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Paediatrics and Child Health: Global Child Health MSc

London, Bloomsbury

How can we use the latest research and evidence-based practice to build better child health services around the world? Join us to find out on this specialist one-year Master’s degree at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. You’ll benefit from our strong links with Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, build high-level skills, and go away in a strong position to help shape child health globally.

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)
£36,500
£18,250
Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Duration
1 academic year
2 academic years
5 academic 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

Medically qualified applicants should have post-qualification experience in paediatrics or child health.

Non-medically qualified applicants should have an upper second-class UK bachelor's degree or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard, and experience of working in hospitals, community child health or public health services for children and families.

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

Join us on our multidisciplinary Master’s degree to gain specialist insight into child health in the global context, build sought-after research skills, and gain experience of the latest evidence-based practice.

Launched in 1986, originally as the MSc in Community Paediatrics, this postgraduate programme is part of the longest running paediatric health MSc in London.

You’ll develop expertise in the principles and practice of paediatrics and child health, working with world renowned experts from UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

You’ll then have the chance to explore specific areas in greater depth – such as acute and chronic paediatrics, the molecular and genetic basis of paediatrics, immunisations, safeguarding, nutrition, growth and physical activity, and the essentials of global child health.

Teaching takes place at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UCL GOS ICH) in close collaboration with experts from GOSH NHS Foundation Trust.

With diverse module choices in areas including immunisation, safeguarding, clinical genomics and rare diseases you can shape the programme towards the areas most in line with your interests and career plans. 

Who this course is for

The programme is intended for professionals specialising in paediatrics and child health. The Paediatrics and Child Health: Global Child Health MSc aims to provide an opportunity for graduates from medicine and related fields, to study global issues in child health. You will build an awareness of current and future developments in paediatric medicine and global child health and gain the skills necessary to critically appraise practice and policy, and undertake independent research if the full MSc is taken.

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

What this course will give you

  • Study a well-established and hugely popular paediatrics programme at one of the world’s top universities, ranked number one for research power and impact in medicine, health and life sciences (REF 2021), and 6th in the world for public health (ShanghaiRankings 2023).
     
  • Learn through lectures, tutorials and workshops with national and international experts in paediatric research and practice. We continually evolve the programme based on student feedback and changing demands in the health service and academia.
     
  • Gain insight into UCL’s world-leading research into topics ranging across molecular genetics to population health sciences. UCL GOS ICH is a leading multidisciplinary research centre, committed to enhancing the understanding, diagnosis, therapy and prevention of childhood diseases.
     
  • Benefit from our close links with GOSH, with much of our research and teaching carried out on a joint basis.
     
  • Study and network with students from all over the world as part of an inspirational postgraduate learning environment.
     
  • Study at UCL’s Bloomsbury campus, in the heart of a London district famous for its cultural and educational institutions.
     
  • Benefit from first-rate facilities in both laboratory and non-laboratory subjects including the UCL GOS ICH library.
Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

This Master’s degree will help you understand the core principles of evidence-based paediatrics and child health.

You’ll learn about current and future developments in paediatric medicine and child health and gain the skills necessary to critically appraise practice and policy, and carry out independent Master's-level research.

You’ll also have the academic and clinical skills you need to work on global child health. Graduates can continue in their career pathway in global child health internationally.

Many of our graduates have gone onto complete their specialist training, into careers as consultants in paediatrics or senior professionals in other related fields including with the NHS, government health departments, ministries of health and NGOs all over the world.*

* Graduate Outcomes survey carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), looking at the destinations of UK and EU graduates in the cohorts 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22
 

I am interested in children's health in general, as well as policy and decision-making processes related to creating a better world for children. This course focuses on pretty much every aspect of child health including the unique issues and needs of every stage of a child's life, the specific qualities of different socioeconomic conditions in which children are born and raised, while also touching on the legal, ethical, and policy-related aspects.

Loujain

Paediatrics and Child Health: Global Child Health MSc

Read more

Employability

By the end of your Master’s degree, you’ll be equipped to work as a future leader with high-level organisational and management skills, and the ability to incorporate research and evidence-based practice into shaping health services for children globally.

The programme provides an ideal foundation for further professional development in paediatrics and child health and related specialities in a global context. 

