Horticultural Sciences
Degree
Mono-bachelor, Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.)
Where relevant, please also refer to the Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences combined bachelor program and the ‘Bachelor’s and master’s courses’ FAQ.
Length of study
Standard time for completing course 6 semesters
Start of study
Winter and summer semester, numerus clausus
Course structure
In total 180 credit points (CP*) are required
Mandatory Modules: 132 CP (including bachelor’s thesis)
Mandatory Elective Modules: 36 CP
General Elective Modules: 12 CP
*One credit point (CP) equals a workload of 25 - 30 hours for preparation, follow-up and attendance at classes.
Prerequisites for study
General or restricted entrance standard - or access without university entrance standard (Abitur) - in accordance with section 11 of the Berlin Higher Education Act.
Course objective
The Bachelor of Science is the first professional university degree in the Horticultural Sciences course. Upon successful completion of the course, students will possess a basic working knowledge of the subject and will have gained practice-oriented expertise from the fields of horticultural sciences, agricultural economics and social sciences. Students will also have an interdisciplinary perspective on the connections and cycles of horticultural production, the methodological and social skills to make flexible use of their knowledge in professional practice, and the foundations for gaining a second professional qualification.
Why study Horticultural Sciences at HU?
As opposed to agriculture, horticulture may have nothing to do with earth and the ground. Production takes place in technical installations such as greenhouses. Plants thrive in substrates that stimulate growth and receive water and nutrients by industrial means. Liquid manure is outdated, pests cannot penetrate the closed circuits. The approach is technologically-oriented, almost high tech. Production on existing cultivated land must be optimised to achieve maximum yields without harming the environment. At the same time, many universities are researching how to increase the nutrient content in plants and fruit - for example, by establishing fungal cultures at the roots. Efficiency in the greenhouse must increase. This could be vital in the future, as the global population is growing and we must generate increasingly high yields on an increasingly small area.
HU introduced the two-stage programme ending with the Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in 2000. It has been accredited and re-accredited. This is a modular course of study, offering students a high level of flexibility and mobility. The way the subject areas are equipped and the many opportunities to work at departments within Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and at experimental and research facilities supports the successful combination of theory and practice. We have agreements with more than 40 partner universities abroad. The master’s programme is primarily offered in English. Several international courses with other universities represent new forms of education and partnership. This also includes the Horticulture Science international master’s course, offered jointly with universities in Munich, Vienna and Bologna. The close connection with other specialised disciplines in the German capital is also unique. The 1,600-student institute is a member of Agrosnet, the Eastern German agricultural sciences association, as well as the European and global agriculture faculty federations (ICA and GCHERA). The institute is currently working together with agricultural faculties in Rostock and Halle to implement the ‘AgrosNet’ collaborative project (www.agrosnet.de). The aim of this association is to combine the strengths of individual locations for the benefit of students. Students can gain from this pooling of research and teaching resources, since the master’s and doctoral teaching modules at all three locations have been combined into one module pool. The students matriculate at their home university, but the timetable is compiled from the programs of all three universities. This is made possible by a ‘virtual campus’ and modern means of communication: distance-learning courses and video conferences, lectures on DVD, supplemented by two-week block modules, which form part of the final grade together with the examination and points awarded. The professors also offer regular chats.
The course accommodates the constantly changing professional fields in this area. Few other courses of study lead to so many different applications in practical work, science, services and consulting, both upstream and downstream, in Germany and abroad. The educational objective of the bachelor’s degree is to acquire professional capability and lay the foundations for the subsequent master’s course. This in turn will open up further fields of application, such as science and development aid, and forms the basis for a doctoral degree. Many graduates do not continue on to horticultural careers, but instead specialise in rural development or work in the environmental sector.
Content of studies
The best place to find information about course content is the annotated university calendar. It is online at u.hu-berlin.de/vorlesungsverzeichnis. Module descriptions and other details can be found in the course and examination regulations, available at www.amb.hu-berlin.de, no. 85/2014, 1st revision no. 16/2023. The course includes six months of on-the-job training. You can find further details in the professional internship regulations. Students must complete their field work before or during studies, and by submission of the bachelor’s thesis at the latest. The professional internship does not extend the standard time for completing course.
