Curriculum outline

1. The Master’s degrees aim to:

• Provide the acquisition of specialised knowledge, skills and insight in (parts of) the life sciences, and enable achievement of the exit qualifications referred to in the second clause below;
• Prepare the student for a career in for example research, regulation, management, and/or communication in the life sciences.

2. The successful Life Sciences graduate:
A. Knowledge and insights

• will be able, with the knowledge of at least one of the specialised subjects of Life Sciences, to make a substantial contribution to the development and/or application of scientific concepts and methods, by all means in a research context;
• will be able to overview the important, recent developments within the Life Sciences and to point out the implications of these developments on the Life Sciences field and society;
• will be able to adequately use and interpret specialist literature in at least one of the subjects of Life Sciences.

B. Apply knowledge and insights

• will be able to translate a Life Sciences problem into a relevant research question or approach, suitable for research development, product development, education or society;
• will be able to design a suitable research plan to test the formulated research questions, according to methodological and scientific standards;
• will be able to independently perform research, with the required accuracy. Graduates are able to handle, analyse, interpret and evaluate the empirically derived data in a correct manner.

C. Judgement

• will be able to discuss the outcomes of empirical research and to link them with scientific theories;
• will be able to indicate the importance of research activities for solving a biomedical question or problem, if applicable from a societal perspective;
• will be able to critically reflect on their own research work in Life Sciences, from a societal perspective.

D. Communication

• will be able to comprehensibly report research results verbally and in writing, to specialised and non-specialised audiences in an international context;
• will function effectively in a multidisciplinary research team.

E. Learning skills

• will have the skills to reflect on their own development and study career, and, if necessary, to motivate themselves and make any necessary adjustments;
• will have the skills to function independently and result-oriented in a competitive labour market;
• will have the qualification to be eligible for a PhD position or a position in another sector of the labour market.