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Global Health and Development MSc

London, Bloomsbury

Get the postgraduate training you need to help address some of the world’s most pressing health issues, on our one-year Global Health and Development MSc. Studying in the heart of London, at UCL’s renowned Institute for Global Health, this multidisciplinary programme will give you access to world-class facilities and unrivalled opportunities to build your career.

UK students International students
Study mode
UK tuition fees (2025/26)
£16,000
£8,000
Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Overseas tuition fees (2025/26)
£33,000
£16,500
Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Duration
1 calendar year
2 calendar years
5 calendar years
Programme starts
September 2025
Applications accepted
Applicants who require a visa: 14 Oct 2024 – 27 Jun 2025
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 14 Oct 2024 – 29 Aug 2025
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

Normally a minimum of an upper second-class UK Bachelor's degree or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard in medicine, nursing and other allied heath professions, sciences, humanities and social sciences. Professional experience in the fields of health and development is desirable. An applicant whose qualifications vary from UCL standards may be admitted if evidence of an adequate academic background and work experience in an appropriate field can be shown.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 2

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree


Studying the Global Health and Development MSc at UCL means not only getting the chance to work alongside our world-leading researchers; it’s also an opportunity to explore this ever-changing topic from many different angles.

Drawing together insights from across numerous disciplines – from anthropology, epidemiology and economics to psychology and political science – the programme places a particular emphasis on health equity and social justice in low- and middle-income countries.

You’ll gain specialist training in key areas such as research methods for global health, health systems, and health policy and planning.

There are opportunities to tailor the course, with optional modules in areas like climate change, health management, humanitarianism, conflict and disaster, gender and mental health.

Whether you want to go into research, policy making and advocacy or programme planning and implementation, our MSc will open many interesting doors across the globe. 

Who this course is for

Graduates of this programme include students from more than 70 countries and from a variety of academic and professional backgrounds including medical doctors, nurses, health researchers, government employees, health activists and non-governmental organisation workers. This increases opportunities for students to learn from the skills and experiences of their course mates.

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

  • Study at a university ranked 9th in the world (QS World Rankings 2025), 6th in the world for public health (ShanghaiRankings 2023) and rated number one for research power and impact in medicine, health and life sciences (REF 2021). 
  • A multidisciplinary, research-informed curriculum delivered by leaders in the field. You’ll be taught by experts from several of UCL's faculties – such as health policy specialists, economists, philosophers, political scientists, geographers, clinicians, nutritionists, anthropologists, and epidemiologists.
  • A comprehensive grounding in all the main theoretical approaches in global health, and the chance to critically analyse them.
  • Work with different research methods and learn how to communicate them and apply them to global health settings.
  • A strong emphasis on applying knowledge and developing in-demand skills for your career.
     
Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

This programme is ideal for progressing into a global health career, whether you want to move into research and evaluation, policy formulation and advocacy, or programme planning and implementation. You could work in government, or the NGO and for-profit sector, or stay in academia and complete a PhD.

Graduates are now working at national, regional, and global levels as programme managers, policy advisers, advocacy leaders, consultants, researchers, and advisors for ministries of health. This includes across organisations such as the NHS, Department of Health and Social Care, Doctors without Borders, Department for International Development, European Commission, UNICEF and WHO Europe.*

*Graduate Outcomes survey carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), looking at the destinations of UK and EU graduates in the 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 cohorts.

Employability

You’ll become adept at applying different disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives to global health issues, while also developing useful transferable skills, including giving presentations, applying theory to practice, project management and planning, and policy analysis. You’ll also get to engage, and interact, with global health leaders through our extensive and established Global Health and Development MSc alumni network.

Networking

Students at the Institute for Global Health (IGH) have priority access to academic events held throughout the year. This includes UCL's prestigious Lancet Lecture series which showcases leading global health scholars working on key public health issues. Students also have access to internal events, such as meetings and networking that bring together research being done across our three sites and lunchtime lectures featuring the research of IGH staff and doctoral candidates. Academic staff also frequently host informal spaces and events at IGH to provide extended opportunities to discuss ideas, research and provide career advice and insights to Global Health and Development MSc students. 

Teaching and learning

The MSc is designed to train the world’s future global health practitioners through developing critical thinking, writing, planning and organisation, teamwork and leadership, and presentation skills. You will learn through a mixture of lectures, seminar discussions, presentations, group work, and independent reading and research. Most lectures are accompanied by assigned readings and an interactive discussion seminar. Seminars are designed to help you solve global health problems through prepared questions, problem-sets based on readings, debates, role-playing, scenario-based sessions, case studies, task-oriented activities, presentations, and group work.  

Meet the academics currently leading this programme on the UCL IGH website.

The programme is taught with an emphasis on collaborative and co-operative learning to ensure that you enter the workforce capable of joining projects and programmes where working in teams is important.

