Evolution of the chemistry curriculum
Alice Dawe finds out how scientific advances have driven changes to undergraduate chemistry courses since the second world war
There are dozens of different chemistry undergraduate degree programmes available, and hundreds of combined honours courses with a chemistry element. Given the breadth of chemistry it is therefore not surprising to find that no two programmes are quite the same. However, the core content is largely similar at all institutions, including topics such as thermodynamics, kinetics, main group elements, transition metals and organic structure and mechanism.
These core topics have, however, evolved over the decades, largely due to advances in our knowledge of chemistry. There are also two other major reasons for changes to undergraduate chemistry courses: evolving A-level content and different aspirations of those entering degree courses.
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