CINCH-II project. Next step in the coordination of education in nuclear- and radiochemistry in Europe

Any of the potential options for the nuclear power – both the renaissance, if any, or the phase out – will require significant numbers of the respective specialists, amongst others the nuclear and/or radiochemists. In parallel, a significant demand exists for these specialists in non-energy fields, such as environmental protection, radiopharmacy, nuclear medicine, biology, authorities, etc. Since the numbers of staff in teaching and the number of univerzities with facilities licensed for the work with open sources of ionizing radiation has decreased on or sometimes even below the critical level, coordination and collaboration are required to maintain the necessary teaching and training capabilities. The CINCH-II project, aiming at the Coordination of education and training In Nuclear CHemistry in Europe, will be a direct continuation of the CINCH-I project which, among others, identified the EuroMaster in Nuclear Chemistry quality label recognized and guaranteed by the European Chemistry Thematic Network Association as an optimum common mutual recognition system in the field of education in Nuclear Chemistry in Europe, surveyed the status of Nuclear Chemistry in industry / the needs of the end-users, developed an efficient system of education/training compact modular courses, or developed and tested two electronic tools as a basis of a future efficient distance learning system. In the first part of this paper, the achievements of the CINCH-I project will be described. This description will cover both the status review and the development activities of this Collaboration. In the status review field, the results of a detailed survey of the universities and curricula in nuclear- and radiochemistry in Europe and Russia will be presented. Another survey mapped the nuclear- and radiochemistry in industry – specifically the training and education needs of the end users. In the development activities field, the main achievements of the CINCH-project will be presented. They are particularly the NukWik – an open platform for collaboration and sharing teaching materials in nuclear- and radiochemistry based on a wiki engine. Further outputs are a set of compact joint modular courses in different branches of modern nuclear- and radiochemistry, or an e learning platform (CINCH Moodle) available for both education and training (applicable at the Ph.D., life-long learning, and MSc. levels). The expected outcomes of the follow-on CINCH-II project will be described in detail. The CINCH-II project is built around three pillars - Education, Vocational Education and Training (VET), and Distance Learning - supported by two cross-cutting activities – Vision, Sustainability and Nuclear Awareness that includes also dissemination, and Management. Its main objectives, expected to have the broadest impact to the target groups, are further development and implementation of the EuroMaster in Nuclear Chemistry, completion of a pan-European offer of modular training courses for the customers from the end users, development of a Training Passport in Nuclear Chemistry and preparing the grounds for the European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) application in nuclear chemistry, implementation of modern e-learning tools developed in CINCH-I and further development of new tools for the distance learning, laying the foundations of a Nuclear Chemistry Education and Training Platform as a future sustainable Euratom Fission Training Scheme (EFTS) in Nuclear Chemistry, development of a Sustainable Systems for Mobility within the Nuclear Chemistry Network, or development of methods of raising awareness of the possible options for nuclear chemistry in potential students, academia and industry. The CINCH-II project will mobilize the identified existing fragmented capabilities to form the critical mass required to implement the courses and meet the nuclear chemistry postgraduate education and training needs, including the high-level training of research workers, of the European Union. Networking on the national level and with existing European as well as international platforms will be an important feature of the project. (author)