Postgraduate Courses in
Public Health and
Primary Care
Course Introduction
Contents
Welcome
1
Getting started
2
IT signup and registration
3
Course structure
4
Course unit selection
4
Preparation for study
6
Blackboard
8
Course inductions
9
Programme handbook
10
Compulsory skills units
11
Contacts
12
This guide can also be found on our website.
tinyurl.com/mphintro
Welcome to the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences at The University of Manchester. We are delighted that you decided to join our courses in public health and primary care. This course in-troduction is designed to help guide you through some of the steps you need to complete before beginning your studies. If there is something you need to know that is not covered here or in the Crucial Guide, please just get in touch. We have dedicated administration and eLearning teams, who are on hand to support you throughout your programme. Our team
of expert tutors are also available to answer any academic queries you may have. You can find our contact details at the back of this introduction.
We hope your time with us is both enjoyable and rewarding, and wish you every success with your studies. The MPH Team
Welcome to The University of Manchester
Watch videos and follow YouTube:
www.youtube.com/manchestermph
You should by now have accepted your offer of a place at The University of Manchester and be ready to complete the registration process before you can begin your course. This proc-ess is completed online and involves a number of steps to guide you through the system. This checklist will help you complete all of the steps required, so that you are ready to start studying on your course.
Getting started
Checklist:
Complete IT signup (if you haven’t previously done this)
Confirm attendance Course unit selection
Complete registration, steps 1 to 10 Read Programme Handbook
Complete online skills (from 1st September) Complete the compulsory Health and Safety unit (from 15th September)
If you have not already completed your IT signup, please follow the link below to do so:
iam.manchester.ac.uk/welcome/menu
Once you have done this, you will be able to confirm your attendance on the course and access My Manchester in order to complete your registration:
my.manchester.ac.uk
The Crucial Guide for students provides information about how to complete these steps and who to contact if you have any problems:
www.manchester.ac.uk/crucialguide
All of the MPH/MRes programmes are modular, which means that each year you can choose to study a selection of units, which will count towards your degree.
Units start twice a year, first in Septem-ber in the 1st semester, then again in February in the 2nd semester. Each unit only runs once a year, in one semester. This means that you can only study a unit during its allotted time period. Most units have a number of topics spanning 10 weeks. Although you work through these independently in your
own home, it is good to follow the weeks, as the online discussions and as-signments are linked to particular dates and topics.
There will be two assessments for each unit and possibly some additional assessed discussion board or group activities.
Download the Student Timetable at:
tinyurl.com/mphdocs
Deadlines for the assessed discussion boards and group works can be found in the overview section of each unit.
Course structure
Once you have completed your IT signup, you can register for the course units you would like to study. The number you choose is dependent upon the programme you are registered on. Full-time students on the MPH and MRes programmes will need to choose 8 (MPH) or 6 (MRes) taught units and the dissertation unit.
We recommend that part-time students carefully consider the number of units they take, especially in the first year. If you are concerned about the time you have available then we suggest that you enrol in one unit per semester at first. We estimate that each unit will take 8-10 hours per week of study, so make sure you do not choose to study more units than you have time for.
The maximum number of units that you can take per semester is four (if you are studying full-time) and two (if you are studying part-time).
Core units
There are a number of core units that you have to take for each programme (unless you are on studying for a PG Cert or a PHPD award). Details of these can be found at:
tinyurl.com/mphstructure
The majority of programmes have at least three core units in common (Fun-damentals of Epidemiology, Evidence Based Practice and Biostatistics). We recommend that you choose to take at least one of these in your first year if you are a part-time student. If you have not studied for a while or ever in a UK institution we recommend that you take ‘Evidence Based Practice’ in your first year.
Optional units
In addition to the core units required for your programme, you are able to select a number of optional units, up to a max-imum of 5 (MPH, PG Dip) or 3 taught
units for the course (MRes).
To help you choose which optional units are most suited to your interests and/or career, please read through the Course Unit Information portlet in My Man-chester.
my.manchester.ac.uk
There is also a video available in which Dr Katie Read talks about how to choose units on the MPH/MRes programme:
tinyurl.com/mphselection Registering for your units
Once you have chosen which units you would like to study, you will need to reg-ister for them through My Manchester:
my.manchester.ac.uk
The Course Unit Selection Guide shows how to complete this:
tinyurl.com/mphdocs
We recommend you register for both semester one and two units at the same time.
Please also see:
MPH Tutor Introductions on YouTube
Preparation for study
The university offers a variety of online resources which can be accessed by distance learning students once regis-tration has been completed.
