15 May 2013

Food Manufacturers welcome first stage funding success for new Engineering Centre

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Responding to today's news that Sheffield Hallam University looks set to benefit from a share of a £50m investment to develop a National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering, Director of Employment and Skills at the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Angela Coleshill said:

“We are delighted that Sheffield Hallam University's project to develop a National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering will receive a share of the money offered by HEFCE's (Higher Education Funding Council for England) Catalyst Fund. The Centre is a collaborative initiative between the University and the UK food and drink manufacturing industry and has received a significant number of pledges of support from manufacturers across the country.

"The new Centre will act as a hub for industry R, as well as for skills and workforce development, to support sustainable growth in food and drink manufacturing. Its focus on innovation will draw on the University's expertise and proven track record for R capability in our sector. It will also expose students on the UK's first food engineering degree (at Sheffield Hallam University) to the latest technological developments, giving them the vital skills our industry needs for the future.”

Notes for editors:

1. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is the voice of the food and drink manufacturing industry – the UK's largest manufacturing sector.
2. Link to HEFCE press release
3. The Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering initiative is part of Graduate Excellence, a partnership between FDF, the National Skills Academy for Food Drink and Sheffield Hallam University. Graduate Excellence has received co-investment from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills through the Employer Investment Fund. For further information on partnership, please visit the website
4. Companies that have pledged their support for the new Centre via contributing equipment, facilities, mentors or advisers are: apetito, The Authentic Food Company, Bradman Lake Group, Dalehead Foods, Endress Hauser, Festo, G's Fresh, General Mills, Ivensys Operations Management, Mars Chocolate UK, Nalco, Premier Foods, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Star Refrigeration, Warburton's and William Jackson Food Group.
5. The National Skills Academy for Food Drink is the food and drink manufacturing industry's skills body. The Academy was created in 2007 to facilitate sector specific training provision to drive up sector productivity and competitiveness in line with employer needs. Training organisations that become part of the Academy undergo rigorous quality checks and include both publicly and privately funded learning centres. Each delivers some aspect of skills development for the food and drink manufacturing industry as a whole, and/or specialist skills for one of its various sub-sectors.
6. Sheffield Hallam University is one of the UK's largest universities with more than 36,000 students, 27,000 of which are undergraduates. The University has the fourth highest number of postgraduate taught students in the UK and runs approximately 580 different courses. The University is England's largest provider of courses that involve work placements (such as a year in industry) and 91 per cent of the University's graduates are in work or further study six months after graduation.
7. Graduate Excellence has received co-investment from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) through the Employer Investment Fund.

More information

For media enquiries, please contact:

Anna Taylor on 0207 420 7118 Email: Anna.Taylor@fdf.org.uk

Avni Raval or 020 7420 7131 Email: Avni.Raval@fdf.org.uk

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