English Track Program

© Universität Münster

You are an exchange student from anywhere in the world and struggle when attending modules in German? You are a German student who wants to participate in international biological discourse? No matter who you are or where you are from, the English Track Program at the University of Münster offers you great opportunities to enhance your skills by providing study courses during your Master of Science studies that are exclusively presented in the main discourse language of sciences. If this sounds appealing to you, you may refer to the rest of this page to receive more information on the program, as well as the implications and rewards that come with it. We are looking forward to welcoming you to the program!

  • The English Track

    What is the English Track?

    The English Track program is part of the university's agenda to enhance its international status by offering foreign students studying at the University of Münster, via ERASMUS or other institutions, the opportunity to attend a wide range of courses held exclusively in English. While other courses, such as the research modules, are already performed in English for the most part, the department now introduces many more Advanced Modules that are singularly conducted in English. As these are mandatory but selectable, English-only modules are essential for non-German speaking students.

    The change is not only noticeable for foreign students, though. Native learners may also profit from attending the program, as it aims to improve the technical language skills of students by enabling them to understand and implement technical terms in the English language. By doing so, it allows all the students to partake in international discourse regarding Biology, as well as prepare them for future job opportunities, for example with companies, but also with work groups that are based abroad and many more institutions that use English as their main interactional language. This is the case in many working groups of the biology department with highly international staff. Here, English is the daily basis for scientific interactions in the lab. Moreover, scientific literature is published in English, thus skills of the English language are mandatory for the comprehension of scientific context.     

    What has Changed?

    Firstly, while there had already been many Advanced Modules (AM) that were fully comprehensible in the English language, the department of Biology has decided that other AM's are to be added to the list of solely English speaking AM's that were previously taught in German. Secondly, the supply of AM's is further expanded by two newly appointed lecturers: Prof. Dr. Nicolas Rohner from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City and Prof. Dr. Sabrina Büttner, who previously taught molecular cell biology at the University of Stockholm. With the two of them offering new AM's, as well as other lecturers expanding their program to teach in English, the department of Biology is set to establish a more multifaceted environment. In addition, lectures from internationally renowned guest professors are planned for students completing the English Track program, but also for other students attending courses at the faculty. 

  • General Information on the Master of Science Biosciences

    In order to receive your “Master of Science” degree, you need to gain a total of 120 ECTS-credit points by attending multiple different courses throughout your study program. The courses that you need to visit at the beginning of your studies are the “Advanced Modules” (AM, in German FGM), which grant a total of 5 ECTS-credit points per module. The curricular guidelines dictate that you register for six of these modules. The modules are organized as a block, each lasting four weeks. These can range from being laboratory courses to working free-range. For further information, please have a look at the starting page for the M.Sc. Biosciences.

    Secondly, two research modules need to be performed. Each of them will be acknowledged with 10 ECTS-credit points. The department offers a wide variety of different modules to choose from, all of them being intertwined with and supervised by the working group (AG) that researches in that particular field. The research modules are typically already supervised solely in English.

    10 more ECTS-credit points are obtained from doing a “Project Management Module”. These, however, are not offered in English. Please refer to the main page of the MSc. Biosciences for more information.

    The remaining 60 ECTS-credit points are all acquired during the master’s phase. This includes writing the master’s thesis and the disputation (42 ECTS-credit points), the module “Methodical and Organisational Basics of Experimental Life Sciences” (8 ECTS-credit points), as well as the “Current State of Research” (10 ECTS-credit points) module.

  • Who can Participate?

    While the introduction of the English Track program is primarily intended to strengthen the skills of students enrolled in the M.Sc. Biosciences, students who attend other study programs such as Biotechnology, Biomedicine and Water Sciences etc., are also welcome. Please note that if you attend any other study program except for the M.Sc. Biosciences, you need to choose Advanced Modules corresponding to your study program.

    Moreover, it does not matter whether you are native or foreign; the English Track program allows for equal interactional opportunities. 

  • Advanced - and Research Modules

    Advanced Modules

    Below, you can find the Advanced Modules that are offered entirely in English. For more information on specific modules, please refer to the curricular guidelines or the module handbook. 

