Kicking off in September, the new Food and Drink Leadership Programme at TU Dublin is aimed at industry professionals who want to climb the hospitality ladder

TU Dublin’s School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology recently launched its new part-time blended Postgraduate Diploma in Global Food and Drink Leadership. Developed in collaboration with industry, the new programme covers a range of areas that will help drive the sector’s continued recovery. “We actually started developing the programme a couple of years before the pandemic hit. Back then, we had decided it would be a blended programme, part campus-based and part online, which was a fairly unique concept before Covid. To flesh out the programme and ensure content was reflective of the needs of the sector, an industry steering panel engaged with us and were instrumental in guiding content for the course. So it’s very much a programme for the hospitality industry, developed by the hospitality industry,” said Dr Brian Murphy, Senior Lecturer at the School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology.

The programme is ideal for people already working in the industry who may not have undergone undergraduate training. “It will not only suit candidates who already have food focused qualifications but also those who may currently engage with the sector in other ways. For example, those working in areas like HR, marketing, finance or support services who might be keen to broaden their food and drink specific knowledge and perspective through a course of study like this. It’s a programme that’s ideal for people who want to upskill in modern leadership for sustainability, food and beverage innovation management, along with current issues in the global food and beverage sector. If you look at the modules, they’re very much geared around enhancing people’s awareness of the sector on the global level.”

The new programme is extremely varied and includes a mix of sensory, networking, expert speaker and off-campus gastronomic experiences as part of the module delivery. The ‘Food and Drink Innovation’ module lets students use the wide range of facilities available at the new Grangegorman campus while other modules such as ‘Gastronomic Engagement’ provide opportunities for students to network with different parts of the food and drink sector beyond the confines of the lecture hall. Facilities at the Grangegorman campus include 11 training kitchens, including a product development kitchen. two training restaurants, a food processing kitchen, a training bar, a 150 seater demonstration kitchen, a culinary shop where produce from the kitchens is sold and a wine sensory lab.

For employers, the programme could be a way of attracting and retaining new staff. “It presents employers with an incentive to offer existing or potential new staff. Research shows that employees in the hospitality industry aren’t just after pay increases anymore. They want to avail of training programmes to progress their career and offering those type of programmes means you’ve got a better chance of hanging onto valuable staff members. It’s something that hospitality businesses are really going to have to invest in if we’re to attract staff into the industry.”

Starting in September 2022, the course runs over three 12-week semesters, with a work/life-balance-friendly blend of online and on-campus delivery. Interest so far has been good, says Brian. “We’ll probably take on 16 entrants to the course and we’ll continue to raise awareness about it over the summer months. We also recently got validated for an add-on Masters so once participants complete the Diploma, they will be entitled to advanced entry onto an MSc in Gobal Food and Drink Leadership. So, there are huge opportunities associated with the Diploma.”

Applications for the Postgraduate Diploma in Global Food and Drink Leadership are now open. For further details contact programme chair Dr Brian Murphy at [email protected] or visit https://www.tudublin.ie/study/postgraduate/courses/global-food-drink-leadership/

  

The Details

What is… Global Food and Drink Leadership?

The Postgraduate Diploma in Global Food and Drink Leadership is an innovative course that fosters participants’ understanding of the food and drink sector and provides a leadership perspective on key issues facing the industry. This course is delivered in a blended way through on-campus and online engagement. It has been developed by an experienced academic team and industry experts with a strong food and drink background and aims to foster in participants a deeper understanding of the sector that will help advance their future business career in the food and drink industry.

Minimum Entry Requirements

An NFQ Level 8 undergraduate degree or equivalent classification (2.2 or higher) in a relevant discipline or an NFQ Level 7 undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline together with significant industrial or academic experience. Candidates who do not reach the minimum academic requirements but who can demonstrate sufficient sectoral knowledge and experience may be considered for entry to the course. Candidates may be required to attend for an admission interview.

If English is not your first language you will need to provide evidence of your English language proficiency as detailed on our website. Applicants for this course should have a minimum IELTS (Academic Version) English Proficiency of 7 overall (or equivalent) with nothing less than 6 in each component.

Course Content

The course is delivered part-time over 18 months and encompasses important thematic areas such as leadership, food policy, sustainability, food media and new product development. It is delivered over three consecutive semesters. There are three single-semester modules and two of the modules are delivered across two semesters.

Semester 1

Integrated Food and Drink Innovation

Food Discourse in the Media

Semester 2

Integrated Food and Drink Innovation

Integrated Food and Drink Leadership

Gastronomic Engagement

Semester 3

Integrated Food and Drink Leadership

Global Food Policy and Culture

Schedule

As this is a blended programme participants will alternate weekly between one day of face to face attendance at TU Dublin’s City Campus in Grangegorman and one day of online learning the following week. The course is scheduled to take place on Thursdays.

Progression

On successful completion of the Postgraduate Diploma, students will have the opportunity, if they wish, to undertake a supervised research thesis. Successful completion of their thesis will enable students to graduate with an Add on MSc in Global Food and Drink Leadership. Fees for the Add on MSc are not included in the programme fees for the Postgraduate Diploma.