INTRODUCTION TO FACULTY OF FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The FST was established in 2001 from the Department of Biochemistry-Preservation and processing of agricultural products. The faculty is currently divided into 5 departments with a total of 40 staff (29 lecturers, 7 technicians and 4 assistants). The faculty has 6 Associate Professor, 15 Doctors, and 8 Masters. All lecturers are graduated from well-known oversea universities, such as universities in Belgium, Australia, France, Austria, and Korea, etc.

* Organizational structure

Vision

FST is striving to become one of leading organizations in terms of training and research in Vietnam, capable of solving problems in food science and post-harvest technology according to international standards and connecting the Vietnamese food industry with global food industry.

Mission

The mission of the FST is to provide high-quality human resources with professional skills, ethics and responsibility to protect consumers’ right and environment; conduct research and transfer technology to meet the needs of the society in food technology and post-harvest technology; and promote the country's socio-economic development and international integration.

Educational Philosopgy

Learning by Doing

Education

The FST offers three Bachelor programs, named Food Technology, Post-harvest technology, and Food Technology and Business, and two master programs (food technology, postharvest technology). Beside, FST has been cooperating with Belgium universities to train master program in food technology taught in English, and joining in PhD training program in food science with Leuven university.

The FST has educated 3032 graduates and 249 masters to date. Thirty-nine masters have graduated from Food Technology program which is in cooperation between the FST and Belgium universities.

Research

The FST’s lecturers are leaders or members of some specialized research groups conducting research and development projects, and publishing research articles in international and domestic journals. From 2016  until now, the FST have implemented 77 international projects, 56 projects at national and ministerial levels, 21 provincial projects, and 48 university projects. There were 35 research articles published on international journals (ISI/Scopus) and 161 articles published in Vietnamese scientific journals. Many research results have been developed into products and distributed to the industry. Different products from the FST such as candy, juice, functional food, tea, wine, beer, and vinegar were commercialized and populated on the market. The research results of academic staff have always been used in improving education quality via students’ projects, students’ research, and graduation thesis. In addition, the FST has organized a variety of training courses for food enterprises and agricultural cooperatives.

International cooperation

Along with research, cooperation with domestic and international organizations is also prioritized in the faculty’s long-term development plan. In recent years, the FST has cooperated with many universities and research institutions, and joined into different projects, specifically:

- Regarding the development of education programs and the enhancement of the quality of the human resources: PFS project on “Master program in Food Technology”, an inter-universities program between VNUA and Liege university, Belgium; VIBE project entitled “Developing the Undergraduate Program for Food Science and Business Management with Cork University, Ireland”; HRD project “Development of human resource for food industry via food value chain training courses and job fairs for students”; ASIFOOD project “Universities as key partners for the new challenges regarding food safety and quality”; an ERASMUS MUNDUS project (Alfabet, Erasmus+);  FAO project “Strengthening capacities for nutrition – sensitive food systems through a multi-stakeholder approach (involving private sector, civil society organizations and academia”. From these projects, the staff of the FST have had the opportunities to receive training and enhance their knowledge and skills via short training courses at well-known universities in Japan, and Thailand Belgium, France, Austria, Italia, Ireland, etc and many training courses organized at VNUA with speakers from foreign universities. Notably, a Bachelor Program in Food Technology and Business was developed with support from Cork University, Ireland via VIBE project and started the first recruitment in 20217.

- Regarding scientific research: The FST has joined in a range of research projects on food technology, post-harvest technology, and food biotechnology with different prestigious universities such as KU Leuven, UCL (Belgium) and BOKU (Austria), Cutin (Australia).

Moreover, the FST is also a member of VB foodnet (Vietnam and Belgium Universities Food network) and ASEAN uninet (Asian and European Universities network). Besides that, student exchange between the FST and universities in France, Austria, Belgium, Japan, Korea, Thailand, ... is also a prioritized activity of the faculty.