Information for current students
Organize Your Studies: Curriculum and Resources for MGAP Students
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Curriculum
Please note that the MGAP curriculum has been updated for students starting in winter semester 2017/18 or later.
The program is organized in modules, of which some are mandatory (P) and others are elective (WP). Most madatory modules consists of two courses, while the elective modules are usually comprise single course to provide more felxibility in course choice. A certain number of elective modules have to be chosen.
Module Scheme
Module Scheme according to the modified study and examination regulations 2017, valid for students starting in winter semester 2017/18 or later.
The program is organized in modules, of which some are mandatory (P) and others are elective (WP). A certain number of elective courses have to be chosen by the student. The mandatory (P) modules usually consist of two courses, elective modules (WP) are usually single courses to increase the flexibility for course choice.
Mandatory modules
- P 1 Paleobiology (6 ECTS)
- P 1.1 Evolution of Life: Lecture (3 ECTS)
- P 1.2 Evolution of Life: Tutorial (3 ECTS)
- P 2 Evolutionary Geobiology (6 ECTS)
- P 2.1 Systematics and Phylogenetics: Lecture (3ECTS)
- P 2.2 Phylogenetic Analysis of Morphological and Molecular Characters (PAMM) (3 ECTS)
- P 3 Environmental Geobiology (6 ECTS)
- P 3.1 Global Cylcles : Lecture (3 ECTS)
- P 3.2 Global Cylcles : Tutorial (3 ECTS)
Elective modules: Background modules (chose 2 of 4)
- WP 1.1 Basic Concepts in Geology: Lecture (3 ECTS)
- WP 2.1 Basic Concepts in Biology: Lecture (3 ECTS)
- WP 3.1 Basic Concepts in Molecular Paleobiology: Lecture (3 ECTS)
- WP 4 Systematic Data and Evidence (Faculty of Biology) (6 ECTS)
- WP 4.1 Systematic Data and Evidence: Lecture (4 ECTS)
- WP 4.2 Systematic Data and Evidence: Tutorial (2 ECTS)
Elective modules: Specialized modules (chose 2 of 3)
- WP 5.1 Basic Invertebrate Geobiology: Tutorial (3 ECTS)
- WP 6.1 Concepts of Biomineralization: Lecture (3 ECTS)
- WP 7.1 Marine Biology: Lecture (3 ECTS)
Mandatory modules
- P 4 Laboratory Methods (6 ECTS)
- P 4.1 Methods in Geobiology and Paleobiology: Lecture (3 ECTS)
- P 4.2 Methods in Geobiology and Paleobiology: Tutorial (3 ECTS)
- P 5 Data Analysis (6 ECTS)
- P 5.1 Statistics for Geobiology and Paleobiology: Lecture (3ECTS)
- P 5.2 Statistics for Geobiology and Paleobiology: Tutorial (3 ECTS)
- P 6 Field Practical I (3 ECTS)
- P 6.1 Geobiology: Field Practical (3 ECTS)
- P 7 Field Practical II (3 ECTS)
- P 7.1 Paleobiology: Field Practical (3 ECTS)
- P 8 Scientific Presentation and Communication
- P 8.1 Presentation and Communication Skills: Seminar (3 ECTS)
- P 8.2 Seminar on Current Topics in Geobiology and Paleobiology (3 ECTS)
Elective modules (chose 2 of 4)
- WP 8.1 Molecular Methods in Geobiology: Tutorial (3 ECTS)
- WP 9.1 Vertebrate Paleontology: Tutorial (3 ECTS)
- WP 10.1 Vertebrate Evolution: Tutorial (3 ECTS)
- WP 11.1 Micropaleontology: Tutorial (3 ECTS)
Mandatory modules
- P 9 Research Project (12 ECTS)
- P 9.1 Research Project Design: Seminar (2 ECTS)
- P 9.2 Individual Research Project:Practical (10 ECTS)
- P 10 Evolution and Ecology (6 ECTS)
- P 10.1 Mechanisms of Evolution: Lecture (3ECTS)
- P 10.2 Paleoecology: Lecture (3 ECTS)
Elective modules (chose 4 of 6)
- WP 12.1 Geobiological Field Exercises: Field Practical (3 ECTS)
- WP 13.1 Geomicrobiology: Tutorial (3 ECTS)
- WP 14.1 Advanced Topics in Geosciences: Lecture (3 ECTS)
- WP 15.1 Special Topics in Geosciences: Lectures (2 ECTS)
- WP 16.1 Advanced Invertebrate Geobiology: Tutorial (3 ECTS)
- WP 17.1 Collections Management and Research: Tutorial (3 ECTS)
Mandatory modules
- P 11 Final module
- P 11.1 Master Thesis (27 ECTS)
- P 11.2 Disputation (3 ECTS)
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the adoption of third-party texts, presentations, illustrations or electronic formats (files) without any labelling of the source in all types of written assignments (e.g. reports, term papers, seminar papers, theses or similar).
Plagiarism is a severe offence in science, and it can have severe consequences for a professional career, even outside of science. It is also not accepted in any graded work during studies. The legal framework for the disciplinary action in cases of plagiarism is already stated in §30 ("Deception, breach of order") of the MGAP examination and study regulations. In our programme only a few unfortunate individual cases occurred. Therefore, the examination board decided to communicate the following two-tiered rule of actions in case of detected plagiarism for consistency and full transparency:
Stage 1 (Warning, first case of detected plagiarism):
- The plagiarized piece of work will be graded with "5" (=insufficient, failed).
- The incident will be reported to the examination board by the lecturer.
- A cautinary conversation will be held.
- Plagiarism in the Master's thesis will immediatly lead to exmatriculation.
Stage 2 (Exmatriculation):
- The student in question will be expelled (exmatriculation) in the case of recurrence, i.e. if a student commits plagiarism for the second time, or, in severe cases, also directly upon the first misconduct. The level of severity will be assessed by the MGAP examination committee.
All students and lecturers should be aware of these procedures and the severe consequences of plagiarism and avoid it.
Lecturers
| Name | Position |
|---|---|
| Erpenbeck, Dirk | Adjunct Professor in the field of geobiology |
| Göhlich, Ursula | Private lecturer |
| Ifrim, Christina | Lecturer (habilitated) |
| Kölbl-Ebert, Martina | Scientist and habilitated lecturer |
| Kustatscher, Evelyn | private lecturer (habilitated) |
| Mayr, Christoph | Visiting scholar |
| Orsi, William | Professor of Geomicrobiology |
| Rauhut, Oliver | Adjunct professor in the field of Paleontology |
| Reichenbacher, Bettina | Professor of Paleontology |
| Rößner, Gertrud | Privatdozentin |
| Voigt, Oliver | Scientist and habilitated lecturer |
| Wörheide, Gert | Professor and Chair of Paleontology and Geobiology |