Scope: Food Science and Technology attracts students with a wide and flexible outlook, those for whom the pure sciences, engineering and other applied sciences appear restrictive. The undergraduate programme lasts for 4 – 5 years depending on entry qualification. In the normal five-year programme, the courses are grouped into stress areas as shown below
• General and introductory courses – are devoted to strengthening the basic sciences and a good appreciation of the arts and humanities. These are taken in the first and second academic years;
• Food Science courses – are introduced from the 2nd year of study and run through to the final year of study;
• Food Technology courses – are introduced from the 2nd year of study and also run up to the final year;
• Food Engineering and Processing – are introduced from the 3rd year of study and run up to final year of study;
• Technical writing course – is introduced in the first semester of 4th year of study to reinforce the ability of the students to read, write and interpret scientific papers and other related literature;
• Industrial Work Experience – The exposure of the students to food science and technology courses from 1st to 4th years of study is reinforced during the 2nd semester of the 4th year by a 6-month industrial attachment to food industries, food research stations, laboratories and related agencies to acquire industrial experience of real work situations. At the end of industrial attachment, each student submits a report and presents a seminar on his/her acquired experiences;
• Seminar in Food Science and Technology – This is undertaken in the final year to inculcate the skill of presentation of public discussions/seminars/conferences/workshops;
• Project Work – This is carried out in the final year. Each student carries out a specific laboratory investigation or research in any area of food science and technology, presents a seminar on the research and submits a project report based on the research findings.
The scope of the postgraduate programmes encompasses providing students with in-depth and up-to-date knowledge in the following seven specialized areas:
• Food chemistry and analysis;
• Animal products processing technology,
• Fruits and vegetable processing technology;
• Grains (cereals /legumes) processing technology;
• Food engineering and processing;
• Biotechnology; and
• Quality control.