Students and teachers

Students

 Name: Ena Soda

 Home country: Japan

I was very excited when I found this program because  the subjects I am interested in, Business and Food, are all in one program. This program gives wonderful opportunities to meet people with different backgrounds and nationalities, from all around the world. I believe this network will be helpful in the future.

One of the great things about taking a distance course is that I can study at my own schedule and everywhere with my laptop. Yet, whenever I have questions, I can easily reach teachers, facilitators and my classmates to get help by Skype, email or the Adobe Connect meeting system. I don’t feel like I am doing this program alone even though I am physically far away from everybody.

However, taking a distance program requires dedication and strong self-discipline. I am working full time in Japan and this distance learning program gives me a chance to study and keep my job at the same time.

 Name: Sofia Persson

 Home country: Sweden

I have studied food engineering at SLU in Skara and I got a mail with information about the program. I have always had further studies in mind so I found it very interesting and it fitted me perfectly so I decided to apply to the program. 

I have a great interest in product development and food. Programmes that combines these two are rare. Since I work full time and have my own family, it would be difficult for me to study at the University. It is good to be able to work independently and manage my own time. Still, I am in close contact with my classmates, who are scattered around the globe, and using Adobe connect is really awesome. Also the possibilities to discuss and have contact with teachers and other students in Fronter is a good way of working. It's fun to sit down in front of the computer and put on the head-set for a discussion with my classmates when I come home from work. Fun and interesting tasks have taken much time but at the same time I have learned a lot.

The main challenge with this program is to get enough time to study. I have the policy never to study during the weekend, because that time is for the family and children, and so far it has worked well. I hope to get a job at the Innovation Department at the company where I currently work. I could also consider starting my own business in the food sector, e.g. a farm dairy. I want to have a stimulating  and challenging  job and I believe the chances to obtain such a job increase significantly by taking this program.

 Name: Hamid Alizadeh

 Home country: Iran

Regarding the high potential in food marketing business in recent years, I was looking for a unique food education program to orientate and cover my business and my previous education in the field of international marketing with the field of food marketing and innovation. One of the current challenges of the food industry is to provide ecologically, economically and socially sustainable food products. Expert graduate students can solve these issues.

Now, I got the opportunity to study this program in one of the highly ranked universities in Europe. This program gives a scientific view on food marketing and innovation to students with different background, business or food.  We have made some Interesting study visits to top Swedish food manufacturers. The distance learning program gives me more flexibility to manage my job and study at the same time.

Taking courses online help me save time and minimize costs for transportation. Some of the challenges of distance studies are more self effort and online meetings with students from different countries with different local time. After graduation my goal is to Work as NPD Manager in one of the global food cooperations.

 Name: Erik Lidgren

 Home Country: Sweden

As I have previously studied the Food & Technology programme at SLU, I knew there were discussions about a new master's programme already before I finished my studies. For me it was not entirely clear to study at a distance, the most important thing was the content of the programme, with focus on product development. To study at a distance does not affect my life to the same extent as if I had to move. Now I can stay at a place where I enjoy living.

One of the great advantages of the programme is the international approach, to study together with people all over the world. The combination of distance studies and a few weeks physical  meetings creates a feeling that you belong to a class. It was wonderful to get to know my class mates during the introduction week. Now we all keep in contact over the Internet which makes us accustomed to communicate in this way. And it facilitates further contact with all, worldwide, after finishing the programme. The internet seminars have worked above expectation. I think so far it has been a very good level of the courses. I have learned a lot.

The main challenges in this programme is to be able to cooperate with everyone in a productive and convenient way to solve the group tasks together, it requires good planning. It is important to operate efficiently as time is limited for communication with your classmates. This means that you are forced to become more creative and take greater responsibility. I think you generally need to be more disciplined and accurate in order to achieve all new knowledge. The most important thing for me is to work with something I love doing, i.e. product development. Possibly I would like to develop my own company that fills a need on the market, that would be really exciting.