For the next nine weeks the six graduates will be trained in dairy manufacturing by the experts at many of Australia’s large and medium sized dairy manufacturing factories.
The group is excited at the prospect of gaining an insight into the industry through three to five day placements at Murray Goulburn, Fonterra, Parmalat, Bega Cheese, Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, Lion Foods Division and La Casa Del Fromaggio.
In 2011, more than 65% of the trained graduates ended up with jobs with the dairy manufacturing companies within a few months of completing the training. Dairy Australia programme manager product innovation Dr Mani Iyer said the scholarship was aimed at attracting talented and passionate graduates, following a Dairy Australia study in 2010 which found there was a lack of new graduates entering the industry.
Iyer said there were a large number of applications and the judging panel had a challenging task to choose the six winners based on their academic excellence, work experience and communication skills. Overall, the winners of the scholarship selected are talented, committed and passionate graduates keen to be part of our industry.
“This is an exciting programme for the scholarship winners who are trained over two months by dairy experts in the field and it covers theory, practical and commercial aspects. It is a chance of a lifetime for the winners and a great way for the industry to grow its manufacturing workforce with the best talent available.”
The scholarship involves a comprehensive training program at the National Centre for Dairy Education Australia (NCDEA) in Werribee which covers dairy chemistry, microbiology and the processing of milk into products such as milk powder, butter, market milk and cheese. The participants will also spend three to five hours at DemoDairy research farm in south west Victoria and Kraft Foods, Port Melbourne.
Source: Dairy Australia
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