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Master 120 credits
Theoretical programme duration2 years
Learning language(s)french
Schedule typeDaytime
CampusPlaine/Solbosch
Category(ies) - Topic(s)Sciences and technics - Sciences
Organising faculty(s) and university(ies)The information and guidance counsellors at the InfOR-études service will help you choose your studies throughout the year.
SucceedTake part in preparatory courses or get help to succeed, before or during your studies.
Get helpApply for financial aid, look for accommodation or a student job, get support for your specific needs.
Due to its central position among hard sciences, chemistry opens up extremely broad possibilities, with links to biochemistry, medicine, geology, physics, or biology. Creating materials with new properties, developing alternative energy sources, synthesising new medicines, ensuring high quality in foodstuffs, and monitoring and reducing pollution are all examples of the challenges that chemists take on. Today, chemistry is the cornerstone of many sustainable development topics. ULB's Chemistry Department is fully aware of these challenges and trains students to analyse new societal problems and call upon their creative potential to solve them. The goal of the Master in Chemistry is to complete the basic training provided in the Bachelor programme, and develop the students’ analytical skills and autonomy.
Lecture classes, practical activities, hands-on training, personal assignments, projects.
ULB's Chemistry Department is ideally situated, both geographically and strategically. Located in Europe’s capital, at the heart of a vast network of chemical industries, the department provides high-level training through direct contact with SMEs and major players in the industry on the one hand, and with cutting-edge academic circles on the other hand.
Moreover, due to its international scientific reputation, it strives to provide excellent training in a multidisciplinary academic context, in line with the major technological and environmental issues of our time.
At the Master level, student mobility is encouraged in the form of work placements in private companies, either in Belgium or abroad.
Chemists play an active role in our society. The Master programme includes content targeting various professional activities (industries, research and teaching). In the professional world, graduates of this programme put their knowledge and skills into practice as chemists in research laboratories and production units, or as scientific experts and advisors. They are often hired in leading-edge chemical industries, in which they can quickly reach senior positions.
The Master programme's curriculum allows students to:
ULB is the only comprehensive university located in the capital of Europe. Almost one third of its students are foreigners, a major asset that makes ULB the most open university in Belgium.
The Chemistry Department includes various research groups that are internationally recognised, whose works were rewarded by several prestigious prizes. ULB's Chemistry Department is the only one in Belgium that has received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The Chemistry Department also benefits from the scientific activities (symposia, conferences) organised by the Solvay Institutes of Physics and Chemistry located within the University.
Exchanges—lasting 6 to 12 months—with other Belgian or foreign universities can be organised.
ULB has concluded partnerships with 10 secondary schools and around 20 companies, research laboratories or centres, offering attractive opportunities for work placements. Many exchange opportunities with foreign universities are available (see the list provided by the DRI)
https://www.ulb.be/en/mobility/international
One fundamental goal of the Master in Chemistry is to give students a deep understanding of the basic concepts used in chemical sciences, and how they interact. The programme places emphasis on teaching autonomy, with personal projects and a Master's dissertation to be defended at the end of the second year.
The curriculum includes both theoretical and practical teachings. Six series of lectures must be chosen amongst the seven following:
• Polymer chemistry
• Macroscopic physical chemistry: from self-assembling to self-organisation,
• Strategies for organic synthesis,
• Computational approaches to the states of matter,
• Chemistry of interfaces and nanostructures,
• Chemistry and structure of biological macromolecules,
• Environmental chemistry and chemical risks.
Students also choose a number of elective courses in a field of interest, and complete a research-oriented dissertation in the second year, working within one of the department's research units.
The conditions of access to the selected Master's degree meet the requirements of Article 111 of the Decree of 07/11/2013.
To facilitate the reading of these access conditions and click on the category that concerns you, to obtain more information, please note that :
The point A concerns the candidates who have obtained a diploma in theFrench-speaking community of Belgium and who benefit from full admission rights .
The point B concerns the candidates who have obtained a diploma outside the French-speaking community of Belgium, recognised as equivalent in the framework of a European directive, an international convention, ...
The point C concerns the candidates who have obtained a diploma outside the French-speaking community of Belgium, whose application is submitted to the opinion of the academic jury
Finalité approfondie accessible without supplement to the holder of the following degree :
Finalité spécialisée accessible without supplement to the holder of the following degree :
Finalité approfondie accessible without supplement to the holder of the following degrees :
Finalité spécialisée accessible without supplement to the holder of the following degrees :
Finalité approfondie accessible without supplement to the holder of the following degree :
Finalité spécialisée accessible without supplement to the holder of the following degree :
Access to holders of a Bachelor's degree in :
biological sciences,
geological sciences,
physical sciences,
pharmaceutical sciences,
engineering sciences, bioengineering orientation, or
engineering sciences, civil engineering (chemistry option),
issued in the French Community of Belgium.
The Jury may impose a complementary programme of a maximum of 15 credits, taking into account all the credits that the student may also use at the time of admission.
These additional courses are part of the student's 2nd cycle study programme.
Note: Holders of a Bachelor's degree in biological sciences, geological sciences or physical sciences, as well as diplomas judged similar to these by the jury, may acquire the degree of Bachelor in chemical sciences by means of a 60-credit programme.
