Food technologists from INRTU find a job in Africa

INRTU invites applicants to get a degree in "Food from vegetable raw materials" to become a food technologist. Bachelor graduates are wanted at enterprises producing bread, sweets and pasta, various types of beverages. Currently, recruitment is on for 12 scholarship places for full-time students and 6 places for part-time students. The degree includes the profile "Technology of edible plant raw materials processing ".

According to Elena Privalova, Associate Professor: Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology named after V.V. Tuturina , graduates are in high demand by employers. They work in companies producing wine, beer, liquor, soft drinks, yeast, bread, confectionery and pasta. Young specialists are responsible for the entire production chain from the acceptance of raw materials and supplementary materials to the release and sale of finished products.

The graduates are sought in laboratories for quality control and product safety, regulatory authorities and customs.


"Normaly, a graduate starts his career as an processing machine operator. A year or two later, he passes validation examination. As he grows professionally, he becomes a technologist. Our graduates work at enterprises in various regions, including the Irkutsk region, Leningrad and Voronezh regions, Moscow and St. Petersburg. The geography of applicants is also wide – applicants from Krasnoyarsk, Ulan-Ude, Blagoveshchensk and other cities enter INRTU.

After receiving a bachelor's degree, we offer to continue studying in master's and postgraduate studies. Among those who chose the path of a researcher and entrepreneur was Alyona Grishchenko (Nemchinova). She runs Oenologist LLC and is about to start teaching at INRTU", - Elena Privalova said.


Nurayim Sultankulova was accepted at the Irkutsk bakery plant after defending her diploma at INRTU. Vyacheslav Kharchenko got a job in a Novosibirsk company that produces soft drinks. Dmitry Okhlopkov got a job offer from a start-up brewery in Cheremkhovo.

Citizens of foreign countries also seek to get adegree of a food processor in INRTU. For example, Olivia Sophie Dunia from the Democratic Republic of the Congo ran experiments with spelt desserts and had internship at Baikal Heineken Brewery as a student.

One of the most successful graduates of recent years is Anton Koval. He entered INRTU in 2017, having a secondary special education as a pastry chef. While studying at INRTU, he conducted experiments on aging wine using electricity, became a prize-winner of the Baikal Global Startup Forum. After the first year, he completed an internship at the Yubileynaya Winery plant in Krasnodar region. In a month and a half, he mastered the fermentation technology , bottling and storaging wine, learned how to work on advanced equipment. The intern received a salary that covered the cost of air travel from Irkutsk to Krasnodar and back. Then he completed an internship in Novosibirsk and Moscow.

In 2021, Anton defended his diploma by valuating equipment for the producing beer of original varieties in a company in Moscow (supervisor – associate professor Elena Privalova). Soon he received a job offer from the company.

Anton admits that he applied the knowledge gained at the university at all the enterprises wh ere he worked. First of all, this concerns the idea of microbiology, processes and devices of chemical technology, production organisation.

About a year ago, he was invited to work on a shift basis at a brewery in the Central African Republic (CAR). Another INRTU graduate Stanislav Pchelnikov replaces Anton Koval on the shift.


"Now my duties include crushing malt, filtration, boiling and cooling wort, transferring it to fermentation. Last month, our company sold about 500 thousand liters of beer.

In the CAR we actually had to open a brewery "from scratch". Being engaged in the staffing and arrangement of equipment, I was looking for the necessary information in INRTU textbooks and my thesis. This summer I came to Irkutsk, visited my university and was very grateful to our teachers for their contribution to my experience and knowledge.",- Anton Koval said.