SFT presents 19 freshly graduated feed production engineers

It was a happy day at the Swiss Institute of Feed Technology (SFT): Of the 22 men and one woman who started the 31st SFT Diploma Course in the spring of 2012, 19 successfully completed their training in feed milling technology.

The road to success was not easy. Ernst Nef, the Director of the SFT, says that the students had to walk a “long and winding road” before reaching their goal.

Nef was happy to report that with Céline Clément (Agroscope-Liebefeld-Poisseaux ALP, Switzerland), a lady had once again finished the course: “This proves that the manufacture of formulated feeds has ceased to be solely the business of men.”

Reaching the top
Nef expressed his admiration for the students’ decision to go back to school: “By making this far-reaching decision, you took up a challenge that you have now successfully met. Today, you have reached the top,” he said during the presentation of the diplomas.

It has become a tradition at the SFT graduation ceremony to distinguish the graduate who has achieved the highest grade. This year, the best in class was Ahmed Hassan Chaudhry of Asia Poultry Feeds Pvl. Ltd. in Pakistan, who received a commemorative plaque.

Marco Baumann, Head of the Bühler Feed market segment, congratulated him on his outstanding average grade of 5.85 out of six points, the highest ever achieved since the SFT was set up in 1979.

New concept
This year’s Specialist Course in Feed Manufacturing Technology was for the first time based on a new concept.

The course is still made up of a Preparatory Correspondence Course and an Intensive Course held in Uzwil. What has changed is its duration and agenda.

With the declared intention of reducing the students’ absence from their workplaces without affecting the course agenda, the entire course was divided into two blocks.

This means that the students attended one first four-week Intensive Course block in the spring, followed by a second of the same duration in October.

Prior to both blocks, the students had to deal with the subject matter of each block in a roughly 14-week Preparatory Course. In all, they had to work through 21 subjects, in which they were then thoroughly tested.

They had to pass no less than 14 written examinations in the course of the two Intensive Course blocks.

The climax and completion of each individual block was finally the two oral tests in the core subjects in front of a panel of experts.

Continued education
The SFT is a not-for-profit association that is recognised by the Swiss Feed Manufacturers Association (VSF) as an institution of training and continuing education. Bühler, the international Technology Group, is the partner of the SFT. A total of 495 students from 65 countries have so far successfully completed the Specialist Course in Feed Manufacturing Technology.