The Educated Chemist: Analytical chemistry at your own pace

A flexible course in analytical chemistry allows students to carry on working, or even start a family, while building up valuable new skills. Emma Davies finds out more

It's not often that analytical chemistry is linked to social activities but the residential workshops that form part of the RSC's Analytical Chemistry by Open Learning (ACOL) courses are highly sociable affairs. 'The atmosphere at the residential workshops is wonderful,' says programme organiser Norma Chadwick. 'The social mix is terrific. People are very relaxed and the evenings are very jolly - a lot of interaction and networking goes on and people agree to do the same courses together the next year.'
The ACOL programme runs twice a year and is based at the University of Greenwich. It is a 10-week open-learning course (45 hours), letting students work at their own pace using ACOL textbooks. The course ends with a three-day residential workshop in a university lab (such as Kings College London, Greenwich, Leicester, Lancaster, Strathclyde, Hull, or Liverpool John Moores). The course is assessed at the level of second year undergraduate and participants are registered as students at the University of Greenwich.
Almost all ACOL students are in full-time employment in either industry or the public sector. 'We've got people from water authorities, pharmaceutical companies, the Ministry of Defence, [the Atomic Weapons Establishment] AWE, and the NHS, to name but a few,' says Chadwick. 'The course is very suitable for working people,' she adds. 'Most of the people on the course are in their 30s and 40s. They're looking for some career progression at work but they've got enormous home commitments and responsibilities. '

Any age, any background 
Most people who take the course are UK graduates. 'People with all sorts of degrees end up working in analytical chemistry - people with biology degrees, forensic science degrees, combination degrees , even people with arts degrees,' says Chadwick.  
The ACOL courses cover the basic theory and practical application of a wide range of analytical techniques and students can choose which options to take. Spectroscopy is naturally a major part of the course, with options including atomic, visible and ultraviolet, infrared, and fluorescence spectroscopy. And of course chromatography is also covered - including gas chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.  
During the 10-week course, students have access to online tutors and discussion forums and are required to submit two written assignments. Students who complete the course are awarded a certificate of achievement from the University of Greenwich. Completion of five or more courses leads to the Professional Development Certificate in Analytical Chemistry - an Edexcel award. The five courses must include analytical methodology, two chromatography options, and two spectroscopy options. Some people use the Edexcel award to help become a member of the RSC. Chemometrics, statistics, and environmental analysis also feature. 

Five courses in 10 years 
There is a great deal of flexibility as to how long students take to do courses. 'Some people take huge breaks between courses,' says Chadwick. 'They have babies or they change jobs and they come back years later until they get the full quota for the award. I think that 10 years is the longest it's taken but it's quite within the remit.' 
Bhavna Vara works at AWE and finished an ACOL course in 2006. 'It was very interesting and relevant to my work,' she recalls. 'It was good to apply the practical skills that I'd learnt from the taught course. It was also great to see the different types of technical equipment that the university labs had compared with industrial labs.' She has applied what she learned through ACOL to different jobs. 'When I first joined ACOL, I was from a surfactants/detergents background and then for my final modules I changed jobs and was working for an environmental lab. But the technical instrumentation is still the same and the theory doesn't change.' 
Susan Deuchars, inorganics team leader at Scottish Water, has completed several ACOL courses. 'I found the courses very useful and informative in relation to the instrumentation and procedures we use,' she said.  
Many, including Vara and Deuchars, recommend the course to colleagues. 'We've been going so long now that quite a number of our older students are now lab managers and training managers. They quite happily send their staff on the course. They obviously recognise the benefit of it,' says Chadwick.  
What better way to further your career and meet fellow analysts? There are even rumours that romance has blossomed at the residential workshops. 

Emma Davies is a freelance writer based in Bishop's Stortford, UK