    Winter Term Bornberg-Bauer Biocomputing / Bioinformatics
    Winter Term Bornberg-Bauer Evolutionary Protein Engineering #
    Winter Term Busch Drug effects on mitochondria
    Summer Term Busch Mitochondrial function in health, aging and neurodegenerative diseases and drug effects
    Winter Term Büttner Cellular aging and organelle connectivity *
    Winter Term  Czuppon The growth of the evolutionary thought
    Summer Term Czuppon Advanced statistical methods for biological data analysis
    Summer Term Czuppon Modeling of biological systems
    Winter Term Dammhahn International excursion: behaviour, ecology, and diversity of wildlife
    Summer Term Dammhahn Concepts and current topics in behavioural ecology
    Winter Term Finkemeier Protein interactions and quantitative mass spectrometry
    Winter Term  Gadau Concepts and current topics in behavioural ecology
    Summer Term Grashoff FRET-FLIM analysis of living cells #
    Winter Term Hippler Ciliary structure, motion and function#
    Summer Term Kemena-Rinke Computational analysis of transcriptomes and proteomes
    Winter Term Kurtz Host-parasite coevolution
    Summer Term Kurtz Mediterranean fauna
    Summer Term Luschnig Introduction to modern microscopy and image analysis #
    Summer Term Müller Plant evolutionary genomics #
    Winter Term Philipp Microbial interspecies interactions #
    Summer Term Philipp Microbial degradation of toxic compounds: metabolic pathways, resistance mechanisms and biofilm formation #
    Winter & Summer Term Prüfer Genome editing in plants
    Winter Term  Püschel Live cell imaging methods for the analysis of cellular processes #
    Winter Term Rohner Adaptations to extreme environment *
    Winter & Summer Term Schmid iGEM - international genetically engineered machine competition
    Winter Term Schmid Fermentative production of biotechnological products #
    Winter Term Schrader Molecular evolutionary biology of social insects
    Summer Term  Schwarzländer Advanced biosensing
    Winter Term von Schaewen Molecular plant physiology

    *- Modules that are completely new

    #- Modules that were previously held in German

    Apart from the aforementioned AM's, other faculties such as the Faculty of Medicine also offer AM's that can be attended by students at the Faculty of Biology. For more detailed information, please have a look at the website of the Faculty of Medicine. 

     

    Building a Profile

    If you are interested in specialising your studies in certain biological disciplines, the English Track's offer of Advanced Modules allows you to build a profile in one of our five Special Study Programs (SSP). In order for you to do this, you need to choose courses corresponding to the SSP that you want to participate in. Out of the six AM's that you need to choose for the program, at least 50% have to be allocated to one of the SSP's for you to be able to put it into one profile. If done so, the SSP that you built your profile around will be acknowledged in the certificate that you receive once you finish the program. If you are interested, please have a look at the homepages of the SSP's. 

    SSP Bioanalytics and Biochemistry: SSP Bioanalytics and Biochemistry 

    SSP Evolution: SSP Evolution

    SSP iMoPLANT: SSP iMoPLANT

    SSP Neuroscience and Behaviour: SSP Neuroscience and Behaviour

    SSP Quantitative Cell Biology: SSP Quantitative Cell Biology

  • CMS (SAP SLcM)

    During the semester, you will need to register for the courses you attend, as well as for the examinations that you will participate in. 

    In order to register, please follow this link: CMS

    For the deadlines, please refer to the information handed out by the examination office. For more current information, please click here.

  • Acknowledgment of Completion

    Upon obtaining the required 30 ECTS-credit points from the aforementioned Advanced Modules, you will be rewarded with a certificate, proving your fluency in international biological discourse and your attendance at English-only courses at the University of Münster, which may be included in future applications to increase your opportunities. This however is only obtained when all the 30 ECTS-credit points you receive from completing the AM's or Research Modules are earned within the AM's and RM's that belong to the English Track program. 

    If at least 50% of the ECTS-credit points you gained throughout the English Track Program are allocated to one specific Special Study Program (SSP), the SSP the modules belonged to will be mentioned on your certificate.

    Once everything can be proven via your transcript of records, please contact Vanessa Rüttler in order to receive your individualized certificate. 

  • ERASMUS

    If you are from a country located within the European Union and you want to continue your studies abroad, you may apply for financial support via ERASMUS. More information can be found here. If any uncertainties still occur, please talk to our counselor for ERASMUS related matters. 

  • FAQ

    1. About the English Track

  • About Münster

    Münster, also known as the “bicycle city” is a remarkable landmark at the very north of north rhine-westphalia. From here, you have easy access to all the major cities within the federal state such as Cologne and Düsseldorf, but you are also not too far away from other federal states such as lower saxony, with Osnabrück being about 40 minutes by train. Not only that but because of its far western location, a quick drive to the Netherlands is also well within reach for an afternoon plan.

    However, fancy tours to other cities around Münster are not really necessary, as Münster itself has lots to offer. From the zoo and science museum, over the beautiful sceneries of the Aasee (Lake Aa) and the Dortmund-Ems-Canal all the way to the old town in the heart of the city, where all the students meet to study and hang out, Münster has got it all.

    The main attraction of the city is, of course, its university. With well over 45.000 students currently attending, it is within the top five biggest universities in Germany. Many faculties, including the department of Biology, offer wide varieties of study programs for students to explore and excel in.

    It is important that there is a fair amount of possible focus areas for your studies, as well as up-to-date institutes so that you can conduct the research that you plan on doing. The University of Münster can provide you with both.