Germany: TUM Weihenstephan to offer certified master brewer course in English

From next year on the Technical University of Munich with its outpost in Weihenstephan, 30 kilometers north of the city, will offer its traditional certified master brewer course also in English. It is planned that, beginning with the next winter semester 2021/2022, the lectures for the 7-semester course will be held in an English-language course in addition to the already existing German-language course. This will open this education to even more international students, seeking a high-profile education at the oldest university of its kind.

“The certified master brewer is a traditional and popular course,” says Prof. Thomas Becker, head of the chair for brewing and beverage technology and dean of the TUM School of Life Sciences in Freising-Weihenstephan.

The flexible course concept “gives students a lot of leeway to develop their own interests and yet guarantees graduates at an academically sound level. As part of the future concept, the areas of business administration, microbiology, hygiene and cleaning have now been expanded,” says Becker.

The certified master brewer is the interface between production and the engineering level in a food-producing company. “That distinguishes it from a Bachelor / Master course, in which one takes up a classic engineering degree,” explains Roman Werner, research assistant at the Chair for Brewing and Beverage Technology.

At the beginning of the course, an apprenticeship as a brewer or maltster must be completed, but this can also be replaced by a two-semester internship. Classic everyday university life with lectures and seminars does not begin until the third semester. There the necessary scientific and technical basics are laid, which are elementary for a deeper understanding of brewing technology or the technical areas in a brewery. As part of the future concept, the areas of microbiology, hygiene and cleaning have now also been expanded in the course.

The biggest realignment is in the elective module area. The previous catalog of elections has been expanded to include many more modules and divided into four large thematic blocks. All students choose at least two compulsory modules from the “Advanced Brewing Technology” area. "On the other hand, students can choose freely from the other three available areas – ‘International Brewing’ , ‘Business Administration and Operations Planning’ and ‘Quality Management’ and specialize accordingly," adds Werner.

The master brewer degree course is a university course and corresponds to the training level of Bachelor or diploma course of a university of applied sciences (‘Fachhoschschule_). Admission to the course is possible with a subject-related higher education entrance qualification. After finishing the certified master brewer qualification can acquire the bachelor’s degree in brewing and beverage technology at an university level directly within two semesters, followed by the master’s degree. "In this way, the academic path up to a doctorate is possible even without a general university entrance qualification (‘Abitur’)," explains Werner.

 

Graduates often work in quality assurance, industrial engineering or purchasing raw materials, for example as production managers, production controllers or technical directors. In addition to the beer and beverage industry, they are also in demand in the food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

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