Access granted to holders of an undergraduate level degree, having passed a subsidiary subject/minor/option or a module under the conditions set out by the board of examiners, taking into account all the credits that the student can also use at the time of admission. These extra courses form part of the student’s graduate course of studies.
Finalité approfondie accessible with supplement to the holder of the following degrees :
Finalité spécialisée accessible with supplement to the holder of the following degrees :
Rem. concerning admission to Bachelor's or Master's degree from a Non-University Higher Education Institution -HE or ESA- (long course).
Finalité approfondie accessible with supplement to the holder of the following degrees :
Finalité spécialisée accessible with supplement to the holder of the following degrees :
Any student with a bachelor's degree from a university of applied sciences, not included in categories A and C, will not be eligible.
By way of derogation, students who still need to earn a maximum of 15 credits in order to be awarded the degree entitling them to be admitted to the Master's programme, and who are enrolled simultaneously for these studies in a Higher Education institution in the French-speaking Community, will also be admitted.
Admission granted to the holder of a degree similar to the degrees awarded in the French-speaking Community (see point A), and awarded by a Higher Education Institution outside the latter (Flemish Community, German-speaking Community, Royal Military Academy, foreign institution), under the additional conditions determined by the jury. These extra courses form part of the student’s Master's programme. A qualification or degree leading to the same career prospects or to a continuation of studies in the original system is considered similar to a degree awarded in the French-speaking community.
Admission granted, under the general conditions laid down by the academic authorities, to the holder of a qualification, diploma, degree or certificate awarded outside the French-Speaking Community or awarded abroad if the qualification, diploma, degree or certificate attests to the successful completion of studies and the jury considers them to be worth at least 180 credits. The jury may impose a programme worth a maximum of 60 credits in addition to the Master's programme, bearing in mind all the credits for which the student obtains recognition at the time of admission. These extra courses form part of the student’s Master's programme.
A - Minimum requirements for HUE (outside the European Union)
A conversion of grades in the ECTS or GPA system (official document from the home institution)
A letter of motivation
B - Complementary programmes
Complementary programmes are tailor-made according to the student's previous experience.
C - Minimum average
For all candidates who have completed an academic career outside the European Union, each year of studies followed in a higher education institution outside the EU must have been successfully completed/be passed with a mandatory and minimum average of 12/20 (or equivalent if other rating system). If there is no legend or conversion table on the official transcript, an official document may be required from the candidate
In line with the procedure defined by the ULB, juries can recognise knowledge and skills acquired through professional and/or personal experience, and may grant access to the MA to any person who does not fall under the categories listed above. The jury determines the additional courses and any possible exemptions which constitute supplementary entry requirements for the student. The personal or professional experience must be equivalent to at least five years of activity. A maximum of two years of higher education can be taken into account, providing 60 credits were obtained per year.
Applicants from outside the European Union who do not meet the assimilation criteria and do not meet a criterium of article 3 of the Decree of the 11 April 2014 adapting the financing of higher education institutions to the new organisation of studies are required to pay an administrative fee of 200 euros. This payment is a prerequisite for the examination of the application. We invite you to check whether you meet the access conditions to the studies envisaged before submitting your application insofar as the administrative fee is not refundable.
One fundamental goal of the Master in Chemistry is to give students a deep understanding of the basic concepts used in chemical sciences, and how they interact. The programme places emphasis on teaching autonomy, with personal projects and a Master's dissertation to be defended at the end of the second year.
The curriculum includes both theoretical and practical teachings. Six series of lectures must be chosen amongst the seven following:
Polymer chemistry
Macroscopic physical chemistry: from self-assembling to self-organisation,
Strategies for organic synthesis,
Computational approaches to the states of matter,
Chemistry of interfaces and nanostructures,
Chemistry and structure of biological macromolecules,
Environmental chemistry and chemical risks.
Students also choose a number of elective courses in a field of interest, and complete a research-oriented dissertation in the second year, working within one of the department's research units.
In the professional world, graduates of this programme put their knowledge and skills into practice as chemists in research laboratories and production units, or as scientific experts and advisors. They are often hired in leading-edge chemical industries, in which they can quickly reach senior positions.
A Master's degree in Chemistry opens up job opportunities in the following areas:
• Industrial or academic research
• State-run services: crime laboratories, heritage conservation laboratories, health services, etc.
• Teaching
• Production
• Analysis
• Technical and commercial sectors
• Health
Chemists can be viewed as architects, creating new molecules, developing new materials, developing and optimising manufacturing processes, contributing to improving the quality of life in many areas (medicine, environment, energy, food, cosmetics, etc.).
Activity sectors
Chemical companies (petrochemical industry, polymers, fertilisers, fine chemistry, specialties, paints, pigments, oleochemistry, catalysts, etc.)
Types of functions:
Research and development, intellectual property, product stewardship, project leading, etc.
The chemist can be viewed as an architect, creating new molecules, developing new materials, developing and optimizing manufacturing processes, contributing to the improvement of the quality of life in many areas (medicine, environment, energy, food, cosmetics,…)
