Public Health Practitioners: 18 months in the making

With new students joining the programme during each of the six intakes annually, the current number of students in the PGDip in Public Health programme has reached 1200 in March 2022.  Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to the interest in Public Health as a scholarly discipline, the popularity of the programme is also attributed to the team of committed and dedicated lecturers from the Faculty of Health Sciences’ Department of Public Health, under the inspirational leadership of Prof Liz Wolvaardt. 

Another contributing factor to the programme’s success may be the flexibility that fully online studies provide these students. The fact that the programme is offered in a semi-synchronous manner, and doesn’t require any face-to-face contact sessions on campus, enables geographically-dispersed working adults to further their studies from the comfort of their own homes.

Most of the students in the fully online PGDip in Public Health programme are working full-time, and are married with children, meaning that flexibility really matters to them. As such, the semi-synchronous nature of the programme is highly attractive.  The fully online programme is structured to consists of nine modules of seven weeks each.  Each week start with an introduction and in some cases a virtual synchronous session that is recorded and made available in case students are not able to attend. A typical week would then entail a variety of learning activities, such as reading assignments, online discussions, written assignments, video blogs, and formative and summative assessments.  While students are required to complete all the week’s assignments before midnight on the Sunday evening, they can work on these assignments asynchronously throughout the week.  In other words, students have the flexibility to structure and plan their studies around their unique work and family commitments.

Students in the fully online programme commented positively on the support they get from their online lecturers and tutors, but also indicated how highly they valued the inputs of their classmates.  It seems as if the fear that online learning isolates and insulate students, is unfounded in this programme. The way the programme is structured requires students to rely on one another when there is groupwork, and peer-assessment exercises.  It seems like they truly form a community of like-minded individuals, who support one another far beyond just the course work.

UP applauded the commitment and professionalism of the Public Health lecturing team in designing and facilitating this high-quality online programme to the student body amid a global pandemic. We look forward to the April 2022 graduation ceremonies, where the first cohort of 44 students will receive their qualifications. Moreover, most of the first graduates indicated their desire to continue with their Masters in Public Health next year.