Assessments may include written assignments, unseen written examinations, projects, oral presentations, portfolios, multiple choice questions, group work and the written dissertation. In addition, students undertaking primary data collection as part of the dissertation must submit an ethics form for screening by the UCL Ethics Committee.

In First, Second and Third Term full-time students can typically expect between 10 and 12 contact hours per teaching week through a mixture of lectures, seminars, and tutorials on both core and optional modules. In Third Term and the summer period students will be completing their own dissertation research, keeping regular contact with their dissertation supervisors.

Students can expect up to a maximum of 10 hours of contact with their dissertation supervisor during the supervision period which can include meetings, phone calls and emails.

Please note that on both core and optional modules, students should also reserve several hours per week outside of classroom hours for any group work assessments should this be required on the specific module.

Overall, we expect full-time students to study a full 35-hour week, with time outside classes spent in self-directed study. Part-time and flexible students study at a pro-rata rate.

A Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits, nine months full-time, two to five years flexible study) is offered. Students take four core modules (60 credits) and four optional modules (60 credits).

Modules

For full time students, in the First Term, you will be introduced to the most recent and pressing issues defining global health in Concepts and Controversies in Global Health, alongside the study of Research Methods and Evidence for Global Health, Health Systems in a Global Context, and Power and Politics in Global Health. These four compulsory modules provide a foundation for the MSc and expose you to the different conceptual frameworks and research approaches used by global health practitioners to understand and assess the causes and consequences of poor health outcomes and health inequities globally.

The Second and Third Term provide an opportunity to take the concepts learned in the First Term and further refine your study with a focus on a more specific area. You can choose from a diverse range of optional modules, which offer the possibility to tailor the programme to your own interests and prepare for your final Dissertation Project.

Alongside your taught modules, you will work on your Dissertation Project throughout the Second and Third Term. This project is an exciting opportunity to complete an independent piece of scholarship with guidance from an expert supervisor, and can be a literature review, an original piece of research (including primary data collection or secondary data analysis), or an action plan. The flexibility in the dissertation project offers yet another opportunity to tailor the MSc to your specific areas of interest within global health. 

Over the course of two years part-time students must take 60 credits of compulsory modules, 60 credits of optional modules and 60 credits MSc Dissertation.

In year one, students must take a minimum of 90 credits of which a minimum of 30 credits must be taken from the compulsory modules list, and a maximum of 60 credits can be taken from the optional modules list.

In year two, students must take a minimum of 90 credits including 60 credits of MSc Dissertation. The remaining 30 credits can be taken from the compulsory or optional modules list.

Over the course of up to five years students must take 60 credits of compulsory modules, 60 credits of optional modules and 60 credits of MSc Dissertation. There is not a prescribed structure for this programme and students can take modules as they fit in their timetable. Programme leads are available to discuss best options for programme structure as needed with modular flexible students.

Compulsory modules







Optional modules
























Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MSc in Global Health and Development. Upon successful completion of 120 credits, you will be awarded a PG Dip in Global Health and Development.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services team.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time Part-time
Tuition fees (2025/26) £16,000 £8,000
Tuition fees (2025/26) £33,000 £16,500

Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Where the programme is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

For Full-time and Part-time offer holders a fee deposit will be charged at 10% of the first year fee.

For flexible/modular offer holders a £500 fee deposit will be charged.

There is no fee deposit required for PG Dip and PG Cert applicants.

Further information can be found in the Tuition fee deposits section on this page: Tuition fees.

Costs for textbooks and learning materials are covered by tuition on the programme. There may be additional costs should students choose to undertake primary data collection or fieldwork as part of the dissertation. These additional costs may include travelling, accommodation, translation services, etc. 

The institute offers several competitive travel bursaries each year to cover some of these costs.    

UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £114.50. This price was published by TfL in 2024. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

Find here information about bursaries and scholarships offered by the UCL Institute for Global Health.

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

African Graduate Scholarship

Deadline: TBC
Value: A substantial award towards fees and living costs (1 year)
Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need
Eligibility: EU, Overseas

Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme (CSSS)

Deadline: 12 December 2024
Value: Full fees, flights, stipend, and other allowances (1 year)
Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need
Eligibility: EU, Overseas

Institute for Global Health Postgraduate Bursary

Deadline: TBC
Value: £2,000 towards tuition fees) (Duration of study)
Criteria Based on financial need
Eligibility: UK, EU, Overseas

Next steps

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

There is an application processing fee for this programme of £90 for online applications. Further information can be found at Application fees.

When we assess your application, we would like to learn:

  • Why you want to study Global Health and Development at graduate level.
  • How your academic and professional background meets and has prepared you for the demands of this challenging programme.
  • Why you want to study Global Health and Development at UCL.
  • What particularly attracts you to this programme and what skills you will bring to the programme.
  • Where you would like to go professionally with your degree.

Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match what the programme will deliver.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2025-2026

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

Institute for Global Health
Institute for Global Health

igh.adminpg@ucl.ac.uk

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