06 Nov Start of the Bioinformatics and BioComplexity Master’s program
Our brand-new master’s kicked off this year with a diverse set of 31 fresh and eager students from universities abroad, our own university, and Dutch HBO. 95% of them successfully passed the first difficult courses immediately.
Already on the first day of this lecture year, we were allowed to organize a get together to get acquainted with each other and meet face-to-face. We celebrated the start of the masters with pizza and soda, which were arranged by the GSLS, and by introducing the program leader Berend Snel, coordinator Bas van Breukelen, and Biosciences Director Rob de Boer. Rob and Berend introduced themselves to the students and told them about their university roles and how enthusiastic we are to start with the Bioinformatics and BioComplexity (BiBC) Master’s program.
Solid mathematics
After this relaxed and tasty start, our master’s program started with two difficult courses: biological modelling biology and the essentials course. Both courses demanded some solid mathematics, which was a tough hurdle that the students nevertheless managed to overcome, as (a whopping) 95% of them managed to get a passing grade in one attempt.
Interaction
In spite of all the covid measures, we were allowed to organize one day of on-campus teaching. This was a great opportunity to start building further on our fresh BiBC community through interaction between students and our invited speakers.
So far, the student responses are very positive, which makes us look forward to the next periods. The interest of 44 aspirant students who joined the BiBC webinar on the Master’s Online Open Day, strengthens our enthusiasm for the future of our education program.