Health Promotion MSc (PGCert PGDip)

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Course structure

After the induction day, the course begins with the first core module, Principals of Health Promotion and Behaviour Change. This module provides a sound foundation in health promotion and public health systems thinking. The other core module, Health Promotion: Strategy and Project Planning is delivered in teaching semester 2.

You will also take six 20-credit modules which includes a research methods module and complete a 60-credit research dissertation. 

The combination of modules depends on the pathway you choose and will be selected in consultation with the course leader – for information on the pathways, look at the other tabs on this page.

You will learn through a mixture of taught sessions, tutorials, interactive online sessions, group work, independent study and placement related activities. Most 20-credit modules are delivered over five to seven 7 full-days spread over two weeks, with follow up assignment support or online action learning sets. The dates are set well in advance so that you can plan your study schedule and time on campus.

The 20-credit community placement module runs alongside your study period depending on the location, timing, and nature of your placement. You will be supported to identify a 65+hour voluntary placement in a not-for-profit organisation in the broader health promotion practice community. Opportunities exist locally in Sussex and further afield, including overseas, depending on your chosen pathway.

You will be taught by a range of university academics, researchers and health promotion practitioners, including our MSc graduates, who work in public health roles. You'll also benefit from contributions from our visiting professors who include Dr Suzanne Jackson from Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, and Professor Albert Lee from School of Public Health at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The course is flexible and allows you to exit with a postgraduate certificate (PGCert) after passing three modules (60 credits) or a postgraduate diploma (PGDip) after passing six modules (120 credits). You must complete the 60-credit research dissertation to qualify for the MSc.

Health sciences postgraduate education
This course is part of our postgraduate education programme. The programme allows you to sign up for one module at a time and build your qualification as you go. It also gives you access to interdisciplinary modules across a broad selection of health and social science subjects.

Syllabus 

Core syllabus 

You will take the following core modules whichever pathway you choose:

• Principles of Health Promotion and Behaviour Change (20 credits)
• Health Promotion: Strategy and Project Planning (20 credits)
• A research methods module chosen from the PG programme (20 credits)
• Dissertation (60 credits)

See individual route tabs for information on other module requirements.

Dissertation

The final dissertation is a major piece of work and an opportunity for you to fully investigate a subject you are interested in. The dissertation can be via literature-based research, small-scale empirical research or analysis of existing data.

You will be supported by your tutors to develop a dissertation proposal and then allocated a dissertation supervisor to guide you through your research work. Students are encouraged to write up their dissertation research as draft publication-ready papers, so that they can more readily publish high quality work after completion of their MSc.

Option modules*

The range of option modules include:

• Culture, Community Health And Wellbeing
• Health Law and Ethics
• Promoting Health, Wellbeing and Resilience Through Participation
• Global Public Health
• Health Professional as an Educator
• Digital Technologies and Information in Health Care Delivery
• Leading Service Developments and Business Planning for Allied Health Professionals
• Managing Change
• Leadership and Service Development in Health and Social Care 
• Epidemiology
• Nutrition in Public Health
• Social Marketing
• Sexual Health
• Physical Activity and Exercise Rehabilitation

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Teaching and assessment 

The pattern of module delivery varies, with some modules taught five days in succession - Monday to Friday. Others may run for two consecutive days a month apart with a final assessment day in the following month. Most taught sessions are for a full day on campus with dates set far in advance so that you can plan ahead.

This intensive pattern of delivery is designed to make it easier for part-time students to book time away from work. Some students choose to commute to Brighton and stay overnight when a module is running.

Twenty-credit modules involve around 200 hours of study time, typically arranged as 30 - 40 hours contact time with lecturers, independent guided and individual study, and work on assignments.

The variety of assessment methods is designed to reflect the skills and outputs that might be required in a working environment. These include interactive lectures, small group discussions, case studies, problem-based learning in response to public health triggers, and assessments by presentation, video recordings, oral response to scenarios, as well as formal written critical reports. The variety of assessment methods is designed to reflect that skills and outputs that might be required in a working environment, such as giving a talk, presenting a bid or writing a briefing paper.

Each module is assessed separately and includes formative assignments that provide you with feedback on your progress as you prepare for summative assessments You are able to book individual or group tutorials with each module leader for support with working on your assignments.

Your course leader is responsible for your overall education and course progression. You will also be assigned a personal academic tutor (PAT) from the health promotion course team to support and guide you on all aspects unrelated to the content of any individual modules, future careers and making the most of your postgraduate study experience.

In addition to the formal teaching you will have access to ad hoc extracurricular seminars both within the school and through forums such as the Brighton and Sussex Universities Food Network, and the Institute of Development Studies which operate across University of Brighton, Brighton and Sussex Medical School and University of Sussex.

Health promotion pathway  

The Health Promotion pathway is our most popular route and offers the widest choice of option modules. It requires no previous experience of study or work in health promotion practice so is suitable if you are changing career and need to develop and strengthen your expertise and knowledge of public health.

