Master of Science in Bioscience Engineering: Cell and Gene Biotechnology
Bioengineers specialising in cell and gene biotechnology are capable of directing biological processes at DNA, protein, organism or ecosystem level, and of using their engineering mindset to put that knowledge into practice for industry and society.
What
Our programme's objective is to train scientists into becoming responsible and professional bioengineers, at once able to work in multidisciplinary teams and equipped with creative concept problem-solving skills, a solid basis for an engineering mindset in cell- and gene biotechnology and knowledge of tools and methods in molecular biology, bioinformatics and biotechnology of humans, animals, plants and micro-organisms and their applications. The emphasis is on the exploitation of the living cell, industrial applications of genetic modification and molecular diagnostics. Bioengineers specialised in cell and gene biotechnology are capable of directing biological processes at DNA, protein, organism or ecosystem level and of using their engineering mindset to put that knowledge into practice for industry and society. The professional field is very broad and includes the production, analysis and application of enhanced biological processes, organisms, or systems to manufacture products intended to improve the quality of human life.
For whom
The admission requirements vary. Depending on your prior education, you are either able to enrol directly, or there are additional requirements.
Structure
The foundation of the curriculum is an in-depth fundamental and practical knowledge regarding the biological, biochemical and molecular aspects of humans, animals, plants and microorganisms, including its applications to solve complex problems. This is further complemented by technological, process and engineering-oriented course units, which enable the (industrial) upscaling (e.g. through cell and tissue cultures, bioreactors or mass cultivation) and subsequent harvesting, purification and formulation into economically viable products, taking into account ecological and ethical aspects. To this end, the curriculum also contains management skills. A quantitative approach to the fundamental and technological aspects based on biological data sciences takes centre stage. Our solid and multidisciplinary training makes for Cell and Gene Biotechnology graduates who are proficient in the biotechnology and bioscience engineering of animals, plants, the human body and micro-organisms to solve scientific and societal challenges in multidisciplinary teams.
The explosive growth of biotechnology has on the one hand resulted in a high variety of employment possibilities in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, agricultural, and food and feed sectors, and to an increasing demand for specialised academics on the other. Our study programme addresses this need by giving future bioengineers with a specialisation in cell and gene biotechnology a broad basic training (general courses), complemented with a specialisation by means of an elective major. Each major consists of a fixed set of electives in a specific discipline:
- Biomedical Biotechnology
- Plant Biotechnology
- Industrial Biotechnology
The Faculty of Bioscience Engineering is highly international. As such it is a hub for coming into contact with students and cultures from all over the world. Additionally, there are several ways to gain experience abroad: you can e.g. participate in an exchange programme during the Master’s programme. A work placement abroad is also one of the possibilities. In addition, you can go abroad for a period of time as part of your Master’s dissertation. For programme-specific information, please visit https://www.ugent.be/bw/nl/voor-studenten/buitenland (Dutch only).
Labour Market
The Master of Science in Bioscience Engineering: Cell and Gene Biotechnology programme offers a solid preparation for a managerial career in research and product development. Possible application areas are industrial fermentation processes, environmental remediation, food, fine chemicals, human health, plant cultivation, animal husbandry, pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry, which also reflect possible professional profiles. In addition to different sectors of industry, a bioengineer specialised in cell and gene biotechnology also frequently finds employment in the research and/or education sector at universities, research institutes, government institutes and the R&D departments of big companies.
Find out where our graduates work (Dutch only) and take a look at our alumni’s highly diverse profiles.
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
- Knowledge Creation: our study programme encourages students to creatively, purposefully, innovatively and responsibly apply the acquired knowledge of molecular biology and biotechnology in the development of new academic concepts and appliances (diagnostics, process and product development).
- Multiperspectivism: our study programme has a systematic approach, studying the subject matter from multiple perspectives, without losing the holistic and quantitative aspects. Our main focus is the use of the living cell, the organism or the molecular components, the industrial and research-related applications of gene targeting, and molecular diagnostics. This enables solving scientific and social challenges in multidisciplinary teams in a sustainable manner, by using thorough knowledge of molecular biology and biotechnology.
