About this course
The course is structured around 6 taught modules and the completion of a MSc Project.
The modular structure of the course is designed to:
- Identify and address the emerging needs and global public health challenges to protect and improve the health and well-being of communities and populations.
- Effectively influence public health practice through the design and analysis of evidence-based, culturally and contextually relevant research.
- Deliver strategic contributions through critical analysis and assessment of current and emerging discourses within health promotion and public health.
- Support innovative approaches to change through transferable project management skills with strong theoretical foundations.
- Shape future policies and practice through the dissemination of crucial information to a wide range of stakeholders.
- Incorporate work-based learning through placement in a public health setting to enable practitioners to develop skills and competencies in practical situations within the field of public health.
Modules
Here is a guide to the subjects studied on this course.
Courses are continually reviewed to take advantage of new teaching approaches and developments in research, industry and the professions. Please be aware that modules may change depending on your year or stage of entry. The exact modules available and their order may vary depending on course updates, staff availability, timetabling and student demand. Please contact the course team for the most up to date module list.
Leadership and Management in Public Health Practice
This module equips students with an understanding of a range of public health competency frameworks to enhance their analytical and professional skills. This module emphasises ethical considerations in public health planning, developing crisis management skills, values-based leadership to create healthful cultures, and capacity building for public health practitioners to lead public health programmes in different cultural settings. Successful students will be able to evaluate and apply leadership and management principles in public health practice. This module is available as part of the PGCert/PGDip/MSc Health Promotion and Public Health course or as a stand-alone module.
Health Inequalities and Community Action
This module will prepare students to understand the importance of community health needs and interventions within the context of health inequalities and human rights. This includes the risks, challenges and resources that exist within communities. Students will learn how to successfully implement approaches such as health needs assessments, community profiling and developing innovative and sustainable community-based interventions and how to evaluate these. This module is available as part of the PGCert/PGDip/MSc Health Promotion and Public Health course or as a stand-alone module.
Global Health and Policy Development
This module provides the opportunity for students to improve their skills in navigating global health priorities and mapping policies across different contexts to promote health equity for sustainable development. Successful students will be able to evaluate global public health perspectives, assess policy development for person-centred initiatives, evaluate cultural and contextual factors impact on policymaking, and critically analyse policy development processes for health equity and wellbeing. This module is available as part of the PGCert/PGDip/MSc Health Promotion and Public Health course and the students will have a choice of pathways to develop learning in an area of interest with topic experts to guide them.
Research Skills in Health Promotion and Public Health
The Research Skills in Health Promotion and Public Health module addresses the growing need for skilled public health researchers and the need to apply research into practice. This module covers the entire research process, from a literature review to project design, ethical considerations, and data analysis. Depending on their chosen methodology, students will gain proficiency in primary or secondary analysis utilising qualitative or quantitative methods. The module prepares them to contribute a unique piece of work to their chosen public health field, leading to improved health outcomes for communities and a contribution to public health research.
The Principles of Health Promotion and Public Health
The concept of health is complex and multi-layered. Health and wellbeing are at the forefront of health promotion and public health but understanding the multi-structural influences and how this applies to individuals, families, communities and populations is critical in addressing health needs. This module is designed to create the journey of foundational understanding of the essentials of health promotion and public health. As a student on this module, you will examine the anthropological and multi-sectoral aspects of health and health inequalities and theoretical underpinnings of health and how they apply to everyday life for individuals, families, communities and populations.
Public Health: Research Methods and Epidemiology
This module provides a comprehensive exploration of public health research, focusing on epidemiology, study design, and research methodologies. Students will gain skills to critically analyse data, evaluate studies, and apply qualitative and quantitative methods to address public health challenges. Emphasising ethical governance, the module prepares students to contribute to evidence-based health practice and policy development, through the development of a research proposal on a topic of their choice.
