16 July 2013

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Responding to the news that Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) has received £6.9million from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to develop a National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering, the Graduate Excellence partnership commented to say:

Director of Employment and Skills at the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Angela Coleshill said:

“We are delighted that Sheffield Hallam University has been awarded £6.9million by HEFCE to support in the development of a National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering."

"The Centre has received a significant number of pledges of support by industry and will act as a hub for R and innovation solutions, as well as providing industry relevant competencies for Continuous Professional Development and workforce development."

"The Centre's strong focus on mechanical engineering will be vital to helping us address industry's current skills gaps in this area by exposing both current employees and students on the industry-backed MEng Food Engineering degree to the latest technology and developments. Industry will benefit from having a world class facility focusing on finding solutions to the industry's specific needs including production process adaptability, energy efficiency and waste reduction solutions – essential to ensure we realise our growth potential and to develop and equip engineers to be future leaders for the food industry."

“We are now looking forward to working with our partners at Sheffield Hallam University and the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink to help turn this vision into a reality.”

Justine Fosh, CEO of Improve/National Skills Academy for Food and Drink said:

“We see the creation of a National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University as a breakthrough moment for the food manufacturing sector as a whole. It is a shining example of what can be achieved when the industry collaborates in support of a shared goal,” said Justine Fosh, CEO of skills council Improve and the National Skills Academy for Food Drink.

“As a valued Academy member, we're proud to have supported Sheffield Hallam University in their successful bid to HEFCE's (Higher Education Funding Council for England) Catalyst Fund which can only add to the attraction of the UK's first dedicated food engineering degree being offered at the same University from 2014."

“The HEFCE announcement is a major milestone on a journey which began with Improve research showing the industry implications of a scarcity of engineers with the industry-specific knowledge necessary to support future innovation and technical advances. The creation of this Centre of Excellence, along with the new dedicated food engineering degree, represents a solid bridge to an additional £1billion in Gross Value Added by food and drink businesses and a significant new conduit to attracting high level talent.”

Richard Martin, Chief Engineer for Nestle UK and Ireland said:

"As Chair of the Graduate Excellence Initiative, I am delighted that this investment will create a world class Centre dedicated to Food Engineering. It will inspire the next generation of Food Engineers to achieve best practice and provide training and development opportunities for those already in the industry. Having a good supply of top quality Food Engineers will accelerate the Food and Drink Sectors growth ambitions."

"Thank you to all those Food and Drink businesses and machinery suppliers who have pledged support for the new Centre of Excellence. Together we can build a Centre that the Industry can be proud of."

Dr Martin Howarth, Head of Engineering and Mathematics at Sheffield Hallam University said:

"We are delighted that this funding will go ahead as planned. Money will be used to develop a new Centre of excellence for food and drink engineering at Sheffield Hallam, dedicated to research and development."

"This, along with the new food and drink engineering degree which is available exclusively at the University from 2014, helps to build on our existing strong track record of providing excellent engineering education in partnership with industry, designed to help create highly skilled and employable graduates ready for the world of work."

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. The SHU press release: www.shu.ac.uk/mediacentre
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, visit the Graduate Excellence web page
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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