The Degree Programme in Biological Sciences aims to train graduates with solid basic knowledge in the main fields of modern Biology, who have a good command of experimental and analytical methodologies and of the most advanced technologies inherent to the relevant fields of scientific investigation, who possess a grounding that enables them to understand and assimilate the scientific and technological advances that are occurring ever more rapidly in the field of Life Sciences and know and correctly study living organisms at all levels of organisation, from molecular to microbial, animal, plant and human biodiversity.
In detail, students will acquire competences in non-biological fields including computer science, mathematics and statistics, physics, chemistry and language skills, which are prerequisites for the acquisition of competences in biological fields such as cytology and histology, zoology, plant biology, comparative anatomy, ecology, biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, animal and plant physiology, microbiology, human biology and hygiene. At the same time, students will acquire skills in the management of experimental activities, as well as in the implementation of good laboratory methods and practice.
By carrying out an experimental internship at university facilities or institutions/companies, students will also acquire knowledge of the complex world of work in the biological sector, and will have the opportunity to appreciate the relationship between university training and professional activities, not only in the area of specific production, but also in organisational and management terms.
The programme catalogue takes into account the risk of rapid obsolescence relating to very specific skills, a risk arising from the constant evolution of knowledge in the field of modern biology. The Degree Programme therefore aims to provide each student with an adequate knowledge and methodological grounding, and only in the final phase of the programme are the students' skills directed towards furthering knowledge in a specific subject group.
The programme structure includes a two-year course common to all students, while in the third year, in addition to core course units in the fields of plant physiology, occupational hygiene and prevention, as well as human biology, each student may choose some subjects from a list of elective course units. In this way, students will have the opportunity to further their knowledge and direct their professionalism in various areas of biology, such as cellular and molecular biology, the study and protection of biodiversity and the environment, marine biology and health biology, thus indulging their own inclinations through the choice of specific course units, as well as the internship.This facilitates graduates in their probable future choice of a Second-cycle degree, which at the University of Bologna offers many possibilities in the areas described above.
The qualifying educational objectives of the Degree Programme are based on the principles of European harmonisation, which require graduates to meet the specific requirements identified by the Dublin Descriptors system according to the national Tuning Table (CBUI College) for the L-13 class.
