The Brazilian experience in refractories education

Due to the large steel production, refractories are of great interest for the Brazilian steelmaking industry. The funding institutions that support the technological development and the universities which are responsible for education, also share this interest, and in order to match the dynamic changes in the area they are constantly updating their targets and teaching topics. Traditionally the Schools of Metallurgical and Mining Engineering have in their educational programs some courses dealing with the various features of ceramic refractories applied to the different branches of metallurgy. In 1970, the first Materials Engineering undergraduate course in Brazil started at the Federal University of Sao Carlos, in the city of Sao Carlos (Sao Paulo state). One of the purposes was to establish a ceramic educational group which included the teaching of refractories in a modern and broader framework of ceramic materials based on the fundamental concepts of Materials Science and the applied knowledge of Materials Engineering. This paper presents general features of the teaching of refractories, their future targets and some numerical data which will give an idea of the dimensions of this area of activity in Brazil.