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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. There are three routes you can select from to gain a master's award:

• MSc Food Processing Engineering - one year full time
• MSc Food Processing Engineering - two years part time
• MSc Food Processing Engineering (with Advanced Practice) - two years full time

The one-year programme is a great option if you want to gain a traditional MSc e two-year master’s degree with advanced practice enhances your qualification by adding a vocational or research based internship to the one-year master’s programme. A vocational internship is a great way to gain work experience and give your CV a competitive edge. A research internship provides you with the opportunity to develop your analytical, team-working, research and academic skills by working alongside a research team in an academic setting. We guarantee a research internship, but cannot guarantee a vocational internship. We will, however, provide you with practical support and advice on how to find and secure your own vocational internship position should you prefer this type of internship. Teesside University is highly praised for its links with local and national industries and businesses such as Marlow Foods (Quorn), SK Chilled Foods and Sainsbury’s. The University is committed to integrating with industry in the Tees Valley and has a record of producing employment-ready problem solvers and innovators.

How you are assessed

You are assessed on your subject knowledge, independent thought and new skills through formative and summative assessment.

Assessment may include:

• exams
• oral presentations
• technical interviews
• technical reports
• laboratory reports
• literature surveys, evaluations and summaries
• dissertation or thesis.

You are presented with an assessment schedule with details of your submission deadlines for summative assessments.

Your Advanced Practice module is assessed by an individual written reflective report (3,000 words) together with a study or workplace log, where appropriate, and through a poster presentation.

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.