Plant Science and Biotechnology MSc

Course overview

Applying

Entry requirements

Applicants should normally have a bachelor’s degree with at least a 2:1 in a subject that has covered the cellular and molecular basis of life such as: Genetics, Microbiology, Biochemistry.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Science (6 weeks) and Language for Science: General Science (10 weeks).

We also offer online pre-sessionals alongside our on-campus pre-sessionals. Find out more about our six week online pre-sessional and our 10 week online pre-sessional.

You can also study pre-sessionals for longer periods – read about our postgraduate pre-sessional English courses.

Career opportunities

The strong research element of this course, along with the specialist and generic skills you’ll develop, mean you’ll graduate equipped for a wide range of careers.

Our graduates work in a diverse range of areas, ranging from bioscience-related research through to scientific publication, teacher training, health and safety and pharmaceutical market research.

Links with industry

We have a proactive Industrial Advisory Board who advise us on what they look for in graduates and on employability-related skills within our programmes.

We collaborate with a wide range of organisations in the public and commercial sectors. Many of these are represented on our Industrial Advisory Board. They include:

• Labcorp (formally Covance).
• European Bioinformatics Institute.
• Astra Zeneca.
• Gowling WLG LL.
• Qiagen.
• PWC.
• Barnsley Hospital (NHS).
• IAOCR.
• ApotheCom .
• GlaxoSmithKline.

Professional and career development

We take personal and career development very seriously. We have a proactive Industrial Advisory Board who advises us on what they look for in graduates and on employability related skills within our courses.

Our dedicated employability and opportunity team ensures that you are aware of events and opportunities to increase your employability. In addition, our Masters career development programme will support you to:

• Explore career options and career planning.
• Understand the PhD application process and optimise PhD application.
• Learn how to use LinkedIn and other social media for effective networking and career opportunities.
• Practice interviews for both job and PhD applications.

You’ll also have access to seminars and presentations from industry professionals (including our alumni) at faculty led career events. We also have regular research seminars presented by leading academics from around the world on their specialist subjects.

Some recent graduate destinations:

• Research Technician Phytoform labs.
• Enzymology and Protein Engineering Associate, Exact Labs, Oxford.
• Microbiology Technical officer in the NHS.
• Research Assistant ICRISAT, Hyderabad India.

A substantial proportion of our graduates each year undertake further study at Leeds or elsewhere. Recent graduates have gone on to PhD study in the UK, Europe, US, Canada and Australia.