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Honey Bee Health (Apiculture) Micro-credential

Overview

This micro-credential aims to provide beekeepers with the knowledge and skills necessary to raise and maintain healthy honeybees. Key to this is good animal husbandry and knowledge of pests and diseases of the honeybee. Combining these skills with the ability to follow best practice with respect to monitoring for disease, observing good hygiene, awareness of disease susceptibility, and avoiding overstocking pressures, puts the beekeeper in control.

Duration and Mode of Study

• Duration: 12 weeks
• Mode of Study: Blended Learning

Next Start Date and Fee

• Next start date: January 2026
• Fee: 550

NFQ and ECTS

• NFQ: Level 8
• ECTS: 5 Credits

Entry Requirements

Applicants must be over 21 years of age. Candidates must already own at least one hive of bees to be able to complete the Micro-credential.

Learning Outcomes

1. Discuss the mechanisms of immunity in Apis mellifera.
2. Identify current parasites of honeybees in Ireland and more widely, considering potential threats to honeybee health from imported bees and other products.
3. Describe the life cycle of the main honeybee pathogens.
4. Explain the importance of plants to honeybee health.
5. Link the diversity of microbes associated with honeybees with their influence on honeybee health.
6. Discuss human-mediated factors involved in decline of honeybee health.
7. Apply best practice in apiary management hygiene and notifiable disease protocols.

Assessments

• Continuous Assessment (60%)
• Oral, Audio Visual or Practical Assessment (40%)

Testimonials

• Alejandra Bonifacio, Graduate: This course gave me the opportunity to have a deeper look at the scientific aspect of beekeeping. To me, keeping bees is more than a hobby, it is also a career and a science. This micro-credential gave me the tools to be able to perform a deeper first disease diagnosis on my colonies and include this knowledge in my own study material.
• Brian Dane, Student: I have about 15 years experience as a beekeeper, and I have progressed through the FIBKA examination system but I wanted more information about Honeybee Health. This course filled that gap perfectly. I found the course content very complete but very well presented. Dr Helen Mooney and all the lecturers were authoritative and very good communicators.

About University of Galway

Founded in 1845, University of Galway has earned international recognition as a research-led university with a commitment to top quality teaching.