Transdisciplinarity of India’s master’s level public health programmes: evidence from admission criteria of the programmes offered since 1995
Authors
Kumaravel Ilangovan
ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600077 India
Sendhilkumar Muthappan
ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600077 India
Keerthiga Govindarajan
ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600077 India
Vignesh Vairamani
ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600077 India
Vettrichelvan Venkatasamy
ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600077 India
Manickam Ponnaiah
ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600077 India
Keywords:
Public health, One health, Education, Public health practice, Interdisciplinary placement, Universities, Accreditation, Health systems, Health workforce
Abstract
Introduction
In the Indian subcontinent, Master’s-level Public Health (MlPH) programmes attract graduates of diverse academic disciplines from health and non-health sciences alike. Considering the current and futuristic importance of the public health cadre, we described them and reviewed their transdisciplinarity status based on MlPH admissibility criteria 1995 to 2021.
Methods
Using a search strategy, we abstracted information available in the public domain on MlPH programmes and their admissibility criteria. We categorized the admission criteria based on specified disciplines into Health science, Non-health science and Non-health non-science categories. We described the MlPH programmes by location, type of institution, course duration, curriculum, pedagogical methods, specializations offered, and nature of admission criteria statements. We calculated descriptive statistics for eligible educational qualifications for MlPH admission.
Results
Overall, 76 Indian institutions (Medical colleges—21 and Non-medical coleges—55) offered 92 MlPH programmes (Private—58 and Public—34). We included 89 for review. These programmes represent a 51% increase (n = 47) from 2016 to 2021. They are mostly concentrated in 21 Indian provinces. These programmes stated that they admit candidates of but not limited to “graduation in any life sciences”, “3-year bachelor’s degree in any discipline”, “graduation from any Indian universities”, and “graduation in any discipline”. Among the health science disciplines, Modern medicine (n = 89; 100%), Occupational therapy (n = 57; 64%) is the least eligible. Among the non-health science disciplines, life sciences and behavioural sciences (n = 53; 59%) and non-health non-science disciplines, humanities and social sciences (n = 62; 72%) are the topmost eligible disciplines for admission in the MPH programmes.
Conclusion
Our review suggests that India’s MlPH programmes are less transdisciplinary. Relatively, non-medical institutions offer admission to various academic disciplines than the medical institutions in their MlPH programmes. India’s Master’s level public health programmes could be more inclusive by opening to graduates from trans-disciplinary backgrounds.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12960-022-00713-4.
Keywords: Public health, One health, Education, Public health practice, Interdisciplinary placement, Universities, Accreditation, Health systems, Health workforce
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