With the rising popularity of processed food among consumers in recent years, it is not surprising that the food and beverage manufacturing industry comprises a significant portion of the economy today. The food industry in Singapore itself is also growing tremendously, proven by the regional growth of local brands such as Yeo Hiap Seng and Gardenia as well as the influx of multi-national corporations (MNCs) like Nestlé and Cadbury's into the country. This proves that there has been a dramatic increase in the demand for well qualified food specialists.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) offers the only degree course in Singapore for the major Food Science and Technology (FST) (NUS: Food Science and Technology Programme – Director’s Message). The NUS-FST Programme is expected to provide competent and knowledgeable graduates for the developing local food industry. However, even though knowledge in the multi-disciplinary sciences is important for food technologists, many employers strongly emphasize on the need of well-developed communication skills, be it verbal or written, as well as the ability to work collaboratively.
In fact, with the shift to the knowledge-based economy, employers from most industries across the world seek graduates with strong communication skills. According to a report by the National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and America's Promise, more than 70 percent of employers highlight the importance of acquiring teamwork skills in diverse groups as well as proficiency in written and oral communication (2007). Similarly, a survey carried out by Dr. William Koh from the Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning (CDTL) of NUS showed that employers ranked teamwork and interpersonal skills among the top five abilities that graduate employees should possess (2000).
The food manufacturing industry consists of various sectors, which include product development, quality assurance and quality control. Our research specifically focuses on the communication skills required within the product development sector. Depending on the size of the food company, the main duties of a food technologist include product development, quality control and improvement of preservation and transport processes. Food technologists who work in the product development sector are responsible for developing new products and improving existing company products for local and overseas markets. The food technologist then provides technical assistance to the quality control and commercial (such as procurement, sales and customer services as well as marketing and distribution) teams, involving close cooperation between all these departments. Such collaboration is necessary to formulate and establish product design and performance objectives that suit the demands and requirements of the customers. Additionally, the food technologist is required to liaise with suppliers of raw materials to ensure the consistency and safety of the food products right from the raw material stage (Black, F. 2008).
Firstly, food technologists should possess good written communication skills, in particular reports and proposals. This is because they are required to write technical reports, cost estimates of the product design and document their work progress during product development. Besides, writing proposals are necessary for food technologists to propose their plans of developing new products and to convince their superiors the need to improve the existing products. Secondly, it is vital that food technologists have good oral communication skills to introduce their ideas in layman’s terms effectively to their counterparts at the commercial side who may not be familiar with the technical terms. Finally, with so much cooperation involved between various departments, food technologists should acquire good interpersonal skills in order to maintain healthy working relationships with their colleagues. Therefore, it is evident that on top of possessing a degree qualification in the relevant field, food technologists are required to be "team players with good communication skills". This is demonstrated by the list of job requirements by Fraser and Neave (Singapore) Pte Ltd for food product development personnel (2007).
There are three modules offered by the Centre for English Language Communication (CELC) of NUS to students in the Faculty of Science. They are SP1202: Communicating with the Academy, SP1203: Foundation in Effective Communication and ES2007S: Professional Communication. SP1203: Foundation in Effective Communication is specifically designed for Pharmacy undergraduates, and thus is unavailable for FST students. SP1202: Communicating with the Academy aims to help students improve their writing skills related to academic scientific texts and develop their critical and analytical skills. On the contrary, the main objective of ES2007S: Professional Communication is to help students communicate effectively – either in oral or written form – in various social settings, particularly in the workplace. In any case, none of these two modules are made compulsory for the graduation of FST undergraduates.
On the contrary, the food science undergraduates of the University of Surrey (UniS) – the leading university in the United Kingdom for Food Science – are required to undertake two compulsory Key Skills modules during their first two years in university. The goal of these Key Skills modules is to help students develop a better understanding on effective ways to communicate, to work with others, to solve problems and to learn. The soft skills that are addressed in these two modules include communication skills and collaborative working skills. Under the communication skills component, students have to demonstrate the ability to produce various written materials and deliver oral presentations. Alternatively, group discussions, group projects and close interaction with external contacts (eg. lecturers, employers and students from different courses) are part of the coursework under the collaborative working skills component (University of Surrey: SBMS Current Undergraduates – Key Skills in Your Degree Programme, 2006).
However, analysing from another perspective, the NUS-FST Programme makes it an essential graduation requirement for every FST undergraduate to complete the Professional Placement Programme (PPP), which entails the students to work in institutions in the food industry for a minimum period of 16 weeks. This programme aims to introduce the students to the working world as well as to improve their interpersonal skills. In contrast, the food science programme in UniS gives undergraduates the option to undertake professional training with leading food companies for the whole of their third year.
In our interview with NUS Senior Lecturer of the FST Programme Dr. Leong Lai Peng, she opined that FST undergraduates are sufficiently equipped with communication competence from the NUS curriculum. This is because students are given the opportunity to work in teams during projects and to gain proficiency in oral and written communication via oral presentations and report writing assignments. Also, Dr. Leong was of the view that undergraduates improve their communication skills considerably during their PPP in third year. However the question remains, is this really enough for employers?
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