Student testimonial
There is still so much left to learn about my passion
Student Food Technology
Prior Education: Food Technology Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences
Prior Education
Towards the end of high school parents want to know what future plans their children have. When my parents asked me this, I told them that I wanted to become more knowledgable in and do something with my passion for food. With that attitude I started my Bachelor’s Food Technology at Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences in Leeuwaarden after graduating high school. My time a Van Hall was an educational one. The training to become Food Technologist fit my interest. It studied food in a practical, scientific way and was focussed on quality requirements of the consumer. Towards the end of my Bachelor’s I did not know what I wanted to do next. I only got the idea to do follow-up training after a specialist in the field showed me what the added value of a Master’s degree was as opposed to a Bachelor’s degree only. Also, he showed me that there was still so much left to learn about my passion: food. My time at Van Hall gave me a great basis, but my hunger for knowledge was not taken care of yet: I wanted to know more.
Experience
In the field of Food Technology Wageningen UR is one of the most well known institutions. This was my reason for choosing the Master’s Food Technology, with the specialisation Product Development at Wageningen UR. Another advantage of making this choice was that doing a pre-Master’s was unnecessary. The first days of the program were tough, thirty different nationalities in each different class and a very high pace. I did not mind the fact that everything was in English, however it did take a while before I had translated the Dutch concepts from my Bachelor’s. It was the first time that I had come into contact with so many different nationalities and I enjoyed the diversity.
The lab work at Wageningen UR was a real challenge. During the practicals I enhanced my skills in the lab thanks to many peers and supervisors who helped out where necessary. At the moment I am writing my thesis about the stability of multi-emulsions in which I am using all my done up knowledge and experience from my Bachelor’s and Master’s. It is fantastic to be able to accept such a challenge and I have not had a single regret about my choice to do follow-up training.