15 August 2013

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Considering being a mechanical engineer but looking for an exciting course with real career prospects and great industry experience? Well, now you can take a course that combines competitively-paid industry work placements and has real jobs available to its graduates – the MEng Food Engineering degree at Sheffield Hallam University.

Starting in September 2014, the MEng Food Engineering degree has been designed by some of the UK's top brands in the food and drink industry. Companies are searching for the next generation of the brightest engineering talent to join an innovative and fast-moving global industry. With the MEng Food Engineering degree, graduates will be well on their way to a fantastic career with one of the UK's best-loved food and drink brands such as Kit Kat, Lurpak, Walkers Crips, Just-rol to name just a few.

Students on the course get:

1. An MEng masters qualification
2. The chance to work with some of the UK's, and the world's, greatest food and drink brands including: Burton's Biscuit Company, Coca Cola Enterprises, Mars, McCain Foods, Nestlé UK, Pork Farms, PepsiCo UK and Warburtons. For the full list go to www.foodengineer.co.uk
3. The opportunity to apply for jobs exclusively on offer to course graduates (subject to final grades, references and employer recruitment processes)
4. Guaranteed, competitively-paid work placements whilst you study - the equivalent of up to £17,000 pro-rata
5. Access to the UK's first national Centre of Excellence for Food and Drink Engineering, providing exposure to cutting-edge technology and the latest developments
6. A fast-track engineering career, working towards Chartered Engineer (CEng) status, in the UK's largest manufacturing sector
7. Expertise in mechanical engineering, process systems design and much more - gaining the industry's most sought-after skills

Food and drink is the largest manufacturing sector in the UK and is home to some of the world's best-loved brands. It is estimated that the industry needs around 170,300 new recruits by 2020 to help it meet growing demand. Engineering, particularly mechanical engineering is vital in helping businesses increase manufacturing efficiency and is one of the most sought after skills in the industry.

Find out more about being an industry engineer and the MEng Food Engineering at: www.foodengineer.co.uk or join us on the degree Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/UKFoodEngineer

Dr Abhishek Asthana, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Maths at Sheffield Hallam University said:

“Highly-skilled mechanical engineers with knowledge of the food and drink industry are in huge demand. The MEng Food Engineering degree at Sheffield Hallam University has been designed to create engineers that are ready for roles in the industry the moment they graduate, helping the industry to grow and remain world-class. The fantastic brands that are supporting the course show just how committed companies are to supporting the next generation of engineers.”

Dean Miles, Engineering Projects Manager at Burton's Biscuit Company said:

“By studying the course and completing the work placements, you can gain an in-depth understanding of the different aspects of food manufacturing, the systems and processes involved and also make the transition of moving into a working food manufacturing site smoother.”

Laura Fuller, Graduate Engineer at Nestlé UK Ireland, said:

“I would definitely recommend doing a Food Engineering degree course; it allows more knowledge of how the food industry works as well as gaining a degree in engineering. This will mean you will be well prepared to work within the industry and there are many opportunities for graduate engineers to work within food throughout the UK.”

Notes to the Editor:

1. Link to the MEng Food Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University course page.
2. The MEng Food Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University has been developed by Graduate Excellence, a partnership between the Food and Drink Federation, the National Skills Academy for Food Drink and Sheffield Hallam University.
3. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is the voice of the food and drink industry – the UK's largest manufacturing sector.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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:

Rebecca Wilhelm on 07801 023 564 Email: Rebecca.Wilhelm@fdf.org.uk

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

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