Pursuant to consolidation Act 391 of April 10, 2024 on Universities (the University Act), the following is established.
The programme also follows the Examination Policies and Procedures incl. the Joint Programme Regulations for Aalborg University.
The Professional Master’s Degree programme is organised in accordance with the Ministry of Higher Education and Science’s Order no. 19 of January 9, 2020 on Professional Master’s Degree Programmes, Ministerial Order no. 2272 of December 1, 2021 on Part-time University Programmes (the Part-Time Order) with subsequent change, and Ministerial Order no. 2271 of December 1, 2021 on University Examinations (the Examination Order) with subsequent change. Further reference is made to Ministerial Order no. 1125 of July 4, 2022 (the Grading Scale Order).
The programme is offered in Aalborg.
The Masters’s programme falls under The Technical Faculty of IT and Design, Aalborg University.
The Master’s programme falls under Study Board of Techno-Anthropology and Sustainable Design.
The Master’s programme is associated with the external examiners corps on Civil engineering corps of external examiners.
Admission requires that the applicant has completed a relevant qualifying programme.
Relevant qualifying programmes are:
Furthermore, admission requires that the applicant has 2 years of relevant work experience after completion of the qualifying programme.
Relevant work experiences are:
Aalborg University may allow admission to applicants who do not fulfil the admission requirements but who are considered to have the necessary prerequisites to accomplish the study programme. The requirement of relevant professional experience cannot be exempted.
The Master’s programme entitles the graduate to the Danish designation Master i problembaseret læring i ingeniør- og naturvidenskab. The English designation is: Master of Problem Based Learning in Engineering and Science.
The Master’s programme is a 2-year, research-based, full-time study programme. The programme is set to 60 ECTS credits.
The Study Board can approve that passed programme elements from other educational programmes at the same level replaces programme elements within this programme (credit transfer).
Furthermore, the Study Board can, upon application, approve that parts of this programme is completed at another university or a further education institution in Denmark or abroad (pre-approval of credit transfer).
The Study Board’s decisions regarding credit transfer are based on an academic assessment.
The Study Board’s possibilities to grant exemption, including exemption to further examination attempts and special examination conditions, are stated in the Examination Policies and Procedures published at this website: https://www.studyservice.aau.dk/rules
The rules for examinations are stated in the Examination Policies and Procedures published at this website:https://www.studyservice.aau.dk/rules
In the assessment of all written work, regardless of the language it is written in, weight is also given to the student's formulation and spelling ability, in addition to the academic content. Orthographic and grammatical correctness as well as stylistic proficiency are taken as a basis for the evaluation of language performance. Language performance must always be included as an independent dimension of the total evaluation. However, no examination can be assessed as ‘Pass’ on the basis of good language performance alone; similarly, an examination normally cannot be assessed as ‘Fail’ on the basis of poor language performance alone.
The Board of Studies can grant exemption from this in special cases (e.g., dyslexia or a native language other than Danish).
The Master’s project must include an English summary. If the project is written in English, the summary can be in Danish. The summary is included in the evaluation of the project as a whole.
It is assumed that the student can read academic texts in English and use reference works, etc., in English and other European languages.
Furthermore, it is assumed that the student has written and oral command of English, sufficient to participate in online group discussions.
A Master has competencies that have been acquired through a course of study based on an integration of research results and practical experience.
A Master is able to fulfil highly qualified functions in business, institutions and the like, through scholarship-based personal and academic competencies.
The primary aim of this master’s program is to equip participants with the competencies to act as change agents, applying problem-based, project-organized learning across various levels and contexts within the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) field.
A Graduate from the MPBL programme is expected to achieve the knowledge to:
A Graduate from the MPBL programme is expected to achieve the skills to:
A Graduate from the MPBL programme is expected to achieve the competences to:
The programme is structured in modules and organised as a problem-based study. A module is a programme element or a group of programme elements, which aims to give students a set of professional skills within a fixed time frame specified in ECTS credits, and concluding with one or more examinations within specific exam periods. Examinations are defined in the curriculum.
The programme is organized around problem-oriented projects, structured in four semesters, where participants work independently on topics of their interest and relevant for their professional learning and development. Each semester consists of a 15 ECTS project module, which comprises self-study, self-organized, team-based work supported by facilitation, thematic workshops, online study group work and seminars.
The academic progression of the programme is reflected in the semester themes and respective project work.
In semester 1, the participants work on a project related with pedagogical foundations for course and curriculum (re)design. They will discuss and reflect about historical, theoretical and pedagogical foundations of PBL, document their educational experiences, provide a road map for their professional development whilst framing the values and identity needed to change teaching and learning practice. These processes are developed through problematization of their own teaching practice and re-design of their course’s syllabi using PBL principles, and the related theories of learning.
In semester 2 the project work includes the revision and implementation of a course re-design using PBL principles as learning approach. The participants have the possibility to choose one out of four elective project modules, which reflect different educational contexts and purposes.
In semester 3 the PBL design is evaluated, where participants learn and develop skills related with scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and educational research. This provides a basis for fulfilment of educational goals and quality assurance of PBL designs that are implemented in module 4.
Semester 4 corresponds to the master’s thesis project where participants develop competences in problematizing contemporary educational challenges (e.g., employability, well-being, retention, motivation, etc.), which requires the management of complex and unpredictable change processes at course, curriculum and institutional levels. If requested, the master’s thesis project can commence in the period correspondent to last quarter of the third semester.
A total of 35 ECTS is assessed through external examination and a total of 60 ECTS is marked according to the 7-point grading scale.
TEACHING FORMAT
The programme is based on a combination of academic, problem-oriented and interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning. Teaching formats include but may not be limited to the following methods:
The MPBL programme is an international, fully online programme; thus, in this programme advanced e-learning tools, including learning management platforms, video conferencing tools and other asynchronous and synchronous tools are used intensively.
Offered as:
1-professional | ||||||
Module name | Course type | ECTS | Applied grading scale | Evaluation method | Assessment method | Language |
1 Semester
| ||||||
Pedagogical Foundations for Course and Curriculum (Re)Design for PBL
(TBMPBL25101) | Project | 15 | 7-point grading scale | Internal examination | Oral exam based on a project | English |
2 Semester
| ||||||
Electives 2nd Semester
Choose 1 project
| Project | 15 | ||||
3 Semester
| ||||||
PBL Research and Reflection in and through Practice
(TBMPBL25301) | Project | 15 | 7-point grading scale | Internal examination | Oral exam based on a project | English |
4 Semester
| ||||||
Master's Project
(TBMPBL25401) | Project | 15 | 7-point grading scale | External examination | Master's thesis/final project | English |
Electives 2nd Semester Choose 1 project | ||||||
Module name | Course type | ECTS | Applied grading scale | Evaluation Method | Assessment method | Language |
PBL for Change Making
(TBMPBL25201) | Project | 15 | 7-point grading scale | External examination | Oral exam based on a project | English |
PBL in Higher Education
(TBMPBL25202) | Project | 15 | 7-point grading scale | External examination | Oral exam based on a project | English |
PBL in K12 Education
(TBMPBL25203) | Project | 15 | 7-point grading scale | External examination | Oral exam based on a project | English |
PBL and Sustainability
(TBMPBL25204) | Project | 15 | 7-point grading scale | External examination | Oral exam based on a project | English |
The curriculum is approved by the dean and enters into force as of September 1, 2025,
The Study Board does not offer teaching after the previous curriculum from 2019 after the summer examination 2026.
The Study Board will offer examinations after the previous curriculum, if there are students who have used examination attempts in a module without passing. The number of examination attempts follows the rules in the Examination Order.