Program Objectives    Program Outcomes    Structure    Curriculum    

Program Objectives

The department identified the following educational objectives for the undergraduate program:

1.   Educate students to effectively practice their profession by providing a
comprehensive education in applications and fundamentals of food engineering.
2.   Prepare its students to compete in the 21st century’s technological developments by providing them with professional and personal skills and abilities appropriate for food engineering profession.
3.   Educate and train students to obtain knowledge and skills to analyze and design by considering the effects of food engineering practices on health, environment, and social aspects.
4.   Encourage students to be aware of continuous professional improvement and life long learning.

Program Outcomes

The program outcomes were established based on program educational objectives.  All graduates receiving the Bachelor of Science degree in Food Engineering at ITU are expected to have:

(a)  An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science and engineering
(b) An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data
(c) An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs
(d) An ability to function on  multi-disciplinary teams
(e) An ability to identify, formulate and solve engineering problems
(f)  An understanding of professional and ethical responsibilities
(g) An ability to communicate effectively
(h) Understanding the impact of engineering solutions in a global/societal context
(i)  A recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in life-long learning
(j)  A knowledge of contemporary issues
(k) An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice
(l)  An ability to read, speak and write English when practicing food engineering profession.

Curriculum

The curriculum builds a solid foundation in math, basic science and engineering, and culminates in a major design experience that relies on knowledge and skills developed in previous coursework.

The Food Engineering curriculum contains about one year of math and basic sciences.  The students are required to enroll two semesters of Calculus and Physics, and one semester of General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry in the first year of their engineering education.  A laboratory component is built into Physics, General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. These basic courses are followed by courses of Differential Equations and Analytical Chemistry and Instrumental Analysis which also includes laboratory component in the second year of curriculum.  The third year of curriculum involves restricted elective courses of basic sciences such as Biology, Biochemistry, Physical Chemistry, Molecular Biology, Linear Algebra, and Numerical Methods and a core course Statistics and Probability.

Engineering courses are taken every semester except for the 8th semester.  Three engineering courses common to other engineering disciplines are required: Technical Drawing, Introduction to Computer and Information Systems and Introduction to Science and Engineering Computing. The required series of engineering science courses include Mass and Energy Balances, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Mass Transfer, Process Control and restricted electives such as Static and Strength of Materials, Total Quality Management, Engineering Mechanics, Materials Science, and Essentials of Electricity and Electronics. 

The students begin learning basic concepts of design in the 5th semester of the curriculum. Food Engineering Unit Operations I intends to develop knowledge to design and evaluate the food engineering unit operations including size reduction, mixing and separation operations.  Food Engineering Unit Operations II integrates principles learned in thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer, and fluid mechanics into the design of food engineering unit operations such as thermal processing, aseptic processing, dehydration, freezing, and extraction. Food Engineering Laboratory also provides a design experience on various food engineering unit operations (e.g., microwave heating, membrane separations, centrifugation, milling-sieving, drying, solid-liquid extraction) in laboratory. 

The final course in the senior design sequence is GID402, the capstone course of the curriculum.  Students work in teams and are required to develop a detailed plant design.  Teams prepare a progress report and then a final report at the end of semester.  In addition, each team presents their project orally.

The technical component of curriculum is supported with other departmental courses in the following sequence: Introduction To Food Science & Technology, Food Chemistry I and II, Microbiology, Food Microbiology I & II, Food Microbiology Laboratory, Food Technology, Food Quality Control, and Graduation Project. The department offers 8 technical elective courses (Technical Electives).

General education course requirements are intended to provide a broad and diverse experience that harmonizes the technical portion of the curriculum.  The general education requirements include Economy, English and communication skills, Turkish and History courses, and humanities and society courses (Non-technical free electives).

The codes having the letter  "E"  indicates that the course language is English.

 Food Engineering Department,  Istanbul Technical University, 34469 Maslak - Istanbul, TURKEY
 food@itu.edu.tr