Program Board for the Bachelor’s and Master’s Program in Molecular Biology
The major changes in the study plans adopted by the program board are changes in the duration of the exam in MOL300 and the weighting of the report and exam, as well as a change in mandatory activities in MOL220 and the removal of prerequisites in MOL200.
Program Board for the Bachelor’s and Master’s Program in Biology
Summary of the key changes adopted by the program board:
- Change in possible mathematics courses for the bachelor’s program in biology
Until now, bachelor’s students could choose between MAT101 and MAT105. MAT105 has now been discontinued, and students who want a more advanced introductory course in mathematics can instead take MAT111. The education plan for new students will be updated accordingly.
- DIGI101 Digital Source Criticism
A digital course developed by the library has been adopted as strongly recommended but not mandatory for the bachelor’s program in biology.
Regarding study plan changes, there were only minor or editorial changes for many courses, while a few courses made major changes:
- BIO102 Organism Biology 2: changes name to “Basic Ecology and Field Methods”. As a result, BIO101 changes its name from “Organism Biology 1” to “Organism Biology”.
- BIO201 Ecology: changes name to “Ecology: from Individual to Ecosystem” and changes the oral exam to a written exam so that more students can take the course.
- BIO301 Current Topics in Biodiversity, Evolution, and Ecology: moves from the spring semester to the fall semester (subject to approval by the teacher education committee).
- HOSP-BIOVITA/B/C: created a separate course for external internship/traineeship students.
The program board is positive about continuing to work on making BIO300A an integrated part of BIO399 from the fall of 2026 and looking at possible synergies between the teaching of MOL and BIO courses.
BFU reports back that many students experience spam in the form of many unnecessary announcements and that it is desirable to have a common policy for the entire institute regarding communication on Mitt UiB so that only important things are sent out as announcements.
Program Board for the Professional Study in Fish Health – Aquamedicine
Summary of the key changes adopted by the program board:
- DIGI101 Digital Source Criticism
A digital course developed by the library has been adopted as strongly recommended but not mandatory for the professional study in fish health.
- Progression Requirements
The program board decided that a minimum progression requirement should be that all courses in the degree must be passed before starting the master’s thesis. The exception is the practical part of BIF310. This must be passed before taking the final master’s exam.
Regarding changing BIO300A to an integrated part of BIO399/FISK399, the program board points out that it may be challenging to implement a mandatory 2-week writing course at the beginning of the master’s thesis. Many students will then be busy with sampling and experimental setup at Bio and with external companies. If BIO300A is discontinued, it will provide the opportunity for 5 credits with another course in the degree.
Program Board for the Integrated Master’s Program in Aquaculture (Siv.ing.)
Summary of the key changes adopted by the program board:
- Change in possible mathematics courses
Until now, students could choose between MAT101 and MAT105. MAT105 has now been discontinued, and students who want a more advanced introductory course in mathematics can instead take MAT111. The education plan for new students will be updated accordingly.
- Change the learning outcomes to be more consistent with the current study plan
The program board decided to remove the following point from the learning outcomes:
- Should be able to explain the relevance of general theory about economics, market, and management for activities in the industry.
The program board decided to change the following point:
- Perform quantitative calculations and analyses of economic, biological, and technical conditions relevant to the seafood industry.
The revised point will read:
- Perform quantitative calculations and analyses of biological and technical conditions relevant to the seafood industry.
- Elective Courses
It was decided to have BIO206 Fish Nutrition as a recommended elective course and to check if there are other courses that can be recommended as free credits, possibly in collaboration with HVL.
Regarding changing BIO300A to an integrated part of BIO399/FISK399, the student representatives have the following input: Students with a bachelor’s degree in biology use results from the bachelor’s thesis as the basis for the writing assignments in BIO300A. Aquaculture students do not have this opportunity, and the course is therefore not perceived as engaging. It is possible that a theoretical part in BIO399 / HAVB399 could work better, perhaps with the opportunity to work on the master’s thesis in writing groups, etc.
Education Council
The Education Council wants all academic environments to continue working on opportunities for more collaboration on teaching courses across academic groups/environments.
Link to meeting protocols
Here you can find the full meeting protocols (in Norwegian) from all program board meetings in February: