FNAS School of Plant Biology - Prospective Undergrads

Are you thinking about studying plant science at university?

If you aren't quite sure what you want to study yet, the information on the following pages should help you with that decision.

The School is involved in teaching the following courses:

You might also want to see what our graduates are doing now, or investigate the scholarships available.

Students interested in plant biology can focus on disciplines such as botany, molecular plant biology, plant ecology or plant genetics, or they can study in broad areas such as agriculture, natural resource management, and marine science.

The School of Plant Biology teaches in two degree programs. Both degrees aim to combine fundamentals in basic sciences with field and practical experience to develop an appreciation of basic science, and how science can be applied to real problems.

Three-year degrees: the Bachelor of Science (B Sc) and related programs most importantly the B Sc (Marine Science) and B Sc (Environmental Science). Eligible students can also take a research-intensive fourth year known as Honours. Teaching in these degrees relate to majors in Botany and Marine Biology. Our role in the core business of these majors is a focus on plants in all their manifestations: physiology, ecology, taxonomy, genetics, and evolution. Our graduates have gone on to careers in environmental assessment, research, teaching in many government agencies and in industry.

Botany majors must take six units across the breadth of plant biology in third year
Marine Biology majors take units from plant biology as well as units from the School of Animal Biology.

Four-year degrees: principally in Agriculture, Horticulture & Viticulture, Animal Science, Natural Resource Management and Landscape Management. Teaching in these programs is related to topics ranging from crop production to conservation biology. The focus is generally more applied than in the three-year programs, includes some structured background in economics, science and communication and attempts to produce a well rounded, broadly educated graduate who might fit into a variety of jobs ranging from agriculture to wildlife management. At third and fourth year level there are no set combinations of units as in majors above – you can be narrow or develop breadth.

There are several themes running through third and fourth year teaching: genetics and plant breeding, integrated pest management, plant physiology, plant ecology, crop science, plant environment systems . Fourth-year students also conduct a compulsory research project in the area of their choice., sometimes co-supervised by plant biologists in industry - Kings Park & Botanic Garden, Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (DAFWA).

We look forward to welcoming you as a science student in the School of Plant Biology!

Information for Prospective Undergraduate Students