Master of Public Health (MPH)

Welcome to the Master of Public Health (MPH) Programme at UCT

A coursework plus dissertation Master of Public Health (MPH) has been offered in the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT since 1999, with origins in the early 1990s as an MPhil in Epidemiology. Currently it is offered as a multidisciplinary Public Health degree and is based on existing strengths at UCT, resulting in an emphasis on epidemiology and biostatistics, health economics, health systems, environmental health, social & behavioural sciences and global surgery. 

In keeping with the multidisciplinary nature of the field of public health, individuals in our MPH programme come from a variety of educational and professional backgrounds, including: health & health care; sciences & engineering; law; education; and social sciences & humanities.  We aim to provide students from these diverse backgrounds with the knowledge and skills to help them contribute towards improving health and health care in South Africa and the region.

The UCT MPH is an internationally-recognised degree, with our graduates going on to join the public health workforce across South Africa and around the world. In addition many of our students progress to the PhD programme in one of the academic divisions of the School of Public Health, or move outside of UCT to pursue PhDs at leading academic institutions around the world.

The UCT MPH degree requires completion of coursework modules and a 'mini-dissertation'. The structure of the degree is highly flexible, and allows study on a full-time basis (with coursework completed during 12-18 months) or part-time (with coursework completed over 24-48 months). Currently we do not offer distance-based learning, and residence in Cape Town is required for the coursework component of the degree.

The following pages contain additional detail on the UCT MPH programme. Additional questions may be directed to mphadmin@uct.ac.za and/or Academic Convenor (A/Prof Jill Olivier).

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