12 Life Sciences BSc Degree Programs in Africa

Bachelor of Science in Marine biology is the study of marine organisms, their behaviors and their interactions with the environment. Marine biologists study life in the oceans and sometimes the oceans themselves.

The University of Pretoria is the top-ranked institution in Africa for the subject of Zoology and is home to the internationally renowned Mammal Research Institute. Zoology is the scientific study of animal life. In the BSc (Zoology) program you will gain the knowledge and skills needed to understand, protect and manage the diversity of wild African animals. This will involve training in animal evolution and diversity, physiology, behaviour and ecology, as well as related scientific fields. The BSc (Zoology) is the ideal program if you want to know how animals interact with each other, sense and respond to their surroundings, can be harvested sustainably and can be protected against human threats. This degree can lead to a career as a wildlife or marine biologist, biology teacher, conservation officer, animal welfare officer, environmental consultant or manager, zoo or aquarium curator, museum collection curator, game ranger, epidemiologist and researcher, among others.

This qualification is primarily designed to provide a well-rounded, broad education that equips graduates with the knowledge base, theory, and methodology of life and environmental sciences.

Life at the cellular and molecular levels depends on the specific interaction and cooperation of many individual biomolecules. To understand life at a fundamental level, biochemists study the role of individual biomolecules and relate this function to its unique structure and its interactions with other molecules. Challenges of global relevance, such as COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, antimicrobial drug resistance and other human or animal diseases are addressed by using flow cytometry, biophysical analysis, protein crystallography, genome analysis, selective gene expression and metabolic profiles.

The primary purpose of the BSc Honours qualification is to consolidate and deepen the students’ knowledge and expertise in Botany and to develop research capacity in its methodology and techniques of it. BSc Honours is essentially a coursework degree of which at least 25% (30) of the credits are devoted to a research project and reporting under supervision.

The primary purpose of the BSc Honours qualification is to consolidate and deepen the students’ knowledge and expertise in Zoology and to develop research capacity in its methodology and techniques of it. BSc Honours is essentially a coursework degree of which at least 25% (30) of the credits are devoted to a research project and reporting under supervision.

This focused, three-year programme leads to a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree that specialises in Environmental Sciences. It focuses on the spatial and temporal distribution of elements of our natural environment and of aspects of the human occupancy of the earth.

The BSc (Biotechnology) program is an interdepartmental program with a particular emphasis on molecular biology, which is aimed at empowering students to pursue their interest in biotechnology. Undergraduate training includes exposure to aspects of biochemistry, genetics and microbiology, in addition to the other subjects of a student’s choice. Students are encouraged to decide on their postgraduate research direction during the course of their undergraduate studies and to choose their electives accordingly.

Environmental Sciences provides a quantitative and interdisciplinary approach to the study of human-environment interactions and their impacts as well as the concept of sustainability.

This programme covers the understanding of earth systems, the integration of theoretical and practical investigation, a holistic and multidisciplinary scientific approach, the importance of spatial and temporal scale, the importance of sustainability, the examination of resource use and environmental management.

The purpose of the programme is to provide students with a firm grounding in the environmental sciences from which they can start to specialise in integrative environmental science with ecology, or geography with GIS or water management.

The core strands of Biology include the fundamental understanding of cells and sub-cellular structures, biological molecules and molecular biology, physiology and adaptation of organisms, ecology and evolution, and gene theory and modern genetics.