{"title":"Bridging the academia-industry gap in the food sector through collaborative courses and internships","authors":"M.L. Castelló , C. Barrera , L. Seguí","doi":"10.1016/j.ece.2022.11.003","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Experience is an important requirement to apply for a qualified job. While employers need to find workers with the required skills, education institutions must design curricula which provide the skills demanded by the job market. Besides, along their careers, workers need to make good choices on continuing education courses. Current Bachelor and Master degrees follow programs which attempt to offer a practical perspective, but still from the academia point of view. To bridge the gap between academia and industry, University Extension Diploma in Food Technology (DEUTA) deepens into the Food sector seeking professional capacitation of participants. This is achieved by both first-hand know-how of food sector professionals and academics, along with an internship period in a food company. This paper reports the experience for more than fifteen years of this Diploma. Curriculum, students background, food sectors where internships are taken, student’s opinion on the course management as well as on issues related to employability, development of professional skills and life-long learning are discussed. The analysis demonstrates how collaborative courses strengthen academia-industry bonds, and employability is boosted thanks to internships and the network created. This experience may be extrapolated to many sectors other than food, such as the chemical, environmental or biotechnological, and may help lecturers and institutions organize similar courses or diplomas to prepare competent and efficient technical workers, as well as help students and professionals orient their training and continuing education choices.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48509,"journal":{"name":"Education for Chemical Engineers","volume":"42 ","pages":"Pages 33-43"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Education for Chemical Engineers","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S174977282200029X","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Experience is an important requirement to apply for a qualified job. While employers need to find workers with the required skills, education institutions must design curricula which provide the skills demanded by the job market. Besides, along their careers, workers need to make good choices on continuing education courses. Current Bachelor and Master degrees follow programs which attempt to offer a practical perspective, but still from the academia point of view. To bridge the gap between academia and industry, University Extension Diploma in Food Technology (DEUTA) deepens into the Food sector seeking professional capacitation of participants. This is achieved by both first-hand know-how of food sector professionals and academics, along with an internship period in a food company. This paper reports the experience for more than fifteen years of this Diploma. Curriculum, students background, food sectors where internships are taken, student’s opinion on the course management as well as on issues related to employability, development of professional skills and life-long learning are discussed. The analysis demonstrates how collaborative courses strengthen academia-industry bonds, and employability is boosted thanks to internships and the network created. This experience may be extrapolated to many sectors other than food, such as the chemical, environmental or biotechnological, and may help lecturers and institutions organize similar courses or diplomas to prepare competent and efficient technical workers, as well as help students and professionals orient their training and continuing education choices.
期刊介绍:
Education for Chemical Engineers was launched in 2006 with a remit to publisheducation research papers, resource reviews and teaching and learning notes. ECE is targeted at chemical engineering academics and educators, discussing the ongoingchanges and development in chemical engineering education. This international title publishes papers from around the world, creating a global network of chemical engineering academics. Papers demonstrating how educational research results can be applied to chemical engineering education are particularly welcome, as are the accounts of research work that brings new perspectives to established principles, highlighting unsolved problems or indicating direction for future research relevant to chemical engineering education. Core topic areas: -Assessment- Accreditation- Curriculum development and transformation- Design- Diversity- Distance education-- E-learning Entrepreneurship programs- Industry-academic linkages- Benchmarking- Lifelong learning- Multidisciplinary programs- Outreach from kindergarten to high school programs- Student recruitment and retention and transition programs- New technology- Problem-based learning- Social responsibility and professionalism- Teamwork- Web-based learning