Career outlook

Employability and career prospects of our graduates have been one of the main concerns from the very beginning of development of the EACH programme and is addressed by a number of elements in the programme, ranging from courses delivered by practitioners to internships in labs or industry.

Recent data demonstrate that we have been successful in this area: 91 out of the 103 graduates of the six EACH intakes who have graduated up to now, i.e., 88%, have secured a position – either a job or a PhD position, just few months after graduation.

Chemists having a strong background in analytical chemistry are more and more needed in industry and in industry and laboratories, in private and public sector. “Read more …” links on the left and right lead to more information about what our graduates are doing after graduation.

Job requirements vary. In some places strong background in organic analysis is needed (e.g. food, pharmaceutical and clinical areas). For these chemists a high quality education in organic analytical chemistry and biomedical analysis is given at UU.

Traditionally the sampling and analysis steps are separated from each other and analytical determinations are carried out in a separate laboratory, situated often apart from the sampling site. In the future we will see more and more on-line analytical methods in many applications (e.g. when water for household consumption is prepared or in environmental monitoring). These on-line methods are sophisticated, including on-line measurement and data transfer. This field of analytical chemistry is taught at UCBL.

When developing on-line measurement systems a very important piece of instrumentation is an analytical sensor (or probe) that gives a response to the species measured. For developing such measurement systems, a high quality education dealing with chemical sensors is given in AAU.

In some places there is a demand for chemists having good knowledge in inorganic analysis, e.g. in materials and high-tech industry. For example, very low critical element concentrations have to be determined from ultrapure semiconductor materials. Environmental and occupational safety problems are nowadays a common concern worldwide. Analytical chemistry is an essential tool in studying and solving these problems. Whatever the application fields of the analysis are, knowledge and skills in data processing, metrology and quality assurance as well as socio-economic aspects are demanded from analytical chemists. Comprehensive education in these fields is given to the students at UT. Additionally, Chemists with a strong background in metrology and specific skills in the fields of analytical chemistry have also excellent possibilities to continue their studies for PhD.

During the recent years significant changes have been and still are taking place in the chemical analysis community. Chemical measurements and analyses are very important from legal and economy point of view. More and more legal acts are issued that concern measurements and analyses. Fully functional quality system, accredited according to international standards (most often ISO/IEC 17025:2000 or GLP in the case of laboratories) is now a must in many activity areas (food, environmental, etc) where the laboratories are active. The changes have been very rapid and up to now the education system has not been able to respond adequately to the needs of the chemical analysis and measurement community.

The EACH programme is meant to help in filling this gap by providing contemporary, practically oriented education in analytical chemistry. It has been estimated that up to 50% of chemistry graduates (depending on country) work at different analysis or testing laboratories. These factors enable us to rate the employability of EACH graduates as very good.

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Our graduates are welcome at:

• R&D departments of major companies
• Chemical industry labs
• Pharmaceutical industry R&D, as well as quality control labs
• Plastics and advanced materials production
• Health, consumer and environmental protection agencies
• Food processing and manufacturing quality assurance labs
• Certification, standardization and accreditation authorities
• National Centers and Institutes of Metrology
• Academic career and PhD studies

For more information …

… see how the 2017 graduates were doing shortly after graduation;

… see how the 2018 graduates were doing shortly after graduation;

… see how the 2019 graduates were doing shortly after graduation;

… see how the 2020 graduates were doing shortly after graduation;

… see how the 2021 graduates were doing shortly after graduation

… see how the 2022 graduates were doing shortly after graduation;

… on building your career please contact the UT career counselling service for students.

Last modified: October 5, 2022