For the Horticultural Sciences bachelor’s degree course curriculum, see the appendix. The timing of the module shown here is the currently proposed targeted course structure and may change. Please contact the faculty for more information. Students are free to individually design their own courses.
Mono-bachelor's course Horticultural Sciences with 180 CP
Mandatory modules (132 CP)
| Module | Description | Size |
|---|---|---|
| PM 1 | Fundamentals of Biochemistry | 5 CP |
| PM 2 | Fundamentals of Physics and Meteorology | 5 CP |
| PM 3 | Plant Biology | 5 CP |
| PM 4 | Botanical Systems and Developmental Biology | 5 CP |
| PM 5 | Introduction to Economics | 5 CP |
| PM 6 | Agroecology | 5 CP |
| PM 7 | Soil Science | 6 CP |
| PM 8 | Agricultural and Horticultural Technology | 6 CP |
| PM 9 | Genetics and Plant Breeding | 6 CP |
| PM 10 | Analyses and Planning of Agricultural Business | 6 CP |
| PM 11 | Mathematics and Statistics | 6 CP |
| PM 12 | Phytomedicine I: Basics of Phytomedicine | 6 CP |
| PM 13 | Plant Nutrition and Fertilization | 6 CP |
| PM 14 | Agricultural Policy | 6 CP |
| PM 15 | Agriculture and Plant Cultivation | 6 CP |
| PM 16 | Vegetable Cultivation | 6 CP |
| PM 17 | Fundamentals of Floriculture | 6 CP |
| PM 18 | Fruit Cultivation | 6 CP |
| PM 19 | Fundamentals of Agricultural Marketing | 6 CP |
| PM 20 | Environmental and Resource Economics | 6 CP |
| PM 21 | Fundamentals of Tree Nursery | 6 CP |
|
Bachelor's Thesis |
12 CP |
Mandatory elective modules (36 CP)
The mandatory elective modules are divided into a priority area (18 CP) and a complementary area (18 CP).
Priority Area (18 CP)
Students must select one course with 6 CP out of each module pool.
Module pool I: Basics of empirical research
| Module | Description | Size |
|---|---|---|
| FWM S 1 |
Biometry |
6 CP |
| FWM S 2 | Econometrics | 6 CP |
Module pool II: Politics and markets
| Module | Description | Size |
|---|---|---|
| FWM S 3 | Fundamentals of Market and Policy Analysis | 6 CP |
| FWM S 4 | Structural Transformation and Rural Areas | 6 CP |
| FWM S 5 | World Markets of the Agricultural and Food Sector | 6 CP |
Module pool III: Natural resources and quality
| Module | Description | Size |
|---|---|---|
| FWM S 6 | Supply and Exploitation of Biogenic Resources | 6 CP |
| FWM S 7 | Grassland and Forage Farming | 6 CP |
| FWM S 8 | Quality Dynamics and Quality Assurance for Fruits and Vegetables | 6 CP |
| FWM S 9 | Plant Protection | 6 CP |
Complementary area (18 CP)
Within the complementary area students must choose modules with a total of 18 CP. The courses can be chosen from the modules FWM E1 - FWM E 45 listed below or from the module catalogues of other Natural and Life Science Faculty's subjects. Alternatively students can choose courses from the faculty's mandatory elective modules (priority area).
