ content and teaching methodology by transfer of knowledge, methods, technology and lecturers between partners, modernization of students laboratory equipment, revealing international nature of research in the field and making known to students leading centers abroad like University of Geneva and CERN, open possibilities for research practice and/or diploma work there, advertising education at Master level in selected target groups at national and regional level.
Related activities include acquiring of respective equipment for multimedia presentations in educational process, setting up stimulating environment for individual work of students, modernization of two students’ laboratories, exchange visits of lecturers aiming at know-how transfer and lecturing, organization of students’ summer schools, sending best graduates for diploma work to University of Geneva and/or CERN, as well as launching of balanced and well focused advertising program.
Special activities are planned for broad and effective dissemination of results.
BUCHEDU targets competitiveness of the young scientists educated in Bulgaria through a coordinated and modern Master program in Nuclear and Particle Physics & Radioecology. National network (including universities in Plovdiv and Shoumen) will be strengthened. Efforts will be put to establish international networking in education with Macedonia and other Slavonic speaking countries in the region. Possible follow-up of the project could be setting-up a regional centre for e-learning at graduate level at University of Sofia. The project will strengthen the academic and scientific links between the partners and will support the sustainable education at high level of qualified Bulgarian specialists in the field of nuclear and particle physics. These young people will be reproducing the teaching and scientific staff at various Bulgarian educational, scientific and industrial institutions, which will benefit from their expertise. The field of professional involvement is wide, including universities and technology high schools, research centers of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, nuclear power-generation facilities, hospitals, nuclear safety and regulatory institutions, metrology,etc. Positive multilateral impact on the Bulgarian economy and society is expected. BUCHEDU aims to contribute for solving problems related to scientific careers and. Modern, well focused, with firm theoretical background and extensive practical skills education will open for the graduates broad spectrum of possibilities for job-finding and successful realization at home and throughout United Europe.
2. Background
2.1. Participating research institutions
[University of Geneva – Alain]
St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia[1] is the oldest and the biggest university in Bulgaria, founded in 1888. Education is organized at 3 levels: Bachelor (4 years), Master (up to 1.5 years) and Ph.D. (3 years). This system has been adopted recently – 6 years ago, in all higher education institutions in Bulgaria by changing the Law for Higher Education. The old system had only one level – 4-5 years study to obtain higher education. Obtaining of Ph.D. was considered rather first step of scientific carrier than part of higher education.
In the school year 2004/05 20692 students are studying at the University at Bachelor (undergraduate) and Master (graduate) levels, 1095 of them are foreigners, coming mainly form neighboring Balkan countries.
There are 15 faculties in the University spanning all fields of natural and social sciences – from Mathematics to Theology. Among them the Faculty of Physics[2] is one of the biggest by staff. The number of students is comparatively low – 730 for year 2004/05, 129 of them are graduate students spread in 12 Master programs. Ph.D. students are not included here.
The Department of Atomic Physics[3] is among the biggest in the Faculty of Physics. 10 associate professors, 7 assistant professors and 7 junior researchers and assistants with university education work there. The staff is involved in teaching both at undergraduate and graduate level. The latter includes education at Master level within the Program of Nuclear and Particle physics, and training of Ph.D. students. There are 19 Ph.D. students at the moment.
Main directions of scientific research encompass:
· Particle and High Energy physics
· Nuclear structure and Nuclear spectroscopy
· Dosimetry, Radiation protection and Radioecology
· Nuclear energy and technologies
· Nuclear electronics
· Modeling of physical processes
· Moessbauer effect
· Biophysics
For the last 5 years members of the department have published more than hundred articles in international scientific journals.
2.2. Strengths and weakness of the partner institutions
[University of Geneva – Alain]
Strengths: The Department of Atomic Physics has a long tradition in educating scientists and engineers who have distinguished themselves as researchers and leaders in industry and education. The department carries out cutting-edge research in High-Energy, Nuclear and Cluster physics. In all these areas, both theoretical and experimental research programs are interrelated. Particle physics experiments are carried at CERN, while Nuclear physics experiments are carried at GSI, Paris, South Africa, JINR (Dubna).
Our graduates hold prestigious posts throughout the country and abroad. For students who complete a degree in physics (Bachelor, Master, Doctoral), the rewards are a deep understanding of nature, unusual flexibility in the choice of a career, and exceptional strength and stability in the job market.
The innovative Master program in Nuclear and High Energy Physics & Radioecology (see Appendix 1) became an integral part of this Department. Early involvement in research, in which students work closely with faculty members, prepares our graduates for challenging careers as technical problem solvers. The program stresses active research in projects under the supervision of knowledgeable tutors.
Program objectives: This Master Program is designed to be completed by full-time students in three semesters: 90 credits (each semester of 300 academic hours). The program combines a solid foundation in Particle and Nuclear physics with adaptability to a wide range of student interests and career objectives. Graduates of four-year bachelors in physics, mathematics, and nuclear engineering are of special interest to our faculty. Close interaction between students and faculty facilitates responsiveness to the needs of each student.
Program format: The credits are collected from
§ Compulsory courses (four out of eight courses offered in the list)
§ Optional courses (a selection from the list)
§ Diploma work (27 credits), scientific student seminar (3 credits)
Career Opportunities: Depending on each student's program of graduate coursework, seminars, directed studies, and research, our M.S. in Nuclear and Particle physics graduates are prepared to enter doctoral programs or work in several fields of physics, such as theoretical physics, nuclear physics, high-energy physics, nuclear electronics, optical or nuclear engineering, computer science, medical physics, environmental science, nuclear and radiation metrology.
