Master's Degree Programme in Aquatic Sciences
The master's degree programme in aquatic sciences provides a wide range of knowledge and skills about freshwaters, the organisms that live in them, how the environment and humans affect them, and the services that aquatic ecosystems provide to society. As our university is surrounded by lakes and other freshwaters in the diverse landscape, you are in an ideal position to combine field work in natural environments with laboratory and theoretical approaches during your studies.
The aquatic science major focuses on environmental and biological processes that determine the characteristics and ecosystem services of inland waters as well as ecologically, economically and socially sustainable use of natural resources. You are encouraged to supplement your degree with studies in fields such as statistics, chemistry, physics or social and economic sciences.
Programme info
Applications for Master's Degree Programmes can be submitted once a year in January.
The programme requires completion of 120 ECTS credits within 2 years, with compulsory and optional components. This is a bilingual masters programme. Most courses are taught in English and the majority of the literature used is in English.
Student profile
Aquatic science focuses on environmental and biological processes that determine the characteristics and ecosystem services of inland waters and ecologically, economically and socially sustainable use of natural resources.
Graduates will be able to:
- know the key concepts and theories of aquatic sciences,
- know the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems and the impacts of human activities on aquatic ecosystems and their exploitable resources,
- to conduct scientific research in a working group and evaluate research data
- design and conduct field and laboratory experiments and analyse large data sets
Career opportunities for programme graduates
There is a need for people with extensive training in aquatic science, ranging from species identification and monitoring to restoration, management and modelling. Research is carried out in this field both in universities and research institutes. Increasingly, graduates are also working in companies or as entrepreneurs. Some graduates go on to study for a doctorate degree. The field also offers good prospects for an international career.
In Finland, established collaborations exist with relevant national state institutes, such as SYKE (Finnish Environment Institute) and LUKE (Natural Resources Institute Finland). Collaboration is mainly in the form of teacher exchange, shared supervision of Master’s theses and internship positions. JYU's research groups have both national and international collaborations with other universities and research institutes.
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Contact us
If you have questions concerning the admission process or the programme, please contact JYU Admission Services: admissions@jyu.fi
About tuition fees and the scholarship programme for students liable to pay tuition fees, please contact the International Office: degree-students@jyu.fi
