Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care)

Year of entry: 2024

Overview

Degree awarded
PG Credit
Duration
1-2 years (PT)
Entry requirements

We will consider applications demonstrating professional experience related to these Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care) courses.

Full entry requirements

Number of places/applicants
Typically 50 places per intake (September and January)
How to apply

You should apply for our Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care) units by completing our online application form . See the Advice to applicants section for details of the supporting documents we require with your form.

Course options

Full-time Part-time Full-time distance learning Part-time distance learning
Modular N N N Y

Course overview

  • Develop new or existing skills and knowledge in various areas of public health and primary care if you are a health professional.
  • Cover topics ranging from evidence-based practice and health economics to intercultural public health and climate change and health.
  • Fit your learning around other commitments through our largely online courses.
  • Take individual units as standalone Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care) courses or choose multiple units to build credits for a PGCert, PGDip or master's qualification.
*Please note this is a distance learning course*

Open days

Attending an open day is a great way to find out what studying at Manchester is like. Find out more about our upcoming open days .

Fees

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2024, the tuition fees are as follows:

  • Modular (part-time distance learning)
    UK students (per annum): £1200 per 15 credits
    International, including EU, students (per annum): £2600 per 15 credits

Further information for EU students can be found on our dedicated EU page.

The fees quoted above will be fully inclusive for the course tuition and administration costs during your studies.

All fees for entry may be subject to a yearly review and incremental rises per annum are also likely over the duration of courses lasting more than a year.

For general fees information please visit postgraduate fees . Always contact the department if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

The course fees include all the tuition, technical support and assessments required for the course, but you are likely to incur some additional costs:

  • maximum of one core text book per unit (approximately £30 per book) where e-books are not available;
  • communication costs for internet use and telephone;
  • a statistical software package (approximately £20).

A copy of the statistical software for Practical Statistics for Population Health will be provided free for all international fee-paying students.

Costs may also be incurred for travel, subsistence and accommodation charges during the following optional events or units:

  • the Arts and Public Health blended learning unit
  • the Intercultural Public Health blended learning unit
  • the Infection, Prevention & Control blended learning unit
  • the Engaging the Hard to Reach for Health Gain blended learning unit
  • the Geneva Winter School

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Contact details

School/Faculty
Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health
Contact name
Postgraduate Admissions Team
Telephone
+44 (0)161 529 4563
Email
Website
https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/public-health-data
School/Faculty
Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health

Courses in related subject areas

Use the links below to view lists of courses in related subject areas.

Entry requirements

Academic entry qualification overview

We will consider applications demonstrating professional experience related to these Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care) courses.

English language

International students must demonstrate English proficiency through a secure and approved testing system. We ask for English language proof from applicants from countries that are not majority English-speaking countries (a list of majority English-speaking countries, as defined by the UK Home Office, can be found here ).

Specifically, we require a minimum of:

  • IELTS : minimum 6.5 overall with 6.0 in writing
  • TOEFL: 90 internet-based (with 22 in each component)

See further information about requirements for your country .

If the language of instruction of your first degree was English, but you obtained the degree from a university of a non-majority English-speaking country, the English language requirement may be waived for applicants, provided written evidence is submitted.

English language test validity

Some English Language test results are only valid for two years. Your English Language test report must be valid on the start date of the course.

Other entry requirements

You will require regular access to a modern personal computer (Windows or Mac) with a stable internet connection. You should be confident in using the internet for web browsing, sending emails and also using word processing software, such as Microsoft Word.

Application and selection

How to apply

You should apply for our Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care) units by completing our online application form . See the Advice to applicants section for details of the supporting documents we require with your form.

Advice to applicants

We require the following supporting documents to be submitted with your online application form.

  • A personal statement of approximately 300-500 words about why you wish to take this course and how it will affect your personal and professional development. This statement should try and refer to your current role
  • A CV

Please note that applications cannot be assessed until the required documents have been received. Supporting documents can be uploaded with the online application form or sent directly to pgtaught.cbm@manchester.ac.uk . After applying, please do not submit documents in any other way without telling us first so we can provide you with the most efficient service.

Please make sure you include your University ID number on any correspondence and do not send any documents before you have submitted your application.

How your application is considered

Your application will be reviewed by the relevant Programme Director in receipt of all required supporting documentation.

Applications are considered on academic and relevant professional experience, based on all information provided. 

Re-applications

If you applied in the previous year and your application was not successful you may apply again. Your application will be considered against the standard course entry criteria for that year of entry. In your new application you should demonstrate how your application has improved. We may draw upon all information from your previous applications or any previous registrations at the University as a student when assessing your suitability for your chosen course.

Course details

Course description

Our Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care) courses meet the training needs of health professionals who are either interested in a career in public health or want to develop new skills in a specific area of public health, primary care or research methods.

Contemporary public health practice requires practitioners to be adaptable and flexible, with broad experience of a range of subject areas.

Our Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care) courses will equip you with:

  • the skills and knowledge to apply to public health concerns at local, national and international level;
  • the ability to apply relevant theory and scientific principles to practical situations;
  • the capability of meeting core-competencies in public health;
  • research skills such as epidemiology, statistics and qualitative research methods.

