Plant Breeding: Principles of Plant Breeding (test)

This course is aimed at professionals working in plant breeding or closely related fields who want to strengthen their theoretical foundation. It is particularly suitable if you want to further develop your expertise or combine this course with other advanced Online Master’s Courses in Plant Breeding.

• Explain basic concepts and principles in plant breeding.
• Evaluate plant breeding selection online courses in terms of their advantages and limitations.
• Choose the appropriate selection method to breed for (certain combinations of) traits.
• Select the appropriate breeding strategy, considering the mode of reproduction of the crop of interest.
• Indicate the key features, advantages and challenges in the production of F1 hybrid cultivars.
• Analyse observations to separate genetic and non-genetic components of variation, including estimation of heritability.
• Discuss the consequences of chimerism in mutants, and the implications of ploidy differences in breeding material.

This online, master-level course is followed in a cohort and combines flexibility with academic rigour. You study largely at your own pace while working towards fixed assignment deadlines, allowing you to combine the course with your professional responsibilities.

Download the brochure for full details on course structure, learning activities and study load.

Upon successful completion - passing the exam -, a digital Micro-credentials certificate (EduBadge) with 3 study credits (ECTS) is issued. The EduBadge certifies the learning outcomes of short-term learning experiences, marking the quality of a course.

Participation in the remotely proctored exam is optional. If you decide not to participate in the exam, you do not qualify for a Micro-credential.

The date of examination is 1 October 2026. The duration of an exam is 3 hours. The resit will be scheduled on 3 or 4 February 2027.