Person Centred Health Promotion Across the Life Course
This module equips students with the skills to promote health and wellbeing across the life course. It explores a holistic, person-centred approach, addressing the interplay of individual experiences, social determinants and life transitions. Students learn to analyse health inequalities, the impact of trauma, and develop a tailored person-centred health plan. The module emphasises health literacy, empowering individuals for shared decision-making and active participation in their own health and the health of others.
Attendance
PGCert
To be successfully awarded with a PG Certicate you must complete and pass a minimum of three core modules (20 credits per module). In person attendance and on-line participation is required and will be monitored in line with visand/or University requirements.
PGDip
To be successfully awared with the Post Graduate Diploma you must complete and pass six 20 credit modules (120 credits). In person attendance and on-line participation is required and will be monitored in line with visand/or University requirements.
MSc
The MSc Project (60 credits) provides you with the opportunity to explore an area of public health or health promotion in-depth. There are no taught classes for the MSc. You will complete the MSc Project module within a six month period across two semesters. You will be allocated an academic supervisor who will support and guide you through your dissertation.
Start dates
-
September 2026
-
January 2027
Teaching, Learning and Assessment
Teaching and learning will take place is a supportive environment where the ethos is one of respect and valuing the views of all. Particular attention is placed on relating teaching and learning to different current global public health issues and real-world scenarios, and your ability to be able to critically appraise ideas, practices and literature.
You will learn through a combination of face to face and online lectures, tutorials, seminars and self-directed learning. To accommodate different learning styles and to enhance learning and enable you to learn in a way that portrays public health practice, different teaching strategies will be employed such as participatory group work, discussions and debates, comparing and contrasting, unfolding case studies, and multimedia presentations. Blackboard Ultra, the University's virtual learning environment, gives you flexible online access to course materials, live teaching sessions/seminars,reading lists and other resources relevant to your course integrating a hybrid approach to learning.
There is a strong emphasis on student participation in all modules. University study requires you to take responsibility for your own learning. A self-directed approach to learning is essential to achieve the aims of the course and to allow you to apply the concepts and principles and expand on the knowledge you gain in the classroom. Independent literature searching and reading are a vital and indispensable element of learning.
The course has a variety of types of assessments to increase skills required for public health practice. This includes health promotion posters, critical reflections, video presentations, annotated bibliography, policy brief, business case and health needs assessments. Assessments are designed to fit with the learning outcomes of each module and are designed to permit you to apply the concepts and principles delivered in the teaching environment to your specific area of interest. At the beginning of each module you will be given details of the assessment, together with the marking scheme and submission dates. The final dissertation will include a written submission and oral viva to enable you to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise in your chosen topic area.
In preparation for summative assessments each of the modules also have formative assessments which include a range of tasks that are designed to help you recognise if you are meeting the intended learning outcomes for the module and identify what areas of learning require further work. These also allow lecturers to identify whether you need additional support with your studies. Formative assessments do not count towards final marks or grading.
The content for each course is summarised on the relevant course page, along with an overview of the modules that make up the course.
Each course is approved by the University and meets the expectations of:
Attendance and Independent Study
As part of your course induction, you will be provided with details of the organisation and management of the course, including attendance and assessment requirements - usually in the form of a timetable. For full-time courses, the precise timetable for each semester is not confirmed until close to the start date and may be subject to some change in the early weeks as all courses settle into their planned patterns. For part-time courses which require attendance on particular days and times, an expectation of the days and periods of attendance will be included in the letter of offer. A course handbook is also made available.
Courses comprise modules for which the notional effort involved is indicated by its credit rating. Each credit point represents 10 hours of student effort. Undergraduate courses typically contain 10, 20, or 40 credit modules (more usually 20) and postgraduate courses typically 15 or 30 credit modules.
