Animal Science – Master's programme

Congratulations on your place at SLU and on the Animal Science - Master’s programme! We look forward to meeting you here in Uppsala this autumn.

The autumn semester 2025 begins with roll call and study information on campus.

Date: Monday 1 September

Time and place: On the pages for New students, you will find information about when the roll-call for your programme begins and which room the roll-call will be in.

On these pages, you will also find all the information you need as a new student at SLU, including information about the Orientation programme. The Orientation programme is not mandatory but we recommend that you attend it. It’s a great opportunity to provide essential and useful information about your stay in Sweden and your studies at SLU.

Your first course will be Animal Science- a scientific approach. On the course page, you will find a timetable for your classes and other course-related information. Timetables and reading lists will be published at least four weeks before the course starts.

The following two years will be valuable, exciting, challenging and contribute both to your personal and scientific development. As a student on the Animal Science - Master's programme you will get a broad knowledge within the animal science field and through course selection have opportunities to deepen your knowledge in several different profile areas.

If you have any questions about the course schedule or the programme please contact the programme director of studies Emma Ivarsson by email. If you have specific questions about a course please contact the course leader of the course.

Once again, welcome to SLU!

Programme Director of Studies
Emma Ivarsson, Senior lecturer
Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare
Emma.Ivarsson@slu.se, +46 (0)18 67 20 44

Link to general information about admission to latter part of SLU programmes at SLU. Here you will also find information on how to apply.

Unfortunately, we have no places to offer for the autumn semester 2025.

Selection

If there are more eligible applicants than there are places, the applicants are ranked according to how many points they are judged to be able to credit for the degree to which the programme aims. If two or more applicants for the same place have the same merit rating, the places are allocated by drawing lots.

Insurance during placements and study visits

Students participating in placements or study visits inked to a programme course are all covered by the accident insurance included in the SLU student insurance policy – regardless of whether the placement is voluntary or compulsory. However, the course coordinator must have authorised the placement or study visit, and the student must notify them of when and where it will be carried out. The activity must take place before the student passes the course.

The following applies for the liability insurance (if a student injures a person or damages an item or property):

Compulsory placement or study visit (credits awarded) – depending on where the placement is being carried out, SLU or Kammarkollegiet will pay compensation for any damage a student may have caused.

Voluntary placements or study visits – the student or placement provider must have their own insurance coverage.

Vaccinations

Those who have followed the vaccination programme for children in Sweden will have good protection against tetanus and do not need any further vacinations before beginning their studies. The National Board of Health and Welfare’s immunisation guidelines for tetanus and diphtheria states that once a person has recieved four doses of the vaccination, they need to be re-vaccinated every 20 years.

Since 2012, the area around Uppsala has been part of the tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) risk zone. Therefore, students who will be in close contact with animals as part of their degree project should consider getting vaccinated against TBE. This also applies to those at an increased risk of being bitten by ticks.

The vaccinations SLU recommends for its students are voluntary and must be paid for by the students themselves.

Spread of infection

General guidelines on preventing the spread of infection:

Students are expected to follow the instructions they are provided and practice good hygiene during all practical work with biological materials, such as disections, laboratory sessions and exercises with live animals.

To prevent the spread of infection, you must find out about and follow the specific regulations and procedures that apply for the particular teaching premises. When working with farm animals, you must comply with the rules for each disease control and inspection programme.

If you may have been exposed to a disease that falls under the Epizootic Act while outside of SLU (see the Swedish Board of Agriculture’s regulation SJVFS 1999:102), you must notify the relevant department before returning to SLU.

Study visits and practical exercises involving animals

Study visits and practical excercises involving animals are often the first chance students will have to put theory into practice. These activities should be seen as a cooperation between tutors and supervisors and their students. However, the tutor or supervisor has the overall responsibility and their decisions must be respected.

To ensure that the time allocated to study visits and practical exercises runs as smoothly as possible, you must adhere to the following general rules:

• Find out and follow any specific rules and instructions provided during each study visit or exercise.
• Aspects of disease control, animal protection and occupational safety must always be observed.
• Be orderly.
• Be on time and stick to the schedule.

The use of animals and animal product in teaching

The Policy on the use of animals in research and education at SLU contains information about the use of animals and animal products in teaching.

Announcements, forms and other information can be found on the faculty's scholarship page.

Listing of the different versions of the syllabus for the programme in pdf.

• Syllabus VM006.1 Animal Science, valid from autumn 2016 (pdf)
• Syllabus VM006.2 Animal Science, valid from autumn 2021 (pdf)
• Syllabus VM006.3 Animal Science, valid from autumn 2022 (pdf)
• Syllabus VM006.4 Animal Science, valid from autumn 2025 (pdf)

Course syllabuses provide information about a course’s subject area(s) and its level and specialisation. The syllabus is available from the course’s webpage which you can search for here. If you are studying on a programme, you can in most cases click the course heading on the programme’s course schedule to go to the course page.

Abbreviations

• G1N: First-cycle level, only upper secondary entry requirements
• G1F: First-cycle level, fewer than 60 credits from first-cycle courses as entry requirement
• G2F: First-cycle level, a minimum of 60 credits at first-cycle level as entry requirement
• G2E: First-cycle level, a minimum of 60 credits at first-cycle level as entry requirement, contains a degree project for the Degree of Bachelor
• A1N: Second-cycle level, only first-cycle course(s) as entry requirement – at SLU, a minimum of 120 credits at first-cycle level is required
• A1F: Second-cycle level, contains degree project for
  Master’s degree (60 credits)
• GXX: First-cycle level, course specialisation cannot be classified
• AXX: Second-cycle level, course specialisation cannot be classified

The graphical course schedule (pdf-file) shows all programme courses in an overview picture.

Course schedule Animal Science - Master's programme 2025/2026 (pdf)
Course schedule Animal Science - Master's programme 2024/2025 (pdf)
Course schedule Animal Science - Master's programme 2023/2024 (pdf)

Link to Academic calendar

Course search - search for your course pages (be careful to apply the appropriate filter for earlier study periods!)