Online English language resources
The University Language Centre has on-line academic English and Skills Devel-opment material for students who need assistance with their academic English skills:
www.langcent.manchester.ac.uk/el-plinks/academic
Online learning resources are also avail-able:
www.langcent.manchester.ac.uk/re-sources/online
Academic writing skills
The university offers a postgraduate online writing clinic for students who need assistance with their writing skills:
tinyurl.com/writingclinic
The Academic Phrasebank can also be a useful, general resource to students completing assignments:
www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk
Additional study skills resources from both the MPH programme and the Faculty will also be available to you on Blackboard once you have completed registration.
Books, statistical software and headsets Required reading
Some units have a required reading list so please check the course outlines for which textbooks you may need to pur-chase before the start of teaching. International fee paying students will be sent copies of the textbooks required twice a year - at the start of each aca-demic year after financial registration and course unit selection is complete, and again before the start of semester two. If you drop the unit before the mid-term assignment is due you may need to return the book.
International fee paying students ad-mitted this academic year will also be sent out a headset and microphone for
online discussions.
Biostatistics unit statistical software - StatsDirect
The Biostatistics unit (MEDN60982) requires the purchase and use of a sta-tistical software package. Home/EU fee paying students are able to purchase a software licence at the discounted rate of £20. International fee paying students will be sent a licence via email.
Blackboard
Blackboard is the eLearning system used by the university and it contains all of the materials you need to study for the course. You can access Blackboard from any computer with an internet connec-tion.
Once you have completed IT sign up, you will then be able to use My Manchester:
my.manchester.ac.uk
My Manchester provides a ‘single log-in’ to various university services. The four main services are Email, Blackboard, the library and the student system.
The Blackboard tab presents you with a list of the units you have chosen, com-pulsory and community units.
The units will not appear in Blackboard until the 15th September, but you will be able to enter the Public Health and Primary Care – Community unit, which is a space for all MPH/MRes students. We recommend that you work through ‘Online Skills and Resources’ within the Primary Care & Public Health Commu-nity area before trying to access any of your other units as this will give you skills and tips for managing your learn-ing in Blackboard.
Please visit the Blackboard student sup-port site for further help and informa-tion:
www.studentnet.manchester.ac.uk/ blackboard
Course inductions
Face-to-face residential induction
We hold a two-day residential course induction in the university for any new students who would like to, and are able to, attend. This year the residential will be held on Thursday 11 and Friday 12
September. This is a great opportunity
to meet some of your fellow students and members of the MPH team in per-son. More information about this will be circulated by email before September.
Online inductions
Our eLearning team also hold 3 online induction sessions. The sessions are for any student who is unable to come to Manchester for the residential as well as who is attending face-to-face residen-tial. The dates and times are:
Wednesday, 10 September, 12:30-13:30 Tuesday, 16 September, 17:00-18:00 Wednesday, 17 September, 08:00-09:00 All times are BST (GMT+1)
Information about these will be circu-lated along with the information about the residential.
Residential 2014
11th September
12th September
Programme handbook
Your programme handbook can be found online at:
tinyurl.com/mphdocs
The handbook contains important information about topics such as the degree regulations for your programme, information about assignment sub-mission including how to apply for an assignment extension, timetables and guidance about referencing and plagia-rism.
Please make sure you read your hand-book carefully as this will help guide you throughout the duration of your programme.
Compulsory skills units
The University requires to you complete two skills units as part of your study. These are:
Health and Safety Academic Malpractice
These units are mandatory and carry no credits towards your award; you are however required to complete them during semester one. These units are completed online via Blackboard and will be added on to your record once you start. Further information about these will be sent to you via email by the school administrator.
Academic Malpractice is an excellent and easy to follow unit which explains how to reference your work and avoid issues such as plagiarism. The Faculty takes academic malpractice very seri-ously, so if you are in any doubt about referencing your work please ask your course tutor for support.
Contacts
Programme director:
Arpana Verma
Arpana.Verma@manchester.ac.uk
Programme administration team:
Clare McCullagh Irene Kapetanaki Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 1635 Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 1648 mph.admin@manchester.ac.uk pgt.medicine@manchester.ac.uk MPH technical support: Stewart Taylor John Owen Chikako Blything Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 1872 Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 1609 Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 1897 elearning@manchester.ac.uk Registration helpdesk: Tel: +44 (0) 161 306 5544 Sponsor letters: sponsorletters@manchester.ac.uk
Tuition fee prepayments:
earlypayments@manchester.ac.uk
General fee queries:
tuitionfees@manchester.ac.uk
Course leaders:
Contact details of all course unit lead-ers are available in the programme handbook:
Postgraduate courses in Public Health and Primary Care
The University of Manchester Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PL Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 1635 www.manchester.ac.uk/phpc @Manchester MPH Twitter MPH YouTube channel www.youtube.com/manchestermph
