Barcelona Food Institute to open for the 2021-2022 academic year

A complete professional training centre specialising in the food industry and based at Mercabarna.

olla, classe de cuina, Institut dels Aliments de Barcelona
25/02/2021 - 17:49 h - Education and studies Ajuntament de Barcelona

The Barcelona Food Institute will be set up in conjunction with the Education Consortium and Mercabarna, with the latter to grant the use of various spaces such as the Food Trade Centre and the classrooms at the Occupational Training Centre in the food park.

Work to condition the spaces at the new centre anticipate the supply of materials for a preparation floor, a store facility, a tasting room and a lab, with a budget of 200,000 euros to come from the Department for Education.

Following a successful model

The Barcelona Food Institute is not the first education centre to be geared towards a specific professional sector. Other projects which began this trend in the city include the Bonanova Institute, in the Parc Salut Mar, specialising in health, the Barcelona Technology Institute and the Barcelona Sports Institute.

The model brings together the talent of teaching staff and students in one place and offers a clear dialogue with companies.

Mercabarna to offer a wide range of training opportunities

The new institute will opt for a dual professional training model, with students combining class time with company placements from day one. The institute will have 27 teachers and offer 375 vocational training places initially, on top of the 225 occupational training places currently offered at the Mercabarna Training Centre.

Training will be in cycles currently provided at other centres:

  • From the family of food industries at the Barcelona Hotel and Tourism School
    • One higher degree cycle
    • Three degree cycles
    • Three training and insertion programmes
  • One higher degree cycle in dietetics and nutrition within the realm of health, by the Institut Guineueta
  • One degree cycle in commercial activity, by the Institut Poblenou

The creation of the Barcelona Food Institute at Mercabarna offers a chance to establish ties with over 600 companies. It also opens up the possibility of signing training agreements with work centres and dual training facilities, of fostering research and development projects and of creating ties with universities etc.

World sustainable food capital

The centre comes in the same year that Barcelona is the world sustainable food capital. The institute will thus have a particular focus on new trends in the food sector and sustainable food, highlighting the role of cities in developing suitable food systems for health, the economy and the ecosystem.

L’Institut dels Aliments de Barcelona mercabarna, biomarket .. ..