Requirements
Required degree
Students applying for the Master of Science in Biochemistry must fulfil one of the following requirements:
- You have completed a three-year Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry with at least 180 CP.
- You have an equivalent three-year Bachelor of Science degree with at least 180 CP. Equivalence is determined by the examination board.
German students can apply before they have completed their Bachelor's degree programme. The application is possible with the TOR (= Transcript Of Records) if you have earned at least 150 CP. In this case, the 180 CP and the Bachelor's certificate must be submitted as soon as possible, but at the latest by the end of the re-registration period for the second Master's semester.
Required practical training (laboratory internships)
- You must have earned at least one third of the credit points of your Bachelor degree programme through practicals, i.e. lab courses where you did actual practical laboratory bench work yourself. Thus, in a typical 180 CP Bachelor programme, at least 60 CP must have been obtained from practicals.
- Make sure that practicals are identified as such on your transcript of records. If they are not specified clearly, they will not be counted.
- If the type of transcript your institution provides does not specify practicals, you may provide additional official documentation that certifies that certain lab courses you took were indeed practicals with hands-on laboratory experience for every student taking that course.
- Lab courses where students merely watch the supervisor or other students perform an experiment are not accepted as valid practicals for the purpose of applying for the Master studies course Biochemistry of the Ruhr University Bochum.
- In addition to documenting your practical CPs, it is mandatory to provide a brief, succinct, maximally two pages long specification of the contents of your practicals and laboratory techniques you practiced yourself. This document needs to be uploaded on the online application platform together with your other documents.
Required grades
A minimum grade is not required.
Required language skills
The language of instruction is English. You must prove that you have a B2 level of English. In order to be accepted onto the programme, you must meet at least one of the following requirements:
- You have the German Abitur school-leaving certificate.
- You have completed your first degree programme in English (i.e. ALL lectures must have been held in English).
- You have taken a TOEFL test with a minimum score of 420 for the paper-based test or 87 for the internet-based test.
- You have passed an IELTS test with a minimum score of 5.0.
The test results must not be older than two years.
All courses on the Master's degree programme in Biochemistry are held in English. German language skills are therefore not required for admission to the degree programme. However, basic knowledge of German is very helpful in everyday life and makes it much easier to interact with other RUB students. We therefore strongly recommend that you attend German language courses, preferably before you arrive in Germany. Ruhr-Universität Bochum offers free German courses for all levels.