The normal study load expectation for an undergraduate full-time course of study in the standard academic year is 120 credit points. This amounts to around 36-42 hours of expected teaching and learning per week, inclusive of attendance requirements for lectures, seminars, tutorials, practical work, fieldwork or other scheduled classes, private study, and assessment. Teaching and learning activities will be in-person and/or online depending on the nature of the course. Part-time study load is the same as full-time pro-rata, with each credit point representing 10 hours of student effort.
Postgraduate Master’s courses typically comprise 180 credits, taken in three semesters when studied full-time. A Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) comprises 60 credits and can usually be completed on a part-time basis in one year. A 120-credit Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) can usually be completed on a part-time basis in two years.
Class contact times vary by course and type of module. Typically, for a module predominantly delivered through lectures you can expect at least 3 contact hours per week (lectures/seminars/tutorials). Laboratory classes often require a greater intensity of attendance in blocks. Some modules may combine lecture and laboratory. The precise model will depend on the course you apply for and may be subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. Prospective students will be consulted about any significant changes.
Assessment
Assessment methods vary and are defined explicitly in each module. Assessment can be a combination of examination and coursework but may also be only one of these methods. Assessment is designed to assess your achievement of the module’s stated learning outcomes. You can expect to receive timely feedback on all coursework assessments. This feedback may be issued individually and/or issued to the group and you will be encouraged to act on this feedback for your own development.
Coursework can take many forms, for example: essay, report, seminar paper, test, presentation, dissertation, design, artefacts, portfolio, journal, group work. The precise form and combination of assessment will depend on the course you apply for and the module. Details will be made available in advance through induction, the course handbook, the module specification, the assessment timetable and the assessment brief. The details are subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. You will be consulted about any significant changes.
Normally, a module will have 4 learning outcomes, and no more than 2 items of assessment. An item of assessment can comprise more than one task. The notional workload and the equivalence across types of assessment is standardised. The module pass mark for undergraduate courses is 40%. The module pass mark for postgraduate courses is 50%.
Calculation of the Final Award
The class of Honours awarded in Bachelor’s degrees is usually determined by calculation of an aggregate mark based on performance across the modules at Levels 5 and 6, (which correspond to the second and third year of full-time attendance).
Level 6 modules contribute 70% of the aggregate mark and Level 5 contributes 30% to the calculation of the class of the award. Classification of integrated Master’s degrees with Honours include a Level 7 component. The calculation in this case is: 50% Level 7, 30% Level 6, 20% Level 5. At least half the Level 5 modules must be studied at the University for Level 5 to be included in the calculation of the class.
All other qualifications have an overall grade determined by results in modules from the final level of study.
In Masters degrees of more than 200 credit points the final 120 points usually determine the overall grading.
Figures from the academic year 2022-2023.
Academic profile
This course is taught by highly qualified staff who have a wide range of global, national and regioanl experience. All staff are research active and are recognised within their fields of practice.
The University employs over 1,000 suitably qualified and experienced academic staff - 60% have PhDs in their subject field and many have professional body recognition.
Courses are taught by staff who are Professors (19%), Readers, Senior Lecturers (22%) or Lecturers (57%).
We require most academic staff to be qualified to teach in higher education: 82% hold either Postgraduate Certificates in Higher Education Practice or higher. Most academic and learning support staff (85%) are recognised as fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) by Advance HE - the university sector professional body for teaching and learning. Many academic and technical staff hold other professional body designations related to their subject or scholarly practice.
The profiles of many academic staff can be found on the University’s departmental websites and give a detailed insight into the range of staffing and expertise. The precise staffing for a course will depend on the department(s) involved and the availability and management of staff. This is subject to change annually and is confirmed in the timetable issued at the start of the course.
Occasionally, teaching may be supplemented by suitably qualified part-time staff (usually qualified researchers) and specialist guest lecturers. In these cases, all staff are inducted, mostly through our staff development programme ‘First Steps to Teaching’. In some cases, usually for provision in one of our out-centres, Recognised University Teachers are involved, supported by the University in suitable professional development for teaching.
Figures from the academic year 2022-2023.
