Master of Science in Biology

The Master in Biology has a far-reaching impact on numerous areas within science and society. The research domain of biology itself is very broad, and covers the entire spectrum of life, its diversity and its formation at all the different organisation levels, ranging from a cell and ecosystem to the level of the biosphere. Current topics and challenges such as protection of endangered species, global change, nature management, sustainability, cloning of organisms, dangerous diseases and medical progress all have their roots in biology. Biology also contributes to numerous conceptual innovations that lead towards new disciplines such as molecular biology and biotechnology. Biology is an exciting and ever-evolving field of study thanks to its close interaction with a broad range of other disciplines such as chemistry, physics, informatics, Earth and environmental sciences.

The two-year Master's programme (120 credits) contains the following components:

• 20 credits worth of general course units;

• 40 credits worth of major course units;

• 30 credits worth of elective and focus course units;

• 30 credits worth of Master's dissertation.

The general course units prepare students for making an informed choice of major course units and their Master's dissertation.

In the first year of the Master's programme students choose one of three possible majors:

• Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology
• Global Change Ecology
• Functional biology

Their choice of major allows students to deepen their knowledge of one of the research areas in which Ghent University has expertise, or to continue with a profound training in education.

Students are stimulated to take elective courses from the existing majors, and can choose specific focus courses:

• Bio-inspired Innovation and Sustainability
• Marine Biology
• Professional skills & Internationalisation

Students write their Master’s dissertation on a topic related to their choice of major. Most Master’s dissertations dovetail with current national or international (research) projects. However, the Master’s dissertation can also exploit the results of specific projects or it can even have a prospective character regarding future projects.

Biology graduates can be professionally active in quite a broad spectrum of jobs. One important sector is scientific research at universities or other scientific research institutes, but they can also apply their research skills within an industrial context, at companies with research and development as their core business. Their professional choice can also be more education-oriented, both at secondary or higher education level, but also indirectly in counselling or managerial positions within the government.

Over the last couple of decades, the biologist's job profile has become quite versatile, with new perspectives being offered by more applied research in an industrial context. The term industry must be interpreted broadly here, ranging from ecological engineering, biotech and food technology, to the pharmaceutical and biomedical industry. Overall, the labour market is looking for more scientifically trained people, with a multitude of possible specifications. Many biologists are also professionally active in production, quality control, sustainability and sales (e.g. biology or research related products), but also their statistical skills are highly valued. Our graduates can thus also apply their computing and statistical data analysis skills in several fields of the labour market.