Food Engineering is a field of significant global importance and has developed quite rapidly in various directions, particularly in the areas of quality control (chemical, microbiological, physical and sensory), control of manufacturing processes (production lines, formulations and optimisation, auxiliary equipment and design), quality management (certification of management, health and safety and environmental systems, accreditation of laboratories) and the development of new food products.

This degree is spread across three Higher Education Institutions (HEI): ESTG (IPViana do Castelo), ESTM (IPLeiria) and ESA (IPBragança).

In the first and second semesters, the course runs simultaneously at all three institutions. In the third, fourth and fifth semesters all of the students will attend the ESTG (IPVC), ESTM (IPLeiria) and ESA (IPB) respectively. In the sixth semester the students return to their home institution. In this semester, in addition to interacting with the local business community in the development of a product or a process, students work on an engineering project that should enable them to incorporate all their expertise in Food Engineering.

The curriculum structure is based on the Project Based Learning (PBL) methodology, which involves active participation in learning. In the first and second semesters, the aim is to provide students with basic scientific and technical preparation, with basic sciences applied to engineering being taught in the first semester and laboratory training in food analysis in the second semester. In the third, fourth and fifth semesters, teaching input is based on processing technologies and food quality analysis specific to each of the HEI. The sixth semester, which is taught at the three institutions simultaneously, will enable students to develop projects, products or services with an impact on each of the HEI regions, potentially in partnership with companies in the sector.

The aim of this curricular structure is to organise the students’ activities in stages, from basic technical preparation to technical specialisation and ending with the ability to design.