The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills held a briefing to find a University partner to develop a new engineering degree to help prepare graduates for a career in the food and drink sector.
More than 20 UK universities attended the briefing, which was hosted by the Food and Drink Federation, Improve and the National Skills Academy. Discussions centred on the possibility of collaborative approaches among universities to effectively deliver the new degree course and to develop a centre of excellence for the future.
Angela Coleshill, human resources director at the FDF, said: “This new degree course will be vital in ensuring we attract the top class young talent qualified to meet the specific needs of our sector.”
The course is expected to form a fundamental part of the UK food and drink industry’s ‘Graduate Ambition’ to help equip graduates with the technical skills and knowledge that the food and drink manufacturing industry requires. Expressions of interest from universities are now being accepted online and the deadline for responses will be midday on May 8.
First entrants onto the degree course will be September 2014.
Photo by Nick Saltmarsh
