*Adam note: Really cool to have Colin describe his unique European experience in this guest blog post. What an opportunity!
1 Master’s Degree, 3 Universities.
An American’s Experience with Europe’s Nomadic Erasmus+ Graduate Education
Two years ago, I was staring down the impending question of what I was going to do after I graduated college. I knew what skillsets I had acquired by working as a professional chef and gained academic knowledge of food science and nutrition through my Bachelor’s studies. My dream was to get into food R&D or product development, however I felt I still might lack the the lateral knowledge required of such positions even with my unique background. It was here that I seriously started considering graduate school… until I saw the price tag.
It is an unfortunate truth that my generation takes on a larger financial obligation to obtain a higher education than previous ones, even when receiving multiple scholarships like I did. As an American who has been outside the country for almost two years, I noticed it is astonishing how accustomed we have become to saddling ourselves with student debt compared to every other country on earth. How we got here can be explained in much better depth in other sources, but I wanted to share the good news of the graduate program I have had the fortune of attending which is unlike any you have heard of, at a fraction of the costs found stateside, while still maintaining a wide depth of equivalent or even better curriculum.
FIPDes, or Food Innovation & Product Design is a two-year Master’s degree program accredited and organized by the European Union Erasmus+ program. Each year, around 25 people are chosen from a global pool of applicants whose food industry backgrounds are as diverse as their country of origin (mine had 14 different nationalities between 21 people). I was the only American selected in 2016 and I hope to increase those numbers by spreading the word about this incredible opportunity.
My FIPDes Class of 2018
Besides a diverse class, the biggest part of FIPDes is the fact that every semester takes place at a different university in a different European country. This level of exposure to other countries allowed us to appreciate the universality of the science of food and see its foundation built upon and interpreted through many different cultures. For example, on paper fermentation is a standard scientific principle, but a French yogurt factory and an Italian vineyard can create two very different products. As challenging as changing countries every six months might have been, I now I feel confident in my ability to relocate or operate professionally anywhere in the world my career might take me.
So what are the classes like each semester?
The courses were taught in English, but you would be surprised how much of a new language you can pick up by living in a new country for a few months. Before specializing which I will explain later, all classes were taken with the same group of classmates as well between the countries. Their respective backgrounds included everything from chemists to dairy scientists and food engineers. This created a given that the difficulty of certain academic concepts would be much easier for some and harder for others. The diversity found within the range of experiences from my peers allowed us to build off of each other’s abilities and provide assistance in any area someone might fall short in.
Scheme of the FIPDes Program
We began this adventure in Paris at AgroParisTech where we covered in detail key food science principles such as fermentation, microbiology, food safety and the structure/function relationships of food. In addition, we also had access to a pilot plant where we took courses in the essentials of food engineering and unit operations. We also had the opportunity to work collaboratively on emerging technology research projects with industry partners such as Yoplait and General Mills.
In the second semester, our class dispatched to Ireland where we attended the Dublin Institute of Technology. These courses encompassed the business, regulatory, innovation management and marketing functions of the food industry. In addition, we were also tasked with becoming entrepreneurs and creating a new innovative food product and developing it within the university kitchen labs to the point of being a turn-key new packaged food product which could be presented to interested investors.
For the third semester of the FIPDes program, students specialized their interests with the choices of either returning to Paris to dive deeper into unit operations, to Sweden at Lund University for logistics and packaging design, or to Italy at the University of Napoli Federico II for nutrition. I chose Italy, so I can only speak on that experience, but my peers have told me they enjoyed their various locations just as much. Prior coming to Italy I had already received a BSc. in Culinary Nutrition but what I learned here was still new and surprising because for a culture so steeped in traditional cuisine, they were actually on the forefront of nutritional research. The very professors which were publishing these ground breaking studies were also the ones which taught our classes. Specifically, the Mediterranean diet, functional foods and new weight management ingredients were given a firm scientific understanding which was a relief to the many overly hyped health products I have seen in that market space.
As required by the status of a scientific Master’s degree, the forth semester was dedicated to the creation of a Master’s thesis. From here my classmates divided further by conducting academic laboratory research at their third university choice like I did, commercialized their product created in Ireland, or took an internship within industry. In regards to my thesis, most of my prior professional experience occurred inside fine dining kitchens, so I was initially out of my element when I traded the chef coat for the lab coat. My experiences through FIPDes though, gave me the mental framework and ability to see the connections through the various scientific disciplines to succeed in the new environment.
So what’s the price for tuition?
€ 9,000/ year for two years for students outside the EU, half the price for those on the inside.
The European system of higher education in my experience puts a greater emphasis on assisting students whether they are international or not financially during higher education and I was fortunate that all of my tuition was covered through scholarships offered by the various universities attended or industry partners. This program is also supported financially by an arm of the EU commission which from my experience, allowed most accepted students to pay even less than half the tuition sticker price through their scholarships. In addition, students can even receive a living stipend to cover housing, travel and experiencing the many delicious European cuisines.
This program encompassed so much more than I can outline here and I feel it is fantastic opportunity that more people should know about for those seeking a genuine adventure after graduation which is also highly productive to one’s career. I now truly feel that I have obtained a functional understanding of the many moving parts of this fascinating industry.
For any students or employers interested in this program or my experience with it, do not hesitate to contact me via linkedin.com/in/millscolin or the FIPDes official website at http://www.fipdes.eu/
Disclaimer: FIPDes did not contact me to write this article and my opinions expressed are from my honest interpretation of my great experience with them.