Students who have received grants will have an opportunity to work in Pienas LT milk processing facility which is currently under construction in Kaunas Free Economic Zone (FEZ).
KTU Rector Petras Barsauskas said that financial support will encourage students not only to plan careers in the dairy industry but also to participate in research, thus developing knowledge and skills.
Two bachelor's degree students from the Faculty of Chemical Technology and from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics will be awarded LTL 800 (EUR 230) grants. While two master's degree students from the Department of Food Technology and from the Department of Mechatronics will be awarded LTL 1,000 (EUR 290) grants.
"By providing grants we seek to develop employees for the plant built in Kaunas FEZ, as there is a lack of qualified specialists in certain fields," said Head of Administration of Pienas LT Justinas Milusauskas.
The agricultural cooperative inquired what professionals study at universities, unfortunately, higher education institutions currently are not preparing specialists needed for the dairy processing plant. However, KTU has laboratories needed for quality studies, where students are able to gain knowledge on quality control under the guidance of highly qualified lecturers.
The students which were awarded grants will also be able to choose topics related to dairy industry as their thesis.
In addition, Pienas LT technicians with ordinary education will be responsible for quality control of milk and milk powder composition. Meanwhile, KTU graduates will be responsible for more complex areas requiring special knowledge – microfiltration and ultrafiltration. They will verify whether products meets certain requirements.
Agricultural cooperative Pienas LT will launch its facility in Kaunas FEZ in late 2014. It expects to export all of its production, mostly to Western countries.
