Measurement Science in Chemistry (Euromaster 2011)

'Measurement Science in Chemistry' is a harmonised Master's degree, developed from a training programme initiated in 2001 by the Joint Research Centre (JRC-IRMM) and offered by a consortium of 9 universities located in 7 different European countries. The JRC-IRMM was instrumental in setting up the consortium, and it currently follows its activities in a mentoring capacity. In this edition, the International Summer School was a very intensive 11-days course in Poznań (Poland), with 43 students from thirteen countries participating (Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine). Students learned about quality in analytical chemistry in the context of ISO/IEC-17025. Not only the theory (traceability, uncertainty, statistics, validation, use of reference materials), but also the practice: in a role playing game, they created their own company to perform analysis and they competed amongst themselves! They found out how to interact with clients. For one day, they became an accreditation technical assessor when they visit a real laboratory (the water laboratory Aquanet in Poznań). They went out and took their own environmental samples in the Ecology Station of Jeziory. The students' motto is "to measure is a pleasure". And they certainly had a lot of that!