Physics - Nanophysics – (M.Sc.)

Sustained S&T and industrial development over the last decade induced an increasing need for specialised, top-notch, advanced university trainings in the fields of nanophysics and material science. Since 2002, the University of Antwerp had its Master in Nanophysics programme open to foreign students, with more than 70 graduates to date. In short, our M.Sc. programme is built upon the following standpoints:

• No progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology can be made without clear understanding of all mechanisms of underlying, fundamental nanophysics.
• No proper training in nanophysics, preparatory for R&D work in nanotechnology, can be covered in a period less than two years.
• No proper training in nanophysics can be done without access to different visions and different approaches even within same topics.

To comprise the above goals, our courses, in fundamental nanophysics and its advanced applications, are organised in a full, two-year master programme, in collaboration with several other scientific institutions, and with diploma equivalent to any regular European M.Sc. diploma.

Who?

The Master in Physics – Nanophysics is primarily oriented to people with interest in nanoscience behind nanotechnology. In practice, all bachelor degrees in the field of Science or Applied Sciences that have a strong focus on physics will be considered for admission (e.g. Physics, Physical Electronics, Physical Chemistry, Material Science, etc.).

Future?

At the end of the programme, the graduated students will have acquired knowledge in fundamental physics, material sciences, nanosciences and computational methods. Moreover, they will hold various competences thanks to the advanced practicals and workshops proposed within the programme essential for their future professional activities. The competences our programme is trying to provide are:

• Understanding of concepts used to describe the matter at the nanoscale
• Mastering the formalism and methods in order to perform theoretical studies and calculations with applications from nanoscopic to macroscopic scale
• Evaluating the appropriate techniques to be used to probe specific properties of the matter
• Acquiring experience in large scale facilities
• Developing communication skills and world-wide networking in a multi-cultural environment
• Searching, interpreting and compiling relevant scientific literature
• Delimiting a scientific problem by planning a scientific study, choosing appropriate methods, carrying out the study, interpreting and evaluating the results
• Synthesizing results in a comprehensive and pedagogic way
• Presenting the results to a large audience in correct language and popular form

All the listed competences will contribute to the easy integration of students in future academic opportunities as well as in the private job market. The figure on the right shows the accumulated statistics for recently graduated students. The large fraction of our graduates continue their education in PhD or business programmes, but many of them also find careers in private companies (as scientists, engineers or managers) and teaching institutions.