Beet Sugar Process Schools

For more information, email director, Bill Gough
MIBST@bsdf-assbt.org

Purpose

The purpose is to instruct beet sugar company employees and other technologists in the fundamentals and beyond on factory processes, their application to factory operations and the details of the practical operations of the unit processes.  Since details of equipment and process vary from factory to factory, major emphasis will be given to the most commonly used equipment and practices, but some coverage will be given to other systems still in operation.  The courses are designed to make the student more valuable to the employer and to provide a greater potential for advancement.

Eligibility

There are no higher educational requirements for students.  By necessity, instructors will enter subject matter involving mathematical, engineering, physical and chemical subjects.  Students with little background in these subjects will find that the instructors will be fundamental where necessary and all will benefit.

Students are enrolled on the proposal of regular or associate member companies of the Beet Sugar Development Foundation.  The BSDF Board of Directors approved attendance of non-member company students on the following basis:  Each student must be sponsored by a member company; in addition to the normal tuition, a surcharge of $750 per student per session will be assessed.  Space will be allocated to member company students first.

Prospective students will submit the online registration.  

Beet End School 2023

Sugar End School 2023

Registration must be submitted by April 30, 2023.

Cancellation Policy

Beet End School – No enrollment changes will be permitted after May 12, 2023.  Any cancellation of any MIBST student enrollment received by May 12, 2023 for Beet End school, is fully refundable.  Cancellations received between May 13-26, 2023, will receive a 50% refund.  No refunds will be issued after May 27, 2023.

Sugar End School – No enrollment changes will be permitted after June 9, 2023.  Any cancellation of any MIBST student enrollment received by June 9, 2023 for Sugar End school, is fully refundable.  Cancellations received between June 10-30, 2023 will receive a 50% refund.  No refunds will be issued after July 1, 2023.

General Information

Unless other advance arrangements are made with the BSDF by the sponsoring company, all students will be housed at  Hilton Garden Inn – Fort Collins.  It is imperative to let us know by May 12, 2023 for Beet End and June 9, 2023 for Sugar End if a student has decided to not stay at this hotel.  We must inform the Hotel of the rooming list at that time.  Thank you for understanding the importance of keeping us informed.  Hotel check in will be on the Monday prior to the class starting on Tuesday and check out will be on the last Friday of class.  Classes will be held in classroom at the hotel.

Breakfast, for students only, is included in the school fee and is offered at the hotel.  In addition, the Graduation Banquet dinner, held on the second Thursday of Beet End and Sugar End schools, is also included.  Companies should provide students with an expense account for meals.  Reasonable meals are available at the hotel and in the nearby vicinity.  Please be aware that if a student chooses to bring their family, there will be an extra charge for breakfast or the graduation banquet that will need to be charged separately from the school fee.

Based on an estimated 30 students per session, the cost for room, instructors and miscellaneous items should not exceed $3,300.00.  Meals and transportation are not included in this figure.

The instructors will be paid a stipend for each day they teach, plus transportation and other reasonable costs for food and lodging while they are required to be in residence.

General Plan of Courses

The instructors will assume that most of the students have no advanced academic background.  They will pass from elementary to more advanced material in such a manner to keep the class in stride. 

Following the lecture, written examinations will be given the following day for most courses.  These exams, generally, will be true/false or multiple choice.  Upon completion of the exams, the instructor will discuss the answers with the students.  Graded examinations will be returned to the students. Emergency situations do arise and teh MIBST staff is flexible on making up assignments. The student must notify the director if they cannot attend a scheduled class. The director will work with teh student to arrange make-up options for the student. A Certificate of Completion will be given to the student only when all assignments/exams have been completed.   

The typical daily class schedule will be as follows:

All days, except the last Friday of the session, will begin at 8:00 am.

There will be two 15-minute breaks between 8 am and 12 noon.

Lunch will be from 12 noon till 1 pm.

There will be two 15-minute breaks from 1 pm to end of class day.

End of class will vary between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm, depending upon lecture length.

The session graduation banquet is on the last Thursday from 6 pm to 9 pm.

The final Friday of class will start at 7 am and close at 11 am.

We have recently introduced a student project to our schools, “Future Factory”.  This is a group project that allows students to meet individuals from other cooperatives, companies and regions, to share information and ideas and discuss lecture learnings to describe/diagram either a beet end or a sugar end for a “Future Factory.” On the last Thursday of the session, they will present their “factories” as a team to the rest of the class and to a panel of judges.

The long-used McGinnis text is out of print and has been replaced by the new Sugar Technology – Beet and Cane Sugar Manufacture.  This book will be provided at no extra cost to the student. Each student will be given a compendium of all instructors’ outlines and notes.  These have proven a valuable resource in forward years as a reference when encountering manufacturing situations and problems.

When making air travel arrangements, remember to allow sufficient time for the student to finish class participation on Friday.  We recommend that flights on Friday be scheduled no earlier than 3:00pm. The hotel is approximately one hour from Denver International Airport. There are multiple transportation options to the Hotel, including Car Rental, Uber, Lyft, Group Transportation, etc. There are car rental facilities in Fort Collins, CO if the students want to rent a car over the weekend. Students are required to stay until class lets out on Friday at 11am.

We look forward to seeing you in Fort Collins.

Bill Gough
Director – MISBT