| Module | Description | Size |
|---|---|---|
| FWM E 1 | Problem-orientated work (Bridge module) | 6 CP |
| FWM E 2 | Agricultural Meteorology | 6 CP |
| FWM E 3 | Agricultural Project Workshop | 6 CP |
| FWM E 4 | Applied Phytomedicine | 6 CP |
| FWM E 5 | Selected Systems of Forest Management | 6 CP |
| FWM E 6 | Apiculture | 6 CP |
| FWM E 7 | Soil Utilisation Systems | 6 CP |
| FWM E 8 | Soil Protection I | 6 CP |
| FWM E 9 | Soil Protection II | 6 CP |
| FWM E 10 | Botanical Identification Courses | 6 CP |
| FWM E 11 | Fertilizer and Fertilization | 6 CP |
| FWM E 12 | Introduction to Plant Biotechnology | 6 CP |
| FWM E 13 | Nutrition, Health and Consumer Protection | 6 CP |
| FWM E 14 | Fishing Business Operations | 6 CP |
| FWM E 15 | Open Land Floriculture | 6 CP |
| FWM E 16 | Forage Farming and Exploitation Systems | 6 CP |
| FWM E 17 | Forage Conservation | 6 LP |
| FWM E 18 | Forage Plant Botany | 6 CP |
| FWM E 19 | Horticultural Plant Production and Agriculture | 6 CP |
| FWM E 20 | Greenhouse Technology | 6 CP |
| FWM E 21 | Fundamentals of Controlling | 6 CP |
| FWM E 22 | Trade and Service Business Administration | 6 CP |
| COM 23 | Introduction to Aquaculture | 6 CP |
| FWM E 24 | Methods and Methodology of scientific work | 6 CP |
| FWM E 25 | Molecular and Population Genetics | 6 CP |
| FWM E 26 | Natural Environment and Agricultural Site Structuring | 6 CP |
| FWM E 27 | Farm Animal Biology | 6 CP |
| FWM E 28 | Organic Farming | 6 CP |
| FWM E 29 | Organic Fruit Growing | 6 CP |
| FWM E 30 | Horse Breeding and Feeding | 6 CP |
| FWM E 31 | Phytomedicine Report: Basics | 6 CP |
| FWM E 32 | Tropical/ Subtropical Fruit and Vegetable Quality Assurance | 6 CP |
| FWM E 33 | Horticultural and Agricultural Accounting | 6 CP |
| FWM E 34 | Reproductive Biology of Agricultural Farm Animals | 6 CP |
| FWM E 35 | Special Horticultural Plant Cultivation | 6 CP |
| FWM E 36 | Habitat Ecology I | 6 CP |
| FWM E 37 | Habitat Ecology II | 6 CP |
| FWM E 38 | Student Project | 6 CP |
| FWM E 39 | Horticultural and Agricultural Open Land Production Technology | 6 CP |
| FWM E 40 | Animal Product Processing Technology | 6 CP |
| FWM E 41 | Animal Feed and Ration Balancing | 6 CP |
| FWM E 42 | Process Engineering and Agronomical Problems with Timber Cultivation | 6 CP |
| FWM E 43 | Process Engineering Exercises (Animal Farming) | 6 CP |
| FWM E 44 | Agricultural Water Management | 6 CP |
| FWM E 45 | Protected Cultivation of Ornamental Plants | 6 CP |
General elective modules (12 CP)
In addition to specialised study, Students acquire subject-specific, non-specialist and interdisciplinary key qualifications of 12 CP. The general elective modules can be chosen from the module catalogues of other subjects or central institutions (see: http://agnes.hu-berlin.de/). Alternatively students can choose courses from the faculty's mandatory elective modules.
General elective course offerings for students coming from other courses of studies
| Module | Description | Size |
|---|---|---|
| FWM E 22 | Trade and Service Business Administration | 10 CP |
| FWM E 29 | Organic Fruit Growing | 10 CP |
Master’s degrees
The faculty offers a wide range of internationally-oriented master’s courses:
Agricultural Economics
Fish Biology, Fisheries and Aquaculture
Horticultural Science
Integrated Natural Resource Management
Process and Quality Management
Rural Development.
You will find more information in the ‘Course catalogue’.
Important addresses
Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture: Invalidenstr. 42, 10115 Berlin, www.agrar.hu-berlin.de, Tel. +49 30 2093-46300
Course Advisory Service (also contact for approval and classification in higher semester): Mr. Kummerow, Tel. +49 30 2093-46304, udo.kummerow@agrar.hu-berlin.de
Applications: www.hu-berlin.de/interessierte
Links to job market: Federal Employment Office Berufenet (http://berufenet.arbeitsagentur.de/berufe/ - tip: type ‘Horticultural Sciences’ into the search screen, select a profession), careers information centre (http://www.arbeitsagentur.de/web/content/DE/BuergerinnenUndBuerger/ArbeitundBeruf/Berufswahl/Berufsinformationszentren/index.htm), employment market reports (http://statistik.arbeitsagentur.de/Navigation/Statistik/Arbeitsmarktberichte/Akademiker/Akademiker-Nav.html),Hochschulteam calendar of events (http://www.arbeitsagentur.de/web/content/DE/dienststellen/rdbb/berlinmitte/Agentur/BuergerinnenundBuerger/Akademiker/index.htm)
Version: April 2023
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