ALIGNING ACADEMIA CURRICULA TO INDUSTRY NEEDS: THE CASE OF ORGANIC FOOD PROCESSING COURSE

1. ALIGNING ACADEMIA CURRICULA TO INDUSTRY NEEDS: THE CASE OF ORGANIC FOOD PROCESSING COURSE Maite Cháfer1, Chelo Gonzalez1 1Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain), Instituto de Ingeniería de Alimentos para el Desarrollo. mtchafer@tal.upv.es

2. INTRODUCTION Spain is the first European country in the production of organic fresh food, mainly fruits and vegetables. Nevertheless, the level of industrialization of this kind of raw material is still not enough developed, mainly due to the lack of specialized training and specific research in this field. Thus, more training and research is needed in this area to contribute to the successful development of this sector in our country.

3. OBJECTIVE The aims of this work were (1) to design the contents of a new master course named “Organic food processing” more adapted to industry needs and (2) to analyse the satisfaction level of student obtained during the first year of teaching (academic year 2013-2014)

4. METHODOLOGY-contents’ design of course • The course contents have been organized taking into account the following principles: • To address the FUNDAMENTAL THEORETICAL CONTENTS about organic certification such as: market, legislation, raw materials production, food processing, use of additives and packaging. This will represent a 40% of course time. • To strengthen these contents with PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES. This will represent a 60% of course time. For this, have been designed the following practical contents: • Laboratory sessions about the quality control of organic products from a chosen industry • Practical works in groups on a specific type of industry to implement contents from lectures. • Seminars with experts from organic production, industry and others (from counseling, promotion and certification agencies) • And visits to the related food industries

5. METHODOLOGY-evaluation • The course evaluation system were: • 2 tests for theoretical content, which punctuate a 60% of the final score. • Assistance and delivery of reports for laboratory sessions, rated with a 10% of the final note. • Other practical activities: represents a 30% of the total mark.

6. METHODOLOGY-survey Short surveys were carried out to evaluate and assess the degree of student’s acceptance and satisfaction with the contents. The participation of students in this survey is anonymous and voluntary. The students are asked to answer affirmatively or negatively to the following items: • Previous students’ knowledge from organic certification: generalities and particularities about food processing; if these knowledge have been acquired in or outside university. • Satisfaction with experts’ participation from organic food: industry, quality and certification. • Knowledge acquired about organic production and applicability to the labor market.

7. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-survey Previous students’ knowledge Results obtained showed that a 60% of students had previous knowledge about general aspect from organic production but only a 20% about organic food processing. This knowledge had been mainly acquired outside the university.

8. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-survey Satisfaction with experts’ participation All students valued participation of chosen experts, proceeding from industry, quality control and certification agencies to be adequate, necessary and very interesting.

9. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-survey Knowledge acquired Most of students agree that the practical and theoretical and practical contents of the course have improved their knowledge about organic processing. These contents have great applicability and this could help them to have more and better job.

10. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-evaluation Ratings • In the first edition of the course, around 93% of the enrolled students obtained a mark higher than 7 (out of 10), and the 43%, over 9; thus being a good indicator of the degree of learning achieved by the students.

11. CONCLUSIONS Results showed that the student perceived the content and structure of course as new and necessary at the university. Moreover the students assessed positively the need to connect the university contents with real market situation and the food industry. In general, students appreciate that the course can improve their competencies and abilities to find a job.

12. Thankyouforyouratention! mtchafer@tal.upv.es