If you are already working in public health and want to develop both your knowledge of education and management theory and practice this pathway would enable you to take modules from both the management and education strands.

As well as the core modules you will take:

• Community Placement: Developing Health Promotion Competencies (20 credits)
• two option modules – the course leader can advise you about which modules would be suitable based on your background, experience and interests. 

International pathway 

The International Health Promotion pathway provides an opportunity to learn through comparison. You will compare and contrast how context influences the way that health promotion operates in your home and host country.

It is suitable for international students who want to maximise the opportunity to learn from their experience of living and studying in the UK, and for students from the UK who have experience of employment, volunteering or residency in a different country or extensive cross-cultural employment /voluntary experience in the UK and what to deepen their learning from this exposure.

The community placement module volunteering is carried out in a country other than your own - for international students this would be a UK placement.

Your dissertation may include strong elements of international comparison such as examining what happens in your home versus your host country. 

As well as the core modules you will take:

• Community Placement: Developing Health Promotion Competencies (20 credits)
• One option module (20 credits)

A global or cross-cultural option module (20 credits) such as:

• Culture, Community and Wellbeing 
• Global Public Health 
• Nutrition in Public Health

Management pathway 

The management pathway expands your capacity to work at a managerial level in health promotion. You should have a high level of pre-existing knowledge, experience and competence in health promotion as you will take most of your modules from the management strand.

Your dissertation will be on an aspect of health promotion of your choice which includes a management perspective.

As well as the core modules you will take:

• Community Placement: Developing Health Promotion Competencies (20 credits)

Two 20-credit option manage modules such as:

• Leadership and Service Development in Health and Social Care
• Leading Service Developments and Business Planning for Allied Health Professionals
• Managing Change
• Social Marketing

Education pathway 

The Health Promotion and Education pathway is for practicing health professionals who wish to gain skills, knowledge and behaviours to be an effective leader of education within practice, or for academics who wish to work in a healthcare education context. It is for you if your expertise and job roles include, or are expected to include, a strong curriculum design and delivery of education to other health or allied health professionals.

To study on this pathway you'll need to have prior experience of and/or study in health promotion, and have previous experience of delivering teaching or training courses to health professionals or other colleagues in practice.

Students on this pathway share modules with health professionals studying for a PGCert in leading practice education. UK students will be able to gain formal recognition as a D2-Fellow under the UK Higher Education Academy Fellowship scheme. Fellowship of the UKHEA is increasingly recognised as an alternative to a PGCert in employment in higher education.

As well as the core modules you will take:

• Health Professional as an Educator (20 credits)
• Enhancing Engagement in Practice Education (20 credits)
• Learning Education by Design (20 credits)

Full-time/part-time 

Full-time

Students studying full-time tend to take three modules in each of the two teaching semesters, and work on their dissertation from June to September. 

Some students prefer to submit in December, depending on the nature of the dissertation, so that they have more time to research and write up and take a short break in the summer. Dissertation supervision would continue to be provided via online supervision where this is the case.

Full-time study usually takes 12–15 months - this can be longer if there are study breaks due to illness or where there is the need to repeat assignment submissions. 

Often UK-based students who start the course full-time gain employment in health promotion after taking the core modules and switch to part-time study.

Part-time

Many of our UK-based students study part-time, to fit alongside their work and home commitments.

Typically, part-time students take three or four modules in the first two years and complete their dissertation in their third year.

This gives students plenty of flexibility and time to identify a suitable community placement and to work on their dissertation.

Who this course is for 

Our students come from a wide range of backgrounds. Some are professionals already working in public health or wellbeing roles, and some have an interest in health and wellbeing and looking to develop this further to find employment in the health improvement sector.

The course is ideal for those working in roles which include a health promotion component who want to deepen their knowledge and theoretical understanding and have an opportunity to develop a research or specialist area.

Our students include health and wellbeing advisers, practice nurses, social care professionals, pharmacists, school teachers, personal trainers and voluntary workers.

We also welcome professionals looking to change careers and follow their interest or passion for aspects of health and wellbeing. Backgrounds in marketing and communications and counselling are particularly suited to health promotion.

The course offers a strong career progression for recent graduates in degrees which examine people, populations and behaviours (including psychology, sociology, social geography, marketing, communications) or which already include elements of health promotion such as pharmacy and the sport sciences.

Students with other academic backgrounds are also welcome but will need to demonstrate relevant voluntary or other practical experience.

Meet the team

Course fees

For up-to-date details of fees, contact fees@brighton.ac.uk.

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

Forward Bound Scholarship

The Forward Bound Scholarship is available to Health Promotion MSc applicants from low or lower-middle income countries where similar postgraduate education opportunities are not available. It is intended to support health and other professionals who are employed or who volunteer in roles where they will be able to influence health promotion practice and policy on their return.

The scholarship will fund course fees, travel costs, accommodation, visa, subsistence and health insurance for 12 months – equivalent to a cost of £25,000.

Find out more about the Forward Bound Scholarship and how to apply.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2024–25.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate and postgraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

Campus where this course is taught

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