Curriculum

The UG MPH Programme Curriculum was developed in accordance with recommendations from the Council for Education in Public Health (CEPH), the principal accrediting body for public health programmes in the Americas, and in consultation with the Ministry of (Public) Health.

A minimum of 42 credits are required for graduation. Students will obtain these credits by passing (>55%) eleven core courses, a practicum and a culminating project.

 

Structure and Schedule of the Programme

The programme is delivered on an Executive style weekend schedule over two years. Students attend scheduled classes on campus from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm on two weekends (both Saturday and Sunday) each month.

 

Year 1 Semester 1					Year 1 Semester 2
Course	Code	Credits1	Hours		Course	Code	Credits	Hours
Foundational Skills	MPH 6101	2	24
Epidemiology I – Introduction to Epidemiology	MPH 6102	4	48		Epidemiology II  - Applied Epidemiology and Research Methods	MPH 6201	4	48
Biostatistics I	MPH 6103	4	48		Biostatistics II	MPH 6202	4	48
Health Behaviour	MPH 6104	3	36		Surveillance	MPH 6203	3	36
Health Systems	MPH 6105	3	36		Environmental Health	MPH 6204	3	36
TOTAL	-	16	192		TOTAL	-	14	168

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year 2 Semester 1					Year 2 Semester 2
Course	Code	Credits	Hours		Course	Code	Credits	Hours
Monitoring & Evaluation	MPH 7101	1	12		Culminating Project	MPH 7201	4	482
Leadership & Management	MPH 7102	1	12
Programme Planning	MPH 7103	1	12
Practicum	MPH 7104	5	602
TOTAL	-	8	96				4	48

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

¹One credit is equivalent to 12 hours of scheduled classroom time (except for practicum and culminating experience – see below); actual contact hours will include Moodle and Skype sessions with lecturers, small group work and tutorials – these will vary across courses.

²The entire practicum is expected to last 240 hours, but students must spend a minimum of 60 hours (two work weeks) on-site. They may complete practicum-related work away from the placement site during the remaining hours, provided that this is acceptable to their Practicum Supervisor and host organisation. Students will be allowed to work on their culminating experience (CE) project over a period of at least 6 months (1 semester), but must spend a minimum of 48 hours meeting with their CE supervisor and participating in CE seminars (including presentations of their own proposal and findings).

 

1. Core Courses

The first year of the programme is comprised of 8 core-courses: Epidemiology I & II, Biostatistics I & II, Health Systems Administration, Health Behaviour, Surveillance, and Environmental Health. Three additional, short core-courses will be conducted in Semester 1 of year 2: Monitoring & Evaluation, Leadership & Management, and Programme Planning.  Two lecturers, one from UG and one from either VU or UCSF developed each of these courses.  Further details about course development partners are provided in Section (g) below.

 

2. Practicum

The MPH practicum will seek to provide students the opportunity to develop and use the knowledge and skills acquired in the academic programme in a public health agency or other environment in which a public health function is performed (e.g., hospital infection control programme, local health organization).

The practicum will also enable students to develop and extend competencies that are initially introduced in didactic coursework. Examples include the development of policy, enhancing communication skills, understanding of public and private financing mechanisms, and understanding organizational behaviour and change. It will be each student’s responsibility, with the assistance of their Practicum Supervisor, to find, arrange, and complete a satisfactory field experience that fulfils programme requirements.

 

Objectives

• Provide students with a supervised practical field experience in an organization, agency, or other setting that provides planning or services relevant to public health
• Help students further develop skills or competencies learned in the academic programme by applying them in a public health practice setting
• Provide a means for acquiring practical skills that are useful to public health professions and are not available through academic instruction
• Foster understanding of the political, economic, social and organizational context within which public health activities are conducted
• Provide exposure to an organizational and/or community context for public health activities

 

3. Culminating Experience

All students will be required to complete a final/capstone project, which is the defined culminating experience for the programme, and is worth 4 credits.  They will be expected to address a significant public health concern, pursue novel inquiry under the guidance of a mentor, and demonstrate mastery of one or more programme competencies. The project should yield generalizable knowledge relative to the practice of public health and would provide students the opportunity to integrate skills and knowledge from throughout the curriculum.  The project will fall into one of the following four main categories:

1. A traditional research thesis  (quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods)
2. A systematic review of the literature
3. A policy analysis or practice issue
4. A report on any other activity that is deemed acceptable by the student’s Academic Advisor and the MPH Curriculum Committee