A stack of chocolate bars sits on a table before being wrapped at the Mast Brothers Chocolate factory in the Brooklyn borough of New York July 8, 2010.
Dark Chocolate offers relief to the patients suffering from PAD. Reuters/stringer

Doctor of Chocolate - it would be a degree that fictional character Willy Wonka should pursue. In real life, the Cambridge University in UK announced on Monday the opening of such a graduate degree programme that would run for three and a half years, fully paid for.

Having a sweet tooth is not the only requirement for the degree but also an undergraduate degree in physics, chemistry or engineering. The ability to consume large amounts of chocolate bars is definitely not a prerequisite.

According to the university's Web site, the task of the doctor of chocolate is to study "the factors which allow chocolate, which has a melting point close to that of the human body, to remain solid and retain qualities sought by consumers when it is stored and sold in warm climates."

It also includes collaborative work with researchers who are considered experts in studying soft solid, including foods.

Interested applicants for internship have until Aug 29 to file their papers with Cambridge University's Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.

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