Study programme - BSc Marine Sciences
The bachelor's programme Marine Sciences is an English-taught three-year programme, and includes 180 ECTS credits (60 credits per year). The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) is an international system in which each credit represents around 28 hours of study. The Wageningen University & Research academic year is divided into six teaching periods. Usually the first six weeks of each period are devoted to classes and practicums; the seventh week is for private study, to prepare for the exams that are given in week 8. Students take two subjects per teaching period.
The structure and content of the bachelor's Marine Sciences is as follows:
Year 1
The first year focuses on understanding and analysis of marine systems worldwide. You will have courses on (marine) ecology, politics & governance, global water systems & climate change and marine life, but you also learn the basics of doing interdisciplinary research. Together with fellow students, you conduct a field project in the Dutch Wadden Sea and North Sea in which you integrate the knowledge of the first-year courses.
Year 2
The second year focuses on solutions for complex marine problems and challenges. You will have courses on marine food systems, marine economics and law, global marine compounds, flows & cycles, geo-information science and data science. The year ends with an integrated project on the evaluation and design of nature-based solutions in e.g., Bangladesh, Kenya, Vietnam and Curacao. You will work with real-world stakeholders.
Year 3
The third year commences with a free choice semester, in which you take a minor, participate in an international exchange opportunity or follow your own selection of electives. You will have courses on modelling and aquaculture and fisheries. The last part of the third year focuses on converging everything you learned before in a third integrated project, in which you learn to assess effects of nature-based solutions quantitatively, and in an individual thesis.
