The M.Sc. in Science Communication is a joint M.Sc. degree offered by NUS and the College of Science,
Australian National University (ANU). The programme aims to foster the skills necessary to:
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be competent, confident communicators of science and technology to the general public and schoolage audiences; develop materials for effective communication to non-specialist audiences; propose and supervise project work and other scientific activities; and develop confidence in lifelong learning.
Admission Requirements
Applicants have to fulfil the admission requirements for both universities in order to gain admission to the joint degree programme.
Applicants seeking admission must have: a good bachelor’s degree in Science (or equivalent) from a reputable university a postgraduate diploma from National Institute of Education for teachers without an honours degree good TOEFL score if English was not the medium of instruction in their undergraduate studies
Applicants without an honours degree in science will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Programme Structure
The course can be taken full-time over one year or part-time over two years with a maximum candidature of three years for full-time students and five years for part-time students. All students can progress at their own pace and choose modules that best suit their work schedule.
Full-time students will spend one semester (January to June) at NUS and one semester (July to December) at ANU. Part-time students will spend a semester at NUS (January to June) and read ANU modules through ANU online facilities.
All students must read an ANU core module in intensive mode at the Science Centre Singapore in June.
All students can work on their dissertation (project) concurrently with their modules or during the subsequent year.
The 4 core modules are:
NUS MW5201 Topics in Science Communication
NUS MW5202 Innovations in Science Teaching
ANU SCOM8020 Science Communications and Creative Teaching
ANU SCOM8021 Ethics, Issues and Consequences of Science
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Elective modules from ANU are:
BIOL6191 Biology, Society and Ethics
BIOL8021 Health and Disease in a Changing World
BIOL8020 Genomics & Biotechnology
EMSC8015 Imaging Earth Structure
MATH8001 Poetry of the Cosmos
MATH8020 Computational Science
PHYS8510 Lasers and Photonics
PHYS8511 Optical Fibre Communications
ENVS8005 Climate Change Science
SCOM8015 Speaking of Science
SCOM6003 Science in Popular Fiction
SCOM6012 Science Communication and the Web
SCOM6016 Science in the Media
SCOM6029 Cross Cultural Perspectives in Science Communication
SCOM6030 Science Dialogue Theory and Practice
SCOM6501 Strategies in Science Communication|
SCOM6027 Science and Public Policy
In addition to the core and elective modules, students are required to complete a research project worth
12 NUS modular credits.
Coursework Requirements
Students must read and pass NUS and ANU modules worth 40 NUS modular credits (MCs) or 48 ANU credits, with a CAP (NUS) of 3.0 or its equivalent over their approved candidature period.
Programme Intake
There is only one intake per year in January.
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