The visit included a factory tour and an engineering challenge for A-Level and foundation year students from Sheffield Hallam University, Abbey Gate College in Chester, and King Edward VI High School who had previously expressed interest in careers in food and drink supported by BEng and MEng Food Engineering.
The event, supported by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), also included a talk by a Sheffield Hallam University representative about the food engineering courses on offer.
Inspire the next generation
CCE hoped to entice the next generation of potential food and drink manufacturing and engineering workers by inviting them into its factories, its education programme manager Gina Solimeno claimed.
“We work hard to demonstrate the variety of opportunities available across the sector, and through days such as this, our education programmes provide valuable insight into our business and the wider industry,” she said.
Food and drink skills gap
- 109,000 new recruits by 2022
- Number of engineers rose from 1,711 to 7,535 between Aug 2011 to Dec 2012
- MEng Food Engineering degree launched
- Part of strategy to boost industry by 20% by 2020
“By opening our factory doors we hope to inspire students to show them the future possibilities within food and drink businesses such as ours.”
Two pupils on the visit were singled out for their enthusiasm, creativity and contribution to the workshop.
Winners
Dan Larby, from King Edward VI High School, and Will Littlewood, from Abbey Gate College, have both won a special tour of CCE’s Wakefield facility and lunch with a senior engineer, in addition to an Amazon Kindle.
The winning group from King Edward VI High School and Sheffield Hallam University were selected for their unique and dynamic approach to the task, and received exclusive CCE careers materials.
The FDF said company-run workshops like this gave young people a first-hand taste of the highly-skilled, well-paid career opportunities in food and drink manufacturing.
“Many of the UK’s most dynamic and best loved brands support the Bachelors and Masters in a range of Food Engineering degrees on offer at Sheffield Hallam University, offering guaranteed paid summer placements, industry mentoring and guest lecturers from industry leaders,” FDF’s director of competitiveness Angela Coleshill said.