Master Public Health

Institution Oxford Brookes University
Method At the institution
Location Oxford
Type Masters
Course fee By request

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Master Public Health

Entry requirements The course attracts applicants from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities. If your background is in nursing, medicine, social services, environmental health, the voluntary sector, planning or housing, we encourage you to apply. Entry requirements include a first degree or equivalent experience, plus fluent writing skills and evidence that you are numerate and have undertaken work/study involving basic statistics (eg you have measured information using standard deviation). For students whose first language is not English you will need to meet the English language requirements, outlined in the Oxford Brookes University postgraduate regulations.
Academic title MSc / PGDip / PGCert Public Health
Course description MSc / PGDip / PGCert

This innovative and successful MSc in Public Health welcomes UK, EU and international applicants from a wide range of professions. The principles underlying this course are that the health of communities is the concern of a wide group of professionals, that health is related to a variety of factors, including individual biology and genetics, socio-economic factors, environmental factors and behavioural factors, and that good health is a right, not a privilege.

Society is made up of people of different races, nationalities, abilities, ages, sexual identities, religions, beliefs and lifestyles. Inequalities in health status within and between communities is unjust and different professions and agencies must and can work together to overcome this injustice.

Our strength and reputation is built on our student-centredness, our teaching, our research excellence, our innovation and service to the community and professional organisations, and our educational philosophy, which seeks to embrace public health education in its widest sense.

Our students are drawn from a variety of health and social care professions locally, from across the British Isles and internationally.

This course is designed to prepare you to become a leader in public health and to provide you with flexible opportunities to enable you to pursue a coherent programme of study which meets your individual needs.

We aim to help:

    * bring the theories and principles of public health to bear on your work
    * increase your ability to work effectively across professional and agency boundaries to improve the health of populations.

On completion of this course, you will be in a strong position to undertake the UK Part I exam of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine and to work in the growing number of positions that require a good understanding and analysis of public health. You will also gain a greater appreciation of the importance of working collaboratively and the confidence to pursue inter-agency collaboration on health and social issues.
Course content

The course is offered at three levels: PGCert, PGDip and MSc.

The PGCert in Public Health is based on the completion of the following modules:

    * Foundations of Public Health
    * Epidemiology
    * Community Action for Health

The PGDip in Public Health is based on the completion of the above modules, plus:

    * Statistics for Health and Social Care Research
    * Advanced Research Design
    * One module from the acceptable modules list..

The MSc in Public Health is based on the completion of all the above modules plus:

    * Dissertation in Public Health

Acceptable modules from the School of Health and Social Care include:

    * Creating Frameworks for Learning
    * Inter-Professional Learning for Collaboration
    * Comparative Analysis in Health Policy
    * Communicable Diseases and Public Health
    * Lifelong Learning, Developing Personal and Organisational Learning
    * Operational Management for Policy and Strategy
    * Managing Change through Human Resource Management
    * Knowledge Management - Decision Making and Information Systems
    * Evaluation of Health Care
    * Leadership and Policy
    * Critical Appraisal and Research Utilisation
    * Work-Based Learning
    * Independent Study.

Acceptable modules from other schools within the University:

    * Pollution Measurement and Analysis
    * International Nutrition
    * Principles of Development Practice
    * The World of Refugees
    * Development and Urbanisation
    * Environmental Law and Decision Making
    * Environmental Assessment.

Teaching, learning and assessment

Teaching and learning methods include lectures, directed reading, workshops, seminars, and project work. Some modules include group presentations, and the Epidemiology module has an examination paper.

Teaching is organised on a module-credit basis, each module involving approximately 200 hours of student input and approximately 36 hours of staff contact, normally delivered through a three-hour teaching block over a 12-week period.

Each module is assessed individually, generally on the quality of written or design work, and to some extent on verbal presentations. Assessment methods may include essays, seminar papers, formal written examinations, verbal presentations, workshop and practical exercises.

Quality

The report of the QAA Major Review 1 (Health Visiting, Nursing, Midwifery and Operating Department Practice programmes) in October 2005 was overwhelmingly positive and revealed high levels of confidence in all the areas reviewed.

Teaching staff are drawn primarily from the School of Health and Social Care, together with guest lecturers from the Health Protection Association, the Public Health Resource Unit, public health care consultancies, and the NHS.