So you want to become a biologist? You will learn how organisms are made-up and how their diversity, structure, evolution and functions are organized. You will learn how they reproduce, behave, gather in populations and communities.

You will initiate yourselves to the many methods of studying life, in the laboratory as well as in the field, from the molecular to the landscape level, from cells to organisms and populations...

The Profession

A biologist's profession may include many fields of knowledge. However we could divide the careers in biology into two major axes. On the one hand, some are interested in populations and communities of living organisms, their place in the environment and their use of resources. Others are fascinated by the structure and the functioning of molecules, cells, tissues, and whole organisms. Nevertheless, these centers of interest are not mutually exclusive. Ecologists now use experimental approaches and molecular data, whereas physiologists, molecular and cellular biologists are also interested by adaptation and evolution.

Undergraduate Studies in Biologie

Of 90 credits distributed over six trimesters (three years), the undergraduate biology program is structured so as to fulfill the requirements of future biologists, whatever position they would wish to hold. The program includes an excellent basic training, devoted to major approaches to the study of life, completed by specialization courses divided into six principal topics:

1. Molecular and Cellular Biology
2. Animal Physiology
3. Animal Ecology
4. Marine and Fresh Water Ecology
5. Plant Biology and Ecology
6. The Environment and Conservation

Practical training is acquired through laboratory, field work, and by internships in work environments. The department also offers students the opportunity to continue a part of their program abroad within the context of an international program.

University Joseph Fourier (Grenoble, France)

Université de la Réunion (St-Denis, France)

Université de Rennes (France)

Université catholique de Louvain (Belgique)

Université d'Oslo (Norvège)

Université de Jaén (Jaén, Espagne)

Employment Opportunities

Career choices for biologists are very diversified. You may :

• take part in terrestrial and aquatic fauna management and conservation as a specialist for federal or provincial ministries responsible of river, lake, coastal water or forest resource exploitation;
• work as a private biology consultant or engineer in a firm responsible of environmental monitoring;
• play a key role on impact studies concerning projects of urban, rural or industrial development;
• work in aquaculture, i.e. breeding of salt water or fresh water species of commercial interest (fish, molluscs, crustaceans, etc.);
• participate in medical research, in governmental laboratories, hospital complexes, research laboratories of pharmaceutical companies, etc;
• have a career in biotechnologies or genetic engineering;
• devote yourself to the popularization of biological knowledge, in parks or nature centers, or work as scientific journalist;
• program (one year and a half to two years), just like approximately a third of those that finish a bachelor's degree in biology.

Lastly, if you project a career in research, you will have to consider doctoral studies (three years more after the master's program).

Challenges to overcome

Biology is at the heart of major problems that societies of tomorrow will have to face: pollution of all kinds, conservation of biodiversity, development of biotechnologies, etc.

Qualified biologists that have acquired a solid basic training and that are sufficiently motivated to take up challenges offered by today's society will get a meaningful career and be able to carry out an extremely interesting professional life.