One of the few degree courses to offer places to all qualified applicants, food process engineering in UCC is undoubtedly undervalued by school-leavers as it affords excellent career prospects. A relatively new degree, there have been two cohorts of graduates, last year and this summer.

Dr Kevin Cronin, a lecturer on the course, says that graduates who wished to enter employment directly had no difficulty securing jobs. About 90 per cent of graduates went straight into jobs while the rest continued studies at postgraduate level.

Average annual starting salaries this year were in the region of £17,000, again reflecting the buoyant economy. The minimum salary was about £14,000, while a few students secured more than £20,000 in their first year.

Cronin says that the food industry is "by far the biggest indigenous industry. It's also the most stable. It should interest students with higher-level maths who may be thinking of engineering and who would like to work in an industry which is dispersed throughout Ireland.

"It's an industry that is increasingly technical and will have a continuing demand for qualified engineers. Employment prospects are not cyclical."

It's a big industry which is here to stay and is quite diverse, offering a huge range of jobs, he adds. "It's an interesting and challenging career."

Maria Curran, who graduated from UCC this summer, found work with Kerrygold in Britain as a project engineer. She is responsible for "the specification, purchase and commissioning of new plant and processing machinery; updating and analysing the engineering maintenance system to ensure sufficient stocks of spare parts; year 2000 compliance of all production and engineering service equipment; co-ordination of service and maintenance contracts as well as condition monitoring and production efficiency."

Martin O'Sullivan, another graduate, says that the "experience provided by the university in working with various items of equipment in the lab experiments and in the final year project is of benefit in the workplace. Also the work placement between third and fourth years has benefits for the student, the summer employer and the full-time employer." He now works as a project engineer with Proctor and Gamble, manufacturers of Oil of Ulay and other cosmetics in Nenagh, Co Tipperary.

Fellow graduate Carol Keohane recommends the course "as suitable for someone who is challenged by a problem-solving work environment and who has an interest in working in the food industry."

The course is very close to a chemical engineering degree, notes Cronin. Students may find work outside the food industry in areas such as the pharmaceutical or healthcare sectors where there is a similar emphasis on hygiene.

Students spend four years in UCC. First year is a standard science year including maths, applied maths, physics, chemistry and biology. In second year, students are introduced to the engineering sciences such as thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. Food chemistry, food microbiology and food technology are also studied.

In third year, students begin the mainstream chemical engineering subjects such as process control, heat transfer and mass transfer, explains Cronin.

"Every time you manufacture food you produce waste," he says. "Now, industries are working with EPA licences so waste management is increasingly important - environmental engineering, water purity, waste water . . ."

The industrial placement has been increased to six months from the present three and takes place between third and fourth year. Some students go abroad. For instance, UCC students have gone to work with Pepsi in the United States, in chocolate factories in the Czech republic and in breweries in Greece.

This allows them to see theory put into practice and improves their business and communication skills. Students take accounting and a foreign language during the degree. In fourth year, the emphasis is on designing food plants and processes.