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This programme takes a unique cross-disciplinary approach to global health and attracts students from a range of academic and professional backgrounds. You can craft a programme of study that suits your interests and which will help you become better global health practitioners wherever you work in the world.
Key information
Programme starts
September 2019
Modes and duration
Part time mode of study available for MSc only.
Application dates
Tuition fees (2019/20)
Note on fees:
The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website. Fees for flexible, modular study are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session.
Entry requirements
Normally a minimum of an upper second-class UK Bachelor's degree or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. 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.
English language requirements
If your education has not been conducted in the English language, you will be expected to demonstrate evidence of an adequate level of English proficiency.
The English language level for this programme is: Good
Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.
International students
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.
Select your country:
About this degree
The programme challenges you to understand the complex forces that shape health worldwide, by developing your understanding of the principles underlying research, policy and practice in global health, fostering critical thinking, and building transferable skills.
Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.
The programme consists of four compulsory modules (60 credits), four optional modules (60 credits) and a research dissertation (60 credits).
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).
A Postgraduate Certificate (60 credits, three months full-time, two years' flexible study) is offered. Students take four core modules (60 credits)
Compulsory modules
- Concepts and Controversies in Global Health
- Research Methods and Evidence for Global Health
- Power and Politics in Global Health
- Health Systems in a Global Context
Optional modules
The Institute for Global Health reserves the right not to run modules with less than 10 students registered. It may not be possible to take your chosen optional module because of timetabling and capacity constraints. If in doubt, consult the programme administrator. Options may include the following:
- Anthropological Perspectives on Global Health
- Collecting and Using Data: Essentials of Quantitative Survey Research
- Conflict, Humanitarianism and Health
- Disability and Development
- Economic Evaluation in Health Care
- Disability and Development
- Essentials of Global Child Health
- Evaluating Interventions
- Gender and Global Health
- Global Health Promotion
- Health Management: Planning and Programme Design
- Infectious Diseases Epidemiology and Global Health Policy
- Key Principles of Health Economics
- Nutrition and Public Health
- Perinatal Epidemiology and Maternal Health
- Research in Action: the Qualitative Approach
- Urban Health
Dissertation/report
All MSc students undertake an individual research project on a topic relevant to future work in global health and development which includes a presentation and culminates in a dissertation of 7,000 words.
Teaching and learning
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. Assessment is through written assignments, unseen written examinations, projects, oral presentations, group work, and the written dissertation.
Funding
Home/EU applicants may apply for the IGH Postgraduate Bursaries
Applicants who are residents and nationals of an African nation may apply for an African Graduate Scholarship.
Scholarships relevant to this department are displayed below.
African Graduate Scholarship
- Note:
- Deadline is 29 April 2019
- Value:
- Variable (1 year)
- Eligibility:
- Overseas
IGH Postgraduate Bursaries
- Note:
- Deadline is 1 July 2019
- Value:
- UK/EU Fee rate (1 year)
- Eligibility:
- UK, EU
- Criteria:
- Based on academic merit
Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme (CSSS)
- Note:
- Now closed for 2019/20
- Value:
- Full fees, flights, stipend, and other allowances (1 year)
- Eligibility:
- Overseas
- Criteria:
- Based on both academic merit and financial need
For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.
Careers
Alumni from this MSc have pursued careers in government, NGO and for profit sectors. They have taken on roles at national and international levels as programme managers, policy advisers and advocacy leaders, researchers, advisors for Ministries of Health, consultants, programme officers etc. Others have decided to pursue a career in academia by completing a PhD after their MSc.
Employability
The programme is designed to teach how to apply different disciplinary perspectives to global health issues. The modules draw on different approaches to assessing skills and knowledge in order to develop the diverse set of skills needed for work in global health, including: presentations, team work, applying theory to practice, project management and planning, policy analysis, time management, and critical thinking.
Why study this degree at UCL?
UCL offers a multidisciplinary approach to studying global health. You will work alongside teachers, researchers and other students from a diverse range of disciplines and be taught by experts from several of UCL's faculties. These may include health policy specialists, economists, philosophers, lawyers, political scientists, geographers, clinicians, nutritionists, anthropologists, and epidemiologists.
We place particular emphasis on research-based teaching, and our academics use their current research as case studies.
Department: Institute for Global Health
What our students and staff say
"I am a researcher as well as a teacher and I am excited by the innovative role UCL is taking in placing our ground-breaking research at the heart of our teaching. As a senior clinical lecturer I split my time between working as a consultant in the NHS, teaching postgraduates, and conducting research in the sexual health and HIV field. I love teaching and my work, cross-disciplinary in nature, sits at the intersection between biology, politics, law, economics and health systems. "
Dr Maryam Shahmanesh
Global Health and Development MSc, Infection and Immunity MSc
UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care
"UCL Institute for Global Health is a unique multi-disciplinary environment. My research aims to improve women and children's health and nutrition in India. I collaborate with the Indian NGO Ekjut, and together we have examined the effects of participatory women's groups to improve maternal and newborn health in rural and tribal areas of eastern India. The intervention is now recommended by the World Health Organisation as an effective strategy to reduce neonatal mortality in rural settings where access to health services is low."
Audrey Prost
Global Health and Development MSc
UCL Institute for Global Health
Application and next steps
Applications
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 £75 for online applications and £100 for paper applications. Further information can be found at: www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/taught/application.
Who can apply?
Graduates of this programme include students from more than 70 countries and from a variety of academic and professional backgrounds including development practitioners, medical doctors, nurses, researchers and non-governmental organisation workers. This increases opportunities to learn from other students' skills and experiences.
Application deadlines
- All applicants
- 15 May 2019
For more information see our Applications page.
Apply nowWhat are we looking for?
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 the demands of this challenging programme
- why you want to study Global Health and Development at UCL
- what particularly attracts you to this 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.
Contact information
- Mrs Paloma Garcia-Paredes
- igh.prospective@ucl.ac.uk
- +44 (0)20 7905 2646
Page last modified on 16 September 2019 by UCL Student Recruitment Marketing