- Talent Development: Students have a great freedom of choice compiling their curriculum according to their own interests. We offer three majors specializing in a specific domain of cell and gene biotechnology: red biotechnology focuses on humans and animals, green biotechnology on plants and white biotechnology on microorganisms. The study programme contains room for work placement, international exchange or training in entrepreneurship. A Cell and Gene Biotechnology graduate is highly versatile, has specialized themselves sufficiently in the cell and gene biotechnology, and is able to manage a multitude of tasks and can set priorities.
- Independent thinking: We train our students to be critical professionals with a strong analytical sense. They can function autonomously in a wide scale of sectors and industrial functions, in research and development, within government policy, and development cooperation. An attitude of lifelong learning and science-based reasoning in a multidisciplinary context is taught through the principle of actively learning during tutorials, projects, and in the Master's dissertation.
-
Application-oriented: Graduates view the study programme as concrete, tangible and socially relevant. The study programme refers to current events and ongoing research. By means of guest speakers or company visits, tutorials, and projects, the programme illustrates how the theoretical knowledge is connected to concrete applications. During the Master's dissertation, it is possible to conduct personal research within a broader research project with an industrial or social finality.
Strengths
- Good preparation: The Master of Science in Bioengineering: Cell and Gene Biotechnology draws on the Bachelor's programme of Science in Bioengineering: Cell and Gene Biotechnology. During the Bachelor's programme, students are being well prepared for the Master's programme. Students with a different preliminary training are able to enrol in a modified preparatory programme of 60 ECTS credits, focusing on acquiring the required starting competencies. This approach ensures high success rates (and a high number of these students enrolling in the Master's programme).
- Motivated team of lecturers: our study programme's staff consists of committed lecturers from various disciplines. Our lecturers combine their passion for education with international research expertise, which is among the world's best (Ghent University is ranked 23th worldwide according to Shanghai Biotechnology ranking 2020.
- Room for ‘integrated’ education:The study programme is designed in such a way that it approaches the learning contents from multiple perspectives. We aim for education with an integrated approach and a multidisciplinary and unique character that mirrors the professional field. Both students and lecturers are encouraged to combine the knowledge acquired in different course units.
- Approachability: The teaching staff guarantees frequent personal communication with the students. This ensures a good flow of information on education quality outside of the formal study programme feedback.
- Strong Faculty Education Support Office: The Faculty Education Support Office has a team that supports the Programme Committee and continuously raises awareness of quality assurance among lecturers. Regularly offering faculty workshops on specific quality assurance topics, the exchange of ‘best practices’ between lecturers, etc. encourage a ‘quality culture’ in education.
Challenges
- Communication skills: We want to focus more on developing social and communication skills across the study programme. We want to achieve this through a ‘scientific communication’ learning pathway that is being developed on faculty level for all bioengineering study programmes. Its goal is to offer our Bachelor's and Master's students a modular blended learning system on collecting, reading, processing, writing, and presenting scientific information.
-
Feedback and peer review:Students indicate the feedback on papers, group projects and presentations may vary depending on the lecturer. We want to focus more on formative assessment and interim feedback. We want to accomplish this by the following:
- Continuously raising awareness and providing lecturers with tips and tricks on feedback and peer review. For the Master's dissertation in particular, supervisors will be encouraged to introduce mock presentations and interim feedback.
- Using peer assessment for group projects, enabling students to assess the quality of their own performance (self-assessment), but also their peers’ performances (peer assessment). This does not assess the ‘content’ of the project, but the ‘soft skills’ (curiosity and interest, initiative, leadership, stress management, punctuality, etc.).
- Internationalization: Although 15% of the Master's students enjoy an experience abroad through (Erasmus) exchange and our Master's programme also contains a number of (elective) course units that are also attended by international students, the perception of the added value of ‘internationalization’ is insufficient. Extra effort will be taken to encourage internationalization. Examples of this include facilitating exchanges by means of offering standard learning tracks at partner institutions, improving the coaching of the administrative process, but also by stimulating internationalization@home initiatives. Furthermore, the possibility of switching from a partial to a full English-language curriculum is being explored.
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organization of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.
This information was last updated on 01/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.