Public Health is about preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the efforts of society. Whether you are already a working professional in this area, or new to the subject, this Master of Public Health (MPH) is the ideal programme for those wishing to address today’s problems in public health.
Our MPH programme provides students with an understanding of how different scientific disciplines can be used to investigate and then develop the best professional practice in epidemiology, public health and the social science of health.
After successful completion of year one, you can choose to follow a general Public Health programme or a programme specialising in the important global health area of Noncommunicable Diseases.
This programme is taught by lecturers based at the University of Edinburgh's Usher Institute, which is part of the Edinburgh Medical School. The Usher Institute is an interdisciplinary research and teaching hub which draws together researchers, clinicians and practitioners from public health, primary care and biomedical and social sciences. The Centre for Population Health Sciences, within the Usher Institute, is also a WHO Collaborating Centre for Population Health Research and Training.
This programme is affiliated with the University's Global Health Academy, an interdisciplinary network which aims to improve global health through collaborative, interdisciplinary research, education and resource development:
Our online learning platform is fully interactive, award-winning and enables you to communicate with our highly qualified teaching staff from the comfort of your own home or workplace.
Our online students not only have access to the University of Edinburgh’s excellent resources, but also become part of a supportive online community, bringing together students and tutors from around the world.
You can study to Masters, Diploma, or Certificate level. All students follow the same compulsory Year One Certificate-level courses, which provide a solid foundation in the fundamentals of public health, whilst a suite of elective courses and a specialist strand in noncommunicable diseases offer students the opportunity to explore areas of interest in more depth and to tailor the programme to their own learning needs and career goals.
Year One (Certificate)
All students take the following compulsory courses:
Year Two (Diploma)
If you have satisfactorily completed the Certificate level, you can decide whether you want to follow a general Public Health programme or a more specialist programme in Public Health (Noncommunicable Diseases). Regardless of which path you decide to follow, if you would like to do a dissertation, the following courses are compulsory:
Year Two: Postgraduate Diploma Public Health
Students planning to do a dissertation in Year Three should choose elective courses totalling exactly 40 credits. At least 20 credits must be chosen from the elective courses list A (see below). Students not planning to do a dissertation should choose elective courses totalling exactly 60 credits. At least 40 credits must be chosen from the elective courses list A (see below).
Year Two: Postgraduate Diploma Public Health (Noncommunicable Diseases)
The following courses are compulsory for all students following the Public Health (Noncommunicable Diseases) programme:
Students following the Public Health (Noncommunicable Diseases) programme and not planning to do a dissertation should choose exactly 20 credits from either list A or B of elective courses below.
Year Three (Masters)
Students who have completed the Diploma level and are eligible to progress to Year Three can choose either to take a further 60 credits of elective courses (at least 40 of which must be chosen from the elective courses list A) or to do a dissertation project (if agreed by the programme directors), worth 60 credits. The dissertation option will only be available to students who have met the stipulated academic requirements.
Students who complete the Masters degree successfully will graduate with one of the following degree titles, depending on which strand they have selected:
Elective courses
List A:
List B:
The programme will prepare you for a career in research or academia, professional public health service, clinical epidemiology, health technology assessment, public-health protection and a wide range of national and international organisations concerned with preventing disease and improving the health of populations.
These modules are suitable for you if are a registered mental health nurse, midwife, health visitor or social worker.
In the maternal mental health recovery module you develop the skills to recognise maternal mental health illnesses in pregnancy and during the first year of the postnatal period, and you learn to formulate individualised pathways of care and manage potential risks and complications in order to promote positive birth outcomes.
You explore mental health conditions and their management including personality disorders, eating disorders, tokophobia, self-harming, schizophrenia, puerperal psychosis, fabricated illness, substance misuse, antenatal and post-natal depression, drawing from the evidence base to inform your practice.
It will benefit to you if you work with and support women in pregnancy or in the first year after birth who have mental health concerns.
The perinatal mental health and the family module helps you to develop the skills to recognise the impact (short and long term) of maternal mental health on the development of the infant/child, formulate individualised pathways of care and manage potential risks and complications in order to promote positive birth outcomes. By engaging with this module you develop a deeper understanding on family relationships and dynamics.
The perinatal mental health and the family module benefits to you if work with and support women in pregnancy or in the first year after birth who have mental health concerns.
Core modules
Assessment
Assessment is by written assignment
A range of staff working across health and social care and support role in the voluntary sector, such as
These modules would provide in depth knowledge to support these roles.
This course aims to equip nurses and midwives to develop an enhanced and applied knowledge base in Health Visiting Practice allowing you to exit with the required Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) recordable qualification as a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN)-Health Visiting (NMC 2004).
The course is delivered in collaboration with NHS Health Board and local authority partners in Western Isles, Highland, Tayside and Forth Valley, combining academic teaching and practice learning throughout the course.
On successful completion of the course you will be able to respond to the demands of contemporary public health practice in the community and to work to influence and improve the standard of care for children, young people and their families.
All entrants to the MSc/Graduate Diploma in Early Years Practice (Health Visiting) Programmes must meet the following requirements (NMC 2004):
The course curriculum is designed to equip nurses and midwives to deliver safe and best practice in the role of Health Visitor as defined in the NMC Standards of Proficiency for Specialist Community Public Health Nurses (NMC 2004), the Report from the Education Sub Group of the Children, Young People and Families National Advisory Group (CYPFNAG 2014) and key legislation from the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (Scottish Government 2014).
The key duties identified within current legislation are to promote, support and safeguard children’s wellbeing (Scottish Government 2014).
Thus, the course focuses on the following three key themes:
On completion of the course graduates will be eligible for employment as a qualified Health Visitor/ Specialist Community Public Health Nurse.
Our programme will produce managers and practitioners able to improve the patient experience through innovation, integrated care, technological improvements and their position at the forefront of advances in healthcare.
The curriculum of this programme reinforces the need for professionals to demonstrate improvement in their care delivery through high-level, expert knowledge and an in-depth understanding of the context of healthcare management and delivery.
Staff in the School of Health Sciences are motivated to support students to meet the challenges they face in their practice with a solution-focussed approach, utilising the existing evidence base whilst demonstrating creativity in their own research approaches.
The full-time non-endorsed programme is studied over one academic year. The endorsed part time programmes are studied over five academic years (60 months).
Pathways
There are a range of pathways available for MSc programmes. These variants are made clear to students in all marketing material and student handbooks.
Example module listing
The following modules are indicative, reflecting the information available at the time of publication. Please note that not all modules described are compulsory and may be subject to teaching availability and/or student demand.
Core modules
Delivering Quality Healthcare (full-time) core modules
Pathway modules
Acutely ill patient
Cancer and Older People
Cancer
ehealth
Long Term Conditions
Maternal, Child and Family Health
Or
And
Or
Older People
Paramedic Practitioner
Patient Safety
Optional modules
Knowledge and understanding
Intellectual / cognitive skills
Professional practical skills
Key / transferable skills
We often give our students the opportunity to acquire international experience during their degrees by taking advantage of our exchange agreements with overseas universities.
In addition to the hugely enjoyable and satisfying experience, time spent abroad adds a distinctive element to your CV.
