Master's in Molecular Life Sciences

Regular selection process

Students of the B Sc programs in Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology or Chemistry and Molecular Sciences of the University of Bern as well as outside admitted students can find their M Sc thesis supervisors through our regular selection process.

At the beginning of the spring semester (6th Semester of B Sc), the M Sc thesis project descriptions are made available on ILIAS. The corresponding link will be sent to future master students. They may pursue this information and contact potential supervisors, but no firm assignments may be made at this stage. With a deadline shortly before the end of the semester, the students declare via an on-line form which three labs they prioritize for their M Sc thesis. After contacting the supervisors, the study administration makes the assignments. This assignment will also determine the specialization to be taken by the student.

Master thesis

The M Sc thesis may only be started, when the B Sc and any additional learning requirements imposed in the admission process have been completed. Exceptions to the latter of these rules may be proposed by the program administration and require approval of the Science faculty.

At the beginning of the M Sc thesis, the thesis supervisor and student send a completely filled out and signed form "Form Start of MSc thesis" to the program administration. This form constitutes a mutual agreement between the two partners to adhere to certain specified rules.

Format, structure and duration

• A typical MLS master thesis is written as monographic text and is structured in Abstract/Summary, Introduction, Material & Methods, Results, Discussion and References. On average a MLS master thesis as about 75 – 100 pages long (font size 12, line spacing 1.5). Theses shorter than ~50 pages are below the expectation of the MLS master program of the science faculty. 
• The potential use of AI needs to be disclosed (see below).
• Duration of the master thesis: 60 ECTS = ~1’800 working hours = ~45 weeks (lab work & writing). If MLS lectures are attended in parallel to the lab work, the thesis extends up to 18 months.

Use of generative AI in writing MLS master theses

In general, the MLS master program allows the use of AI assisted technologies in the preparation of written master theses.
However, when MLS students use AI and AI-assisted technologies (e.g. ChatGPT, Google Bard, Microsoft Bing, DeepL, Grammarly, etc) in the writing process, these technologies should only be used to improve readability and language of the work and not to replace key authoring tasks such as producing scientific insights or drawing scientific conclusions. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control and all work should be reviewed and edited carefully. The MLS students are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.
MLS students should disclose in their master thesis the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in a clear statement at the end of text. We recommend placing it before the reference section. If more than one tool was used, they should be listed separately.
Template for disclosure statement:
◻︎ During the preparation of this work, I have NOT used any AI-assisted technologies.
◻︎ During the preparation of this work, I used the following tools:
1. [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] - reason for use
2. [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] - reason for use
3. [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] - reason for use
After using these tools/services, I reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the master thesis. I am aware that in case of dis-compliance, the generated text is considered as plagiarism with its legal consequences.

Individual academic requirements

The following academic qualifications are required for admission to the master’s degree program in Molecular Life Sciences (mono):

* The ECTS credits will be listed separately in the diploma supplement as extracurricular attainments.

Please consult the admission requirements for the minor as presented in the plan of studies.

The degree used for assessment purposes may not be more than ten years old.

Current UniBE students

Apply for a change to the M Sc in Molecular Life Sciences, Universität Bern by self-service as part of the re-registration for the next semester.
Renewal of semester registration → Self-service
Recognition of academic achievements
Procedure and timing of the renewal of semester registration

Application with a Swiss degree

Online application
Assessment
Steps from application to registration

Application with an international degree

Online application
CHECKLIST - Documents for your application / Important information
Steps from application to registration

For questions regarding application and admission, please contact the Admissions Office.

MLS specific prerequisites for graduation

The graduation may be completed if:

• Any additional learning requirements imposed for admission to the program have been successfully completed
• The modules for the special qualification and for the general topics have been successfully completed
• The M Sc thesis work has been completed and written
• The written thesis has been read, corrected and positively evaluated by the thesis supervisor. The written evaluation should contain and justify in words the compound grade for the research work and the writing of the thesis.
• A copy of the evaluation and the Master thesis as pdf file should be sent to the study administration of Molecular Life Sciences. The study administration will enter the grade and thesis title into KSL.
• Note that, at least during the semester when the thesis is completed, the student must be correctly registrated.

Graduation procedure

• For graduation, the student registers his thesis submission/ graduation at the studies secretariat of the Dean's office. Email address, office hours and necessary documents are described on the faculty web page. Make sure that the requested documents are complete!
• The Master thesis and the signed supervisor's evaluation (both as as PDF files) are submitted to the Dean's office either by the student or the thesis supervisor.
• After the thesis and the supervisor's evaluation have been reviewed by the faculty's study commission (usually within one to two weeks), the study commission decides on the proposed grade and the Dean's office validates it in KSL.
• The study administration performs a final check whether all grades are correctly documented in KSL and declares the curriculum as "completed" in the KSL system.
• Finally, the Dean's office validates the entire curriculum and informs the student when the graduation documents will be ready for collection at the Dean's office.
   

Compound grade

The grade of the M Sc diploma is the average between the grades of the modules of regular learning units and the master thesis, weighted according to their ECTS points.
The grades of the additional learning units do not count for the compound grade but will be listed in the diploma supplement.

Deadline

The MSc thesis can always be submitted to the Dean’s office but the deadline for a given semester is the last week of autumn or spring semester (calendar week 7 or 37, respectively). Please find the relevant information on the admission office website.

Once you have met the specific requirements for the degree, you can apply for your degree to the Dean's Office. You will find more information on the graduation process here.
 

Graduation ceremony for Master's degree students

All students who have completed their Master in the previous year can attend the current ceremony which usually takes place in the second half of February. Please find further information on the Dean's Office website here.

Students who wish to attend the current graduation ceremony must have set their "study requirements on fulfilled" before 31^st January; In other words, the grade for the master thesis has to be entered in KSL the latest by the 17^th of January for being allowed to the graduation ceremony in February. Please note that the faculty will not make any exception regarding the 31^st January "graduation ceremony" deadline!