PMSCBINPDT9-2024-5-O - L-Università ta' Malta

Course Title

Master of Science in Bioinformatics

MQF Level

Duration and Credits

5 Semesters

90 ECTS

Mode of Study

Part-time Day

Information for International applicants

Applicants must be in possession of:

Refer to the list of country-specific qualifications

the degree of Bachelor of Science (Honours) from this University, or from any other higher education institution recognized by Senate, obtained with at least Second Class Honours in Information and Communication Technology, Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Applied Biomedical Science, Medical Biochemistry, Pharmaceutical Science, Medical Sciences, Biology, Biology and Chemistry, or in any other area of study deemed relevant by the Board of Studies or
the degree of Doctor of Medicine and Surgery from this University or equivalent obtained from any other higher education institution recognized by Senate.

The maximum number of students that can be admitted into the course is 10 students.

The selection criteria is available here.

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Applications for our February and October intakes have been officially open since the third week in November. You can submit your application online. The deadlines for submission of applications vary according to the intake and courses. We encourage all international applicants to submit their applications as soon as possible. This is especially important if you require a visa to travel and eventually stay in Malta.

You can compare your national qualifications to the local requirements by visiting our qualifications comparability webpage. Access more information about our admission process and English language requirements.

The University of Malta has student accommodation on campus called Campus Hub. Campus Hub is just a 2-minute walk from the main campus. For more information, visit the accommodation website.

Our dedicated team at the student recruitment office is here to support you every step of the way. From the moment you start your application to the moment when you receive your decision letter, we're here to assist you. If you have any questions or need further information, don't hesitate to reach out to us. You can contact us at info@um.edu.mt, and our team will be more than happy to help.

After you receive an offer from us, our International Office will assist you with visas, accommodation and other related issues.

This programme of study is also offered on a full-time basis. Please consult the Registrar's website for more information pertaining to courses offered by the University.

Computer Systems have become ubiquitous in the analysis of data to further increase our knowledge in a particular domain. Molecular biology is no exception to this. More so, the amount of data generated in this area has increased exponentially in recent years (e.g. high throughput sequencing for DNA, RNA and DNA-protein interactions or protein structures), and we now require to design new algorithms to handle this data. This programme of study will focus on bioinformatics, the study of the computational aspects of molecular biology data underpinned by solid statistical knowledge. Whilst this course will mainly encourage methods development in Bioinformatics, applications of several bioinformatics tools to existing datasets will also be covered. Bioinformatics offers essential tools to wet laboratory scientists.

This programme of studies will equip you with the computational, molecular biology and statistical knowledge required to build and run the computational tools which underpin novel discoveries in molecular biology.


Year (This/these unit/s start/s in Semester 1 and continue/s in Semester 2)

Compulsory Units (All students must register for this/these unit/s)

ABS5003	Research Methodology for -Omics	5 ECTS


Semester 1

Compulsory Units (All students must register for this/these unit/s)

ABS5004	Molecular Biology	5 ECTS
CIS5002	Computing for Scientists	5 ECTS
MMB5010*	Dissertation	60 ECTS
* Work on the dissertation is expected to start in Semester 1 of academic year 2024-25 and continue up to the end of Summer Semester of academic year 2025-26.

Semester 2

Compulsory Units (All students must register for this/these unit/s)

MMB5009	Bioinformatics	10 ECTS
SOR0511	Statistics in Bioinformatics	5 ECTS

This programme of study is governed by the General Regulations for University Postgraduate Awards, 2021 and by the Bye-Laws for the award of the Degree of Master of Science in Bioinformatics - M.Sc. - under the auspices of the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Biobanking.

By participating in this programme, you will gain:

Subject knowledge and understanding:

dogma of molecular biology (and exceptions to it),
genetics,
genome sequencing, alignment and variant calling,
gene function prediction and annotation,
structural bioinformatics (including protein structure prediction), and<
network analysis (gene regulatory networks, protein interaction networks, metabolic networks, signalling networks etc.).
systems biology,
computational drug discovery,
software development principles (including programming and database systems),
statistical techniques used to validate bioinformatics methods,
ethical implications in the field, and
use of bioinformatics tools and databases.

Intellectual skills

critical thinking (ability to read, assess, contrast and criticize scientific literature),
analyse data in a molecular biology setting,
design a scientific study and execute it,
test and evaluate scientific hypotheses (including tools built or used),
document scientific experiments, and
build models for molecular biology systems.

Key/transferable skills

programming in Python,
application of statistical techniques (using R),
scientific writing (including publishing a paper and writing a dissertation),
orally present scientific material, to an intelligent lay audience,
organise a bibliography (develop bibliographic skills),
gain wet-lab experience, and
undertake rigorous, original and valid scientific research.
Many of these skills are industry relevant and will increase your employability.

Non EU Applicants:

Total Tuition Fees: Eur 13,400
Yr 1: Eur 6,700 - Yr 2: 6,700

You are viewing the fees for non EU nationals. Switch to EU nationals if you are a national of any country from within the EU/EEA.

As a graduate of this programme, you will gain access to a myriad of computational opportunities, both in industry and in academia, in the ever-growing life sciences field. These may include (but are not limited to);

Data analysis, software engineering and modelling opportunities in genomics, proteomics, drug discovery, systems biology, and, more generally, in healthcare and biomedical research.

This course will equip you with knowledge to pursue reading a doctoral degree in the areas of computational biology, bioinformatics, and cheminformatics.