About the programme

The Biology course at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) includes three graduation options. Each of these allows you to specialise in your research field of interest, while a broad range of electives provide the opportunity to maintain and develop a multidisciplinary scope.

Biology is by nature a multifaceted science. Today’s biologists face a growing number of research challenges, such as the link between global change and the ongoing biodiversity crisis, or the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria. The Biology programme is offered by Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).

Such topics require integrative approaches, combining elements from different scientific domains.

3 graduation options, 3 ways to start your scientific career

• Ecology & Biodiversity
• Molecular & Cellular Life Sciences
• Erasmus Mundus Masters Course in Tropical Biodiversity & Ecosystems

Graduation option 1: Ecology and Biodiversity

This option allows students to gain experience in the research methods used to study the ecology, evolution and conservation of organisms found in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.

There are 3 possible tracks within this graduation option with different sets of recommended elective courses.

• Track: Ecology and Evolution
• Track: Global Change
• Track: Herpetology

Students are free to diverge from these tracks. Youcan mix and match courses from the different tracks, to assemble your own programme!

Graduation option 2: Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences

This option introduces students to the study of animal and plant development, microbiology, cell signaling pathways, cancer biology, stem cell biology, human biology, virology and immunology. Courses of this profile span multiple levels of biological organisation, from whole organisms down to the molecular level.

Graduation option 3: Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems

TROPIMUNDO is an EC-funded and excellence-labeled Erasmus Mundus Masters Course in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems. We bring together top institutes and universities, with long-standing worldwide expertise in tropical rainforests and woodlands and in tropical coastal ecosystems. Students can focus on botany, zoology and integrative ecosystem approaches in institutions worldwide in two Master years, of which an entire semester is spent in the tropics.

Options:

• Biology: Ecology and Biodiversity (incl. tracks in Ecology & Evolution, Global Change or Herpetology)
• Biology: Molecular and Cellular Life sciences
• Biology: Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree Tropimundo, start at Brussels