Master of Bioscience Engineering: Sustainable Urban Bioscience Engineering (SUBE)

The Master in Bioscience Engineering: Sustainable Urban Bioscience Engineering is a new, unique and international programme jointly organised by University of Antwerp, Ghent University and KU Leuven. It consists of 120 credits spread over two master years. The curriculum is the result of multidisciplinary cooperation across departments, faculties, research groups, institutes and universities.

Check the full study programme on the programme's website.

The University of Antwerp, which was founded in 2003, scores extremely well in Young University Rankings.

• Times Higher Education Millennials 2020 - Rank 5
• ​​​Times Higher Education Young University Ranking 2024 - Rank 12
• QS 50 under 50 2021 - Rank 20

World University Rankings

• Times Higher Education 2025 - Rank 168
• ​Shanghai (ARWU) 2024 - Rank 300-401
• ​​QS World Ranking 2025 - Rank 267
• Best Global Universities Ranking 2024 - Rank 213
• Europe’s Most Innovative Ranking 2019 - Rank 93

The learning outcomes for the Master of Bioscience Engineering: Sustainable Urban Bioscience Engineering are centred around six professional roles: expert, engineer, researcher, communicator, member of a multidisciplinary team, and citizen.

The Master as an expert

1. The Master has advanced knowledge of and insight in the city as a micro- and macro-ecosystem and of urban sustainability challenges related to ecological, (micro)biological, chemical, physical and physiological processes. The Master monitors actual environmental developments of the urban system and related processes and of their evolutions on medium and long term, such as the effects of climate change on the urban environment.

2. The Master has basic knowledge and understanding of urban planning, urban economics, urban sociology and the relevant legal framework.

3. The Master has advanced and application-oriented insight in technology for sustainable production, process, management and use of ecological, (micro)biological, chemical, physical and physiological components in an urban environment.

4. The Master can independently integrate, deepen and critically reflect upon multidisciplinary knowledge, insight and skills concerning sustainable urban bioscience engineering, to develop innovative and creative concepts and possible applications.

The Master as an engineer

5. The Master can independently, accurately and result-oriented conceive, plan and execute an engineering project at the level of a starting investigating professional. The Master formulates goals, keeps focus on specific objectives and development routes and reports effectively.

6. The Master controls system complexity with regard to sustainable urban bioscience engineering using quantitative methods. The Master has advanced and application-oriented insight in leading theories and methods for schematically representing and modelling of processes and systems, to develop and/or implement innovative and sustainable concepts in an urban environment.

7. The Master formulates and analyses complex problems within the urban context, and reduces them to manageable sub-problems, designs concepts and effective (eco)technological solutions for the specific cases with attention to sustainability and the broader conceptual implications.

8. In interaction with stakeholders, the Master designs groundbreaking, high-quality, innovative and application-oriented systems, products, services, and processes. The Master assesses the risks and feasibility of the proposed solutions, weighs specifications and technical, economical, legal, and societal boundary conditions, with attention to the business context.

The Master as a researcher

9. Through sufficient knowledge and with attention to the conceptual framework, the Master can conduct and critically interpret a literature search and critically evaluate the research results. The Master can extract new research questions from design problems and useful information from incomplete, conflicting, or redundant data.

10. The Master can select, adapt and eventually develop advanced research, design and solution methods, and adequately apply these and scientifically process the obtained results. The Master can scientifically motivate the choices made based on the foundations of the discipline.

The Master as a communicator

11. The Master can communicate and present both written and verbally about the own discipline to colleagues and third parties (such as citizens).

12. Through integral thinking the Master can formulate policy proposals for a sustainable urban environment.

The Master as a member of a multidisciplinary team

13. The Master takes his/her role and responsibility in a multidisciplinary team and can integrate different disciplines through his/her position. The Master can develop leadership.

The Master as a citizen

14. The Master acts professionally, ethically, and socially responsible with attention to technological, (business)economic and social sustainable arguments, both in a local as in a global and intercultural context.

During the Master’s programme, you will interact with different types of stakeholders that are active in a city, both locally and globally (citizens, policy makers, businesses, organisations and many more).

The Master’s programme prepares you for a global employability in a broad international professional field. You will find employment with a wide variety of employers, both with those already providing sustainable and (eco) technological solutions to urban environmental challenges and with those still lacking a sustainable approach: in the public sector at local, national or supranational level (e.g. ministries of environment or European institutions), in international organisations, in academic or research institutions (e.g. universities or research institutes), in non-governmental organisations, and in private companies
(e.g. environmental sector, food industry or engineering firms).

Particulary relevant is that this Master’s programme is jointly organised by the University of Antwerp (coordinator), Ghent
University and KU Leuven, which is unique in Belgium and will result in a jointly awarded degree.

Why choose

a programme jointly offered by the University of Antwerp, Ghent University and KU Leuven?

The University of Antwerp, Ghent University and KU Leuven each are high-quality universities and each have valuable
expertise and experience in adressing urban environmental challenges in a sustainable way. By combining all of our strenghts, expertises and experiences, we are able to jointly offer you this unique Master’s programme.

The University of Antwerp is remarkably progressive, open-minded, diverse and transparent. It has a cosmopolitan nature on a human scale. Students and staff are socially committed and future-minded. UAntwerp offers internationally accredited education with a personal approach towards students. It is strong in competitive research with social impact. Internationalisation is one of
the keywords in its mission statement. It is no coincidence that the University of Antwerp is a partner in one of the most promising European university alliances, the Young Universities for the Future of Europe (www.yufe.eu). The University of Antwerp is located in the city of Antwerp, in the heart of Belgium and Europe. The port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world. Antwerp is not just an ancient medieval and baroque city, full of history. It is also a bustling metropolis with a vibrant social scene, impressive architecture and cultural contrasts. Over 170 nationalities live there, more than in New York! This cosmopolitan nature is also reflected at the University of Antwerp.

Ghent University is a pluralistic university open to all, regardless of ideological, political, cultural or social background. Its credo is ‘Dare to Think’. Ghent University was founded in 1817. As a top 100 university with more than 49 000 students and 15 000 staff members, Ghent University is one of the largest universities in the Dutch language area, located in Flanders, Belgium. The Ghent University Global Campus is also the first European university in Songdo, South Korea. Its 11 faculties offer more than 200 courses and conduct in depth research within a wide range of scientific domains. Several of its research groups, centres
and institutes are renowned worldwide, in disciplines such as biotechnology, aquaculture, microelectronics, history, etc. In 2017, Ghent University celebrated its 200th anniversary. Over the past 200 years, the university has seen many eminent scientists, ministers and even Nobel Prize winners among its staff and alumni.

KU Leuven is one of the world’s great universities, home to leading researchers who have made us Reuters’ highest-ranked European university for innovation. This achievement builds on a 600-year tradition of academic excellence and ethical integrity that serves as the backbone for everything we do. As a comprehensive university, we offer a wide selection of academic programmes, all of which are in the top 100 of the world rankings for their respective fields, half of which are in the top 50. More than 140 different nationalities are represented amongst our 10,000+ international students, with more than 20 international
student organisations on campus and a dedicated international student centre, Pangaea. The city of Leuven is a only a stone’s throw from the Brussels, the capital of Europe and home to one of our 10 campuses in Belgium.