Teaching the Master program courses is being done in close collaboration with the Department of Theoretical Physics and colleagues from external research institutes. The Department of Atomic Physics is responsible for and its professors teach mainly experimental courses. Several laboratories are equipped for students’ practical work in: Experimental Nuclear Physics, Dosimetry & Radiation Protection & Environmental Radioactivity and Radioecology, Particle Physics, Nuclear Electronics, Modeling of Physical Processes.
Teaching staff is experienced, high qualified, with strong research record in respective fields.
The department offers also many optional courses at Bachelor level that give specialization in Nuclear and Particle Physics (see Appendix 2).
Every year we accept several Ph.D. students in Nuclear Physics, Particle Physics, Biophysics. There are 19 of them at the moment. Average duration of their study, research and defending the thesis is about 4.5 years, which is reasonable for experimental research.
Weaknesses: Specialization in Nuclear and Particle Physics has been one of the most prestigious and desirable among those offered in the Faculty of Physics during the years. We have always had enough students to organize normal teaching process. With the new 3-level system situation has changed. Our Master program started with 6 students in school year 2003/04 and only one applied for it this year. Reasons for that could be in several directions:
· a bit old fashioned method of teaching, using mainly oral presentation and blackboard;
· 20 years ago our laboratory equipment could be considered reasonable for teaching purposes, now it is outdated and worn out;
· lack of textbooks and scientific literature. Majority of textbooks , available in the library, are in Russian – language, that is not spoken widely by the youths now;
· obscure situation with realization of our Masters after the university study. Few stays as Ph.D. students in our Faculty or in the institutes of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; few leave country and seek for Ph.D. or jobs in Western Europe and USA. The rest rarely find jobs in Physics, just because there are no offers, but obtain positions in other sectors of the industry and society. The situation is typical for all Masters (and Bachelors) in Physics, not only those with specialization in Nuclear and Particle Physics;
· almost no advertising in the targeted group – high-school students and undergraduates studying Physics not only at the University of Sofia, but also in Plovdiv, Shoumen and neighboring Slavonic speaking countries.
3. Content of the Institutional Partnership
3.1. Objectivities
Main goal of the project is modernization of education in Nuclear and Particle Physics & Radioecology offered by the Department of Atomic Physics at graduate level and increase of its attractiveness, ensuring yearly of 5-10 Bachelors in Physics to continue their education in the Master program of Nuclear and Particle Physics & Radioecology.
The above goal will be achieved by:
· implementation of modern multimedia tools in the educational process;
· setting up a Web site with educational content (lecture transparencies, problems for seminars, e-books etc.) and easy access to it for students;
· update of educational content of courses and teaching methodology by transfer of knowledge, methods, technology and lecturers between partners;
· modernization of students laboratory equipment;
· revealing international nature of research in the field and making known to students leading national centers abroad like University of Geneva and big international laboratories like CERN, open possibilities for research practice and/or diploma work there;
· advertising of our education at Master level in selected target groups at national and regional level
3.2. Activities
Tasks listed below constitute the core of the project. They correspond to and aim at overcoming weaknesses of the education at graduate level at the Department of Atomic Physics as partners see them.
- Furnishing of one classroom with capacity of 25-30 places with overhead, screen, multimedia projector and personal computer for electronic presentation of lectures. This room will be used for all lectures of the Master program.
Having such a classroom will ensure representation of the educational material in better way. It will allow demonstration of diagrams, pictures, short films etc. that represent up-to-date state of the subject. Thus lectures will become less boring, appealing and more effective.
Bulgarian partner will have main responsibility for identifying and furnishing the classroom.
Deliverable A: classroom with operational multimedia equipment.
- Setting up fast optical fiber link to the University computing centre situated in the building of Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics. Such link will allow to increase significantly the network bandwidth available to our Department. It will improve visibility of our Web-site(s) for outside world and facilitate students in searching and downloading educational and research materials.
Bulgarian partner will be responsible for the task.
Deliverable B: operational link.
- Installing Web-server with large enough disk space and setting up professionally designed Web-site of the Master program at the Department of Atomic Physics.
The aim is two-fold. Educational part of the site will contain presentations of lectures, problems, e-books, time schedules etc., while the advertising part will target the outside audience – possible applicants for our program: high-school and higher-school students, Bachelors etc. A section for general public will be prepared, too.
Bulgarian partner will be responsible for setting the machine and designing the framework. Both partners, in close collaboration, will elaborate the content.
Deliverable C1: operational Web-site.
Deliverable C2: Full-scale site with appropriate content.
- Preparing electronic presentations of lectures of main courses of the Program and making them available through the Web-site.
This will be done mainly by the lecturers from Bulgarian side with the help of their colleagues form Geneva. Some of the available e-presentations used at the University of Geneva could provide guidelines and be used as examples.
Deliverable D: presentations of at least 5 courses.
- Modernization of equipment in Laboratory of Nuclear electronics and Laboratory of Dosimetry and Radiation Protection.
Laboratory of Nuclear Electronics is used for students’ practical work in courses “Nuclear electronics” for forth-year undergraduate students and “Advanced Nuclear Electronics” for graduate students. It has been found that it needs most urgent help with components and some relatively modern equipment. The list includes:
§ Electronic devices: programmable logic devices (CPLD - MAX II and FPGA- Flex, Cyclone (Altera)) micro-controllers, bus transceivers, operational amplifiers, comparators and other integrated circuits, various discrete components;