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Admission requirements
Admission requirements
The admission requirements depend on previous degrees (type of degree, country of issue, etc.) or additional experience.
For more info on the admission requirements for the different tracks, please see:
To be admitted to the Systems Biology track, your pre-education should consist of minimally 10 ECTS of mathematical courses, because no English-taught alternatives are available at UGent for your reorientation.
Language requirements
Language requirements can be found here.
The teaching language is English, so for foreign students, an English certificate (CEF B2-level or higher) is required and cannot be older than four academic years, counting from the academic year after the proof of language was acquired:
- a TOEFL TEST, with a score of at least 510 (paper-based), or of at least 72 (Internet-based). Participants are to specify “institution code” 2643 if they want the test results to be communicated directly to Ghent University.
- an original ‘Academic Test Report Form’ (TRF) from IELTS, with an overall score of at least 6.0.
- an Interuniversity Test of Academic English (ITACE) awarded by the Ghent University Language Centre (Universitair Centrum voor Talenonderwijs, UCT), Linguapolis (University of Antwerp), the Leuven Language Institute (Instituut voor Levende Talen, ILT), or the Academic Language Centre (ACTo -VUB); see here.
This certificate can be provided later to Annick Bleys (Annick.Bleys@ugent.be), but as long as you do not have it, you cannot register for the master.
If English is the only teaching language of the university at which you followed your Bachelor and Master, a Medium of Instruction (MOI) certificate issued by your university is also sufficient as proof of English proficiency.
General Graduate Record Examination (GRE) test
For non-EER students, a score report of their General Graduate Record Examination (GRE) test is also required. Our limits are 160 on quantitative reasoning.
Application instructions and deadlines
You can find all information here.
Foreign students need to apply online in time before the deadline:
- 1st of April for students who need a Visa
- 1st of June for students who do not need a Visa
Belgian students also need to apply online before the end of August.
Information
Information session: Wednesday 29/04/26 at 12-2 PM in Campus De Sterre, Building S4, Leslokaal 0.2. The Master program and the relevance of bioinformatics and computational biology will be presented. Afterwards, there is the opportunity to ask questions.
Find the flyer here.
Funding opportunities
Different funding opportunities can be found here.
The Master Mind scholarship of Flanders Knowledge Area is for academically outstanding students with a GPA of 3.5 out of 4.0 and a minimum score of 94 on the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or an overall band score of minimum 7.0 on the IELTS (International English Language Testing System). A proof of the GPA and TOEFL/IELTS are both required. You can calculate your average GPA here.
Please be aware that we can only suggest 2 candidates for the MSc in Bioinformatics and that UGent can only suggest 20 candidates of all UGent educations to the government of Flanders, so the chance of getting this scholarship is small.
If you are interested, please send an email to Prof. Kathleen Marchal (kathleen.marchal@ugent.be) before the deadline (1/04) with a short motivation (at least three reasons, at least 150 words) why we should suggest you. Also add your prospect application file and the required proofs (GPA and TOEFL/IELTS), so we can suggest your application.
Also be aware that this is not a full scholarship. You must still be able to provide for your own financing in order to be able to make the most of your studies.
Practical
Welcome at UGent
Please check the guide for new students.
Costs
The exact tuition fee can be found here.
Housing
Regarding the housing, you can find details here.
VISA
All information about obtaining a Visa for Belgium is available here.
As a rule, students must apply for this Visa at the Belgian Consulate or Embassy in their own country or in the country where they legally reside, and not at the public authorities in Belgium itself. If there is no Belgian Consulate or Embassy in their home country, they may submit their application at the Belgian Consulate or Embassy in one of the neighboring countries.
ATTENTION: Students should not enter Belgium with a tourist Visa if they intend to stay longer than 90 days.
Contact
If you have any questions, send a mail to Prof. Kathleen Marchal (kathleen.marchal@ugent.be).