International Master in Sustainable Drug Discovery
Ghent University - Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Key Information
Campus location
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
2 years
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
EUR 9,000 *
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
Request info
* 4.500/year for EU students
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Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Erasmus Mundus scholarships are available (deadline for application: 31st of January 2023).
Curriculum
The International master S-DISCO is a 2-year study programme (120 ECTS) in English: 90 ECTS (semesters 1-2-3) consist of face-to-face and on-line learning and 30 ECTS (semester 4) are dedicated to a master thesis. The programme is organized by 4 highly-ranked universities, thereby giving the students the possibility to spend their time in some great historical cities in Europe.
The programme is preceded by a one-week summer school at Ghent University (end of September), in order to update their starting competences while enjoying the vibrant university and city atmosphere.
The first semester follows immediately after the summer school at Ghent University and will introduce the students to the broad perspectives and basics of sustainable drug discovery. At the end of the first semester, students will experience the S-DISCO day, organized at the University of Lille. During this day, students will be exposed to the research activities of doctoral, postdoctoral and senior researchers, as well as meet industrial and governmental stakeholders in a informal ambiance.
The programme continues with the second semester when students move together to the Medical University of Gdańsk, where more in-depth courses on molecular modelling, the use of omics in drug discovery and green analytics are given.
The third semester takes place at the University of Lille or the University of Groningen. The different stages in the drug discovery process up to drug development are discussed, i.e. screening, target identification and validation, hit-to-lead, preclinical studies up to first-in-human trials. By selecting the appropriate mobility track, students will be able to become more proficient in certain aspects of drug discovery by benefitting from the specific expertise of the selected partner university.
The final semester is dedicated to the execution and writing of the master thesis. The thesis is performed under the supervision of a lecturer of one of the four consortium universities, but with the opportunity to be hosted in an international academic or industrial partner worldwide.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Our graduates will be trained to find creative and innovative solutions for the various challenges in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological field. Emphasis is on the crucially important discovery phase, taking into account environmental, ecological and socio-financial sustainability aspects. Workforce shortages exist for almost every position within the pharmaceutical and related industries, and scientists with the skills offered by our master program are extremely in-demand by the industry. Moreover, both national medicine-competent authorities as well as international agencies, such as EMA, FDA or WHO, will look for our high-level graduates. The same is true for civil society organizations, such as NGOs, working in this field. Finally, our graduates will have acquired useful competencies for further academic studies, i.e. Ph.D., thereby deepening the drug discovery field while propagating the sustainability viewpoint in pharmaceutical research and education.