University of Limerick (UL) has been awarded a grant of high-level engineering software valued at €107k from Intergraph Corporation, one of only five handed out worldwide.
Intergraph Corporation has installed its SmartPlant P&ID (piping instrumentation diagram) at UL, where it will be used by students of the Graduate Diploma in Chemical Engineering Programme. The software is used for creating, managing, storing and accessing P&ID data to keep it accurate and up to date for designing, building and maintaining a plant.
The purpose of the scheme is to build proficiency among students for Intergraph products so they are familiar with them when applying for jobs in areas where this skill would be useful.
UL was one of five institutes of higher learning and technology selected under the Intergraph’s educational grant programme. Institutions in Australia, Brazil, Canada and India also received the software grants.
Dr Seamus McMonagle, course director of the Graduate Diploma in Chemical Engineering Programme, welcomed the news, calling it a “great boost to the university as a whole; in particular the Chemical Engineering Programme as the software is very relevant to the particulars of the course”.
UL also plans to use SmartPlant P&ID in new chemical engineering programmes at master level and above, in addition to rolling it out across more undergraduate courses. The institution is also considering whether to introduce other software in the Intergraph range.
“The software has exceeded our expectations,” said McMonagle. “Since the implementation of P&ID, we are able to provide the graduates with advanced skills in process design and optimisation that will give them a competitive edge in their consequential careers in Irish and international pharmaceutical and chemical industries.”
By Gordon Smith
