Our public health degree is an interdisciplinary programme, which broadens students’ horizons to explore health needs and the links between theory and practice in relation to the concepts and principles of public health.

A degree in public health is one that will equip you with skills and knowledge to improve and protect public health and the well-being of individuals, communities and populations. You will focus on how to tackle major health challenges and reduce inequalities at global, national and local levels. This degree aims to boost your chances of employability in the field of epidemiology, statistical analysis, public health training, public and social care, community health, and health care services.

You will be encouraged to take on a work placement so you can gain professional and practical skills through working with a local authority, social entity or an NGO. Working on one aspect of public health would help you contribute in improving healthcare service delivery, empowering people in building a healthy lifestyle and influencing health policy reform in London and beyond.

“We’ve just revalidated our course and now the focus is much more on doing things,” explains Course Leader Paul Watts. “So we've trimmed down modules which previously had a lot of theory and it’s now a much more practical course.”

We’ll start in your first year by giving you a thorough understanding of health and healthcare in the UK. You’ll study epidemiology, the cornerstone of public health. It’s the science that studies the patterns, causes and effects of health and disease conditions in populations.

In your second year, you’ll take a practical module where you’ll use our computer labs to access and analyse health data before presenting an epidemiological report on it. That skill of interpreting data is in short supply in the UK and is in hot demand.

You’ll choose your own final-year project. It could be anything from the evaluation of a public health programme to a focus-group study analysing an important local health issue.

Over the course of your degree you will spend around 480 hours of timetabled learning and teaching activities. These may be lectures, workshops, seminars, placements and individual and group tutorials. Contact hours may vary depending on each module.

The approximate amount for this course are:

Year 1: scheduled teaching – 114 hours; guided independent study –50 hours Assessment preparation and 36 hours student-tutor interaction = 200 total hours
Year 2: scheduled teaching – 150 hours; guided independent study – 50 hours student-tutor interaction and assessment preparation = 200 total hours
Year 3: scheduled teaching – 226 hours; guided independent study – 974 hours

You’ll always receive detailed feedback outlining your strengths and how you can improve. We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 14 working days. However, this may take longer if external assessment is required.

As the need for projects to deliver good health globally becomes ever more urgent, the more clearly we see that public health is not just everybody’s business - it’s a growth business, too. That’s why it needs graduates as well schooled as you will be in these crucial issues.

Employment opportunities abound. Our graduates have gone on to work for employers including Public Health England, local authorities, national government and the civil service, the NHS, charities and social enterprises.

They’ve become public health educators or specialists. They’ve worked in voluntary organisations in the UK and abroad, or advised on policy, or gone on to study epidemiology. Others go into further research. Anything is possible.

Ultimately, your success may depend on how resourceful, enterprising and self-starting you are.

So it’s at this point that we’ll recount the story of Marina Haque. A forty-something mum who was persuaded by her five children to take up a place at the University of East London through clearing, Marina initially found the academic side challenging.

Yet she grabbed every chance to improve her basic skills, volunteered for the London Borough of Enfield’s public health department and astonished everyone by securing the presence of the head of Public Health England at a UEL conference.

Inspired by our course, she established stop-smoking campaigns outside her son’s primary school, an initiative which spread through the borough, and organised a series of pioneering health awareness events with different healthcare organisations.

Last year, our Marina graduated and announced a further ambition: “One day, I want to be called Dr Haque.” From this course, perhaps anything’s possible!