You can take our Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care) courses as part of a personal career development programme, or if you are considering a substantive degree in public health and have been out of education for some time.

Both distance and blended learning options are available to help you fit study around your other commitments.

See the course unit list for more information about each unit, or contact mph.admin@manchester.ac.uk .

PhD with integrated master's

If you're planning to undertake a PhD after your master's, our Integrated PhD programme will enable you to combine your postgraduate taught course with a related PhD project in biology, medicine or health.

You can also visit this page for examples of projects related to integrated master's courses.

Special features

Expert teaching

You will be taught by professionals working in the field of local, national and international public health. There is an emphasis on applying your learning to real life public health issues.

Flexible learning

All of the course content is delivered online, enabling you to fit study around other commitments. There are both fully online and blended options where face-to-face sessions are planned.

Learn with students from around the world

You will be able to mix with students from a range of disciplines from all over the world. We have over 1,500 alumni from more than 80 countries.

Distance learning support

We have a dedicated team of e-learning technologists to help support you throughout your studies and resolve any issues you might have on a one-to-one basis.

Teaching and learning

Most of our courses are delivered completely online. A learning structure with a recommended pace is in place throughout the unit, with specific deadlines for all summative assessments.

Some course units require your participation throughout and some of the optional units are blended, which require a mandatory face-to-face element. Please check whether your chosen course unit includes any face-to-face teaching days, as this is clearly stated in the Course Unit Overview. If you are unable to attend a face-to-face component due to mitigating circumstances, you may be permitted to repeat this unit in a subsequent year. However, if you are unable to attend the face-to-face sessions, please do not choose one of the blended units. Please contact mph.admin@manchester.ac.uk if this is likely to be a problem.

Coursework and assessment

You will use a number of assessed and non-assessed activities to develop key skills and expand your knowledge base. The assessment is based on assignments and other activities such as moderated discussion boards and group work.

This Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care) programme is not award-bearing and allows you to complete up to three units from the MPH syllabus.

After successfully completing this level of the course, you could then be considered for progression to the award-bearing levels of our course (PGCert, PGDip, MPH), through re-application.

Course unit details

You are able to select the units you would like to take as part of this course from the pool of units available on our Master of Public Health programme. There are no core units and restrictions apply only to those units with pre-requisites.

You can choose up to a maximum of three taught units over two years, with a maximum of two units per semester.

Course unit list

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optional
Introduction to Public Health POPH60001 15 Optional
Health Promotion Theory & Methods POPH60021 15 Optional
Evidence Based Practice POPH60041 15 Optional
Creating Equitable Services for Health and Wellbeing POPH60062 15 Optional
Working with Communities POPH60072 15 Optional
Economic Evaluation in Healthcare POPH60092 15 Optional
Applied Epidemiology POPH60112 15 Optional
Practical Statistics for Population Health POPH60982 15 Optional
Fundamentals of Epidemiology POPH60991 15 Optional
Communicable Disease Control POPH62051 15 Optional
Health Systems Challenges in Low and Middle Income Countries POPH62212 15 Optional
Global Health into the 21st Century POPH62311 15 Optional
Global Women's Public Health POPH62411 15 Optional
Primary Health Care POPH63111 15 Optional
Qualitative Research Methods POPH63121 15 Optional
Emergency Planning, Response & Resilience POPH64132 15 Optional
Implementation Sciences POPH64551 15 Optional
Health Services Management POPH64662 15 Optional
Intercultural Public Health POPH64772 15 Optional
Arts and Public Health POPH65011 15 Optional
Digital Public Health POPH65022 15 Optional
Public Health Benefits of Green and Blue Space POPH65031 15 Optional
Climate Change and Health POPH65042 15 Optional
Introduction to Health Policy POPH65052 15 Optional
Behaviour Change and Public Health POPH65062 15 Optional
Public Health and the Antibiotic Crisis POPH65072 15 Optional
Business, Media & Health POPH65092 15 Optional
Infection Prevention & Control POPH65552 15 Optional
Nutrition and Public Health POPH66662 15 Optional
Evidence Synthesis: Systematic Reviews POPH68001 15 Optional
Oral Health & Disease in Populations POPH76061 15 Optional
Implementing Strategy in Dental Services POPH76072 15 Optional
Displaying 10 of 32 course units

Scholarships and bursaries

For the latest scholarship and bursary information please visit the fees and funding page.

What our students say

This course shares some units with our Master of Public Health (MPH) course. Read about Ogochukwu Okoye's experience of the MPH and see what our Student Ambassadors have to say in our blog .

Disability support

Online learning resources are designed with accessibility as a priority, using the latest web accessibility technologies.

Further practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service .

CPD opportunities

In addition to our Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care) units, we also run:

Careers

Career opportunities

Most of our students complete Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care) units while working in a wide variety of jobs and sectors, eg local authority and public health bodies.

Some use their experience and qualifications to help them move into predominantly public health-related roles.

Other students - such as health promotion staff, GPs, hospital doctors, pharmacists, infection control nurses, therapists, community workers, lay people, managers and researchers - undertake the course to improve their public health skills and expertise to apply within their own profession and setting.