Networking

The Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health offers seven MSc programmes as well as an MRes in Child Health encompassing a wide range of topics. Our students come from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, from the UK and overseas providing great networking opportunities within and across programmes. We hold social events throughout the year for the whole student cohort to enable networking between students. Students on the Master's programmes have the opportunity to join GOS ICH events such as the Otto Wolff lectures hosted by the research and teaching departments. These cover a variety of topics and provide an opportunity to hear from national and international experts and to network at the social event that usually accompanies these events.  

Teaching and learning

 Throughout this programme you will be taught subject specific knowledge via a variety of methods including but not limited to lectures, discussion groups and external reading.

You will assimilate practical and transferable skills via teaching, self-learning and assessments through the various modules provided by this programme. Between modules you will have time to work on your dissertation. 

Meet the academics currently leading this programme on the UCL GOS ICH website. 

The programme is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials and research project supervision. Assessment is through a combination of multiple-choice questions and short-answer question examinations, essays, posters, presentations, reflective portfolios, critical appraisal of literature. For the full MSc, a research project  is required.

Typical contact hours and hours of self-directed study for this programme (per 15-credit module) are: relevant lectures, seminars and tutorials (30 hours), reading hours (50 hours), engagement with online material (20 hours), revision (30 hours) and preparation for the final assessment e.g. coursework, essay (20 hours). Total 150 hours per module. Contact hours will vary depending on the choice of modules. Estimated time in dissertation supervision is around 30 hours (including group sessions and supervisor meetings).

Most modules are delivered as blocks of study, normally over four or five consecutive days from 9-5pm. Modules outside of this pattern will have around three hours contact time per week. 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.

Modules

You will take 180 credits, made up of eight taught modules and a dissertation.

The programme is taken over one full academic year and comprises three compulsory modules and a dissertation, with an additional five optional modules (eight modules in total).

Two of the compulsory modules: Evidence-based Child Health and Applied Statistics for Health Research I are usually taken in the first term and provide the foundational skills for your dissertation.

Depending on your module choices, most modules are taught in one-week blocks dispersed throughout the year and you must complete all components of the programme within one year unless extenuating circumstances are approved by UCL. 

The dissertation is a major part of the programme and this can be completed over the year with the bulk of work usually taking place in the final term. It is submitted in early September.

This programme is available in a part-time mode of two years with eight taught modules plus the project to be taken in this period.

As a part-time student you will take the programme over two years. You can complete this in a variety of ways: taking all the taught modules in the first year or spreading them over the two years. The dissertation is usually completed in the second year.

This programme is available in modular flexible mode of up to five years with eight taught modules plus the project to be taken during this period.

As a modular flexible student you are able to complete the programme in anything up to five years. You can complete this in a variety of ways by spreading modules out over the five years, or even having a year when you take no modules. It is advisable to take the modules that provide the foundational skills for completing the dissertation for example Applied Statistics for Health Research later in the programme if that is when your dissertation will be undertaken.

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 Paediatrics and Child Health: Global Child Health. Upon successful completion of 120 credits, you will be awarded a PG Dip in Paediatrics and Child Health: Global Child Health.

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) £36,500 £18,250

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.

There are no additional costs for this programme.

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

The Peter and Loek Wheeler scholarship enables students from low- and middle-income countries to undertake the MSc in Paediatrics and Child Health (one year) at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. The scholarship is an individual award that will cover the international tuition fees of one student per year.

The Michelle Zalkin Scholarship offers exceptional students with a proven career pathway in Child Protection £10,000 to study for a Master's degree in Paediatrics and Child Health.

Visit the funding and studentship pages of the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health website for details of funding available to students, including the UCL GOS ICH bursary.

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

Michelle Zalkin Scholarship

Deadline: 30 June 2025
Value: £10,000 (Duration)
Criteria Based on academic merit
Eligibility: UK, EU, Overseas

The Peter and Loek Wheeler Child Health Scholarship

Deadline: 30 June 2025
Value: €32,000 (Euros) (Duration of study)
Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need
Eligibility: EU, Overseas

UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Scholarship

Deadline: 15 August 2025
Value: £3000 for one year for full time students, £1500 each year for part time students (over 2 years) ()
Criteria Based on both academic merit and 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 Paediatrics and Child Health: Global Child Health at graduate level.
  • Why you want to study Paediatrics and Child Health: Global Child Health at UCL.
  • What particularly attracts you to the chosen programme.
  • How your academic and professional background meets the demands of this rigorous programme.
  • How this degree will enhance your career.

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

UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL GOS Institute of Child Health

ich.paediatrics@ucl.ac.uk

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