New Courses to Boost Welsh Food Industry

Science graduates are being offered a stepping stone towards high-flying careers in the food and drink industry thanks to new courses being launched in Wales.

 

The Food Science and Technology conversion course at Masters level is being developed as a result of a partnership between the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), the University of Glamorgan, Aberystwyth University, Coleg Menai, Food Centre Wales and the food and drink sector skills council, Improve. The partnership attracted £250,000 of funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales to develop and run the new conversion course and other industry specific short courses.

 

The courses are aimed at boosting the flagging numbers of qualified food scientists working in Wales’ £9 billion food manufacturing industry. Wales is the first of the UK nations to introduce such a scheme in response to what is becoming a critical problem in all regions.

 

Research carried out by Improve has revealed that one in five employers in the sector in Wales are struggling to fill vacancies for food scientists, despite the top positions in the industry offering salaries of up to £65,000.

 

Huw Rees, Improve’s operations manager for Wales, said: “Food scientists and technologists are the people who invent new products and come up with faster, more efficient methods of production. They play a central role in food and drink manufacture, but with the current shortages, many companies are having to cover vital food safety and hygiene functions at the expense of new product development and innovation.

"For some, this means productivity and profitability is suffering. These courses will allow anyone with a degree in a science subject to achieve an accredited food science qualification in preparation for a career in the industry.”

 

The project will also involve working with the Food Industry to create a bursary scheme for food science-related degrees at Welsh universities. The newly-formed Wales Food Skills Strategy Group in charge of the scheme is also working on the development of short courses in specialist areas such as baking, confectionery and new product development.

 

Helen Taylor, who is leading the project at UWIC, said: “Food science and technology has been a neglected subject area in the past and that is now causing problems for the food industry.

 

“A lot of time and money is being invested in turning the situation around. The fact that we are working in such close collaboration with our fellow universities in Glamorgan, Aberystwyth and Bangor as well as colleges and FE institutions shows that there is a real desire to get this right all across Wales, and offer a timely boost to our food industry.”