This is a preparation tool to help you have a smoother start in September by providing you with academic, practical and other useful information about your upcoming degree.
It's a tool that was co-created by current students & teachers at Ghent university, though the modules taught in the first semester are universal and should therefore also be applicable for the other starting universities.
Everything here is completely voluntary and none of this is formally assessed, it is merely an option we'd like to offer you to help you have a good start.
We collated information here on the basic background knowledge and prerequisites for some of the fundamentals modules, where you can self-assess your knowledge using the online quizzes we created. If you feel like you are lacking some understanding in a certain area - don't worry - we've also put together lists with useful material and supporting resources to help you get an understanding of those concepts. Having a good grasp on those concepts will mean that you have more than enough background knowledge to follow the courses in September. However, they are no guarantee for passing those modules and are simply here to support you before starting.
We also have some other sections that provide resources for your mental wellbeing, practical and logistical tools and information, general resources for academic skills and a great collection of cool inspirational material all related to marine sciences. They are not officially endorsed by IMBRSea, just informal recommendations from some of the current students that we thought might be interesting for you.
We really hope that this will be useful for you and that the information provided here will help you have a great start for your journey over the next 2 years!
This is the first version of this tool, so we are still updating and changing this also according to your feedback.
This is a collection of software and resources to help you improve you presentation and scientific writing skills, and the use of English for academic purposes.
Question Styles & Teaching Culture
Be aware that the teaching culture at IMBRSea might be quite different to what you were used to at your previous universities. This is especially important for exam styles and making sure you know what is expected of you. Answering an "open question" might mean something different here compared to your previous university. So be sure to clarify with your teachers in the beginning of the course, so you know what is expected of you and how to meet those expectations. For example, clarify what "open question" means for them - what level of detail, complexity and length of the answer are they expecting?
Practical Tools & Software
Giving Presentations
Creating Graphs & Figures for Scientific Publications
English for Academic Purposes