Food Processing Engineering (with Advanced Practice), MSc

Course overview

This course is an ideal launchpad for graduates seeking careers in the thriving food and drink industry – an industry which is facing particularly acute skills shortages with excellent employability prospects for suitably skilled graduates. It adds an advanced practice module to our one-year master’s and is an opportunity to enhance your qualification by an internship, research or study abroad experience.

The food and drink sector is the largest manufacturing sector in the UK delivering 18% of the UK's total output by value. Tasked by government and the Food and Drink Federation with achieving 20% growth in productivity by 2020, the industry is developing innovative solutions to increase productivity, reduce waste and energy usage, and introducing more efficient manufacturing to reduce costs and drive competitive advantage. This course is suitable if you are a recent graduate or in employment and wanting to qualify to MSc level. The blended learning approach means that employers looking to upskill and retain their best employees can do so with minimum time off work.

Career opportunities

Food and drink manufacturing is vital to the UK economy. It is the single largest manufacturing sector in the UK, employing 15% of the entire manufacturing workforce. Food and drink manufacturing companies make up 7% of all manufacturing businesses, and they buy two thirds of all the UK’s agricultural produce. The industry generates 18% of total manufacturing turnover.

To meet the demands of this dynamic sector, the food industry needs to recruit more than 49,000 new skilled professionals and managers by 2022, which is great news for the next generation of talent wanting to study toward a rewarding career in a dynamic and highly innovative sector (The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink).

Graduates can seek jobs in many areas in the food sector including

• food analysis
• new product development
• quality management and food safety management
• food production management
• technical management.