Teaching and learning

The MPH prides itself in making students learning in an online environment feel connected and part of the UCL community. On this programme, you will be undertaking the equivalent of a face-to-face Master’s degree, but with the flexibility and accessibility of being fully online. This is particularly beneficial for those who have work, family, and lifestyle commitments. You will undertake a wide range of different learning opportunities to keep you feeling motivated and engaged throughout your learning journey.

As a student on this programme, you will be provided with self-study materials, such as videos, readings, discussion forums, and independent research tasks, which you complete on your own at your own pace. These ‘asynchronous’ materials form the backbone of your learning and will need to be completed before we come together in a weekly live online class for each module. These ‘synchronous’ live online classes will provide you with opportunities to consolidate and deepen your learning from the asynchronous materials. You will do this through interactive, collaborative, and discussion-based activities with your peers, lecturers, and special guests including interdisciplinary academics, public health leaders, practitioners, and people with lived experience of public health problems. Live online classes will be held on four days of the week (one day for each module) and you will be offered a choice of attending either the morning or afternoon session to fit with your other commitments and time zone.

There is also regular group work throughout the programme to strengthen our student community, enhance learning, and to develop team working and leadership skills. Group projects are designed to simulate real world multi-agency working groups or project committees, providing insights and hands-on practice relating to the actual work of public health practitioners.

The programme involves four phases of learning: foundation, expansion, specialisation, and integration, corresponding to the different modules taught in each of the teaching terms on the programme (autumn, winter, spring, and summer). For part-time and flexible students, we have kept pre-requisite modules as minimal as possible to ensure maximum flexibility and we will help to guide you through your module selection to optimise your learning journey.

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

Focussing on the skills that you will need in your future career, this programme will give you the opportunity to develop and practice a range of skills through our innovative assessment methods which include 24 hour take-home examinations, written papers, class participation, and individual and group presentations. You will work on assessments related to public health strategy, policy, implementation, stakeholder analysis, and coproduction. You will develop robust plans for research and evaluation and analyse and interpret data. You will hone your critical appraisal and critical thinking skills by applying your knowledge to real life scenarios. Personal reflective practice, participation, and different methods of communication to different audiences are also taught and assessed on this programme. 

An independent capstone dissertation project brings together all strands of learning from the degree, focused on a specific subject area you are interested in. Supported by a UCL project supervisor and often a public health partner organisation, the dissertation is an opportunity to further develop research skills, evidence synthesis, and data interpretation to support public health decision making.

For each 15-credit module, you should expect to spend approximately three to five hours per week on asynchronous learning activities plus two hours per week in synchronous live online classes. You will need additional time to prepare for assessments. As a full-time MPH student, you should consider yourself as working a full-time 40 hour/week job for 12 months with about 3-4 weeks of time off during the year. For part-time and flexible students, you will need one full day per week for each 15-credit module that you take, plus extra time for assessments depending on how many modules you take.