The MPH is the cornerstone of education in public health, priming well-prepared graduates for expanded roles in the 21st century. MPH degrees of the future will ground students in a rigorous, integrated, public health core and focus on specialized skill building in a defined area of expertise. The MPH will also emphasize experiential learning that provides opportunities for applying and integrating concepts, skills, and interdisciplinary content. Demand for graduates with these abilities is anticipated to grow.
The MPH Report
In anticipation of the centennial of the landmark Welch-Rose Report of 1915, the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) created the Framing the Future Task Force to undertake a broad review of education in public health. The Task Force in turn convened a Master of Public Health Expert Panel, composed of CEPH-accredited school of public health and public health program representatives and practice partners, to provide guidance for an overall reframing of the MPH degree. ASPPH has a long-standing commitment to strengthening the MPH degree through: support for school and program accreditation, the development of competency models, and the certification of graduates.
The Master of Public Health degree has been the cornerstone of education in public health since the Welch-Rose Report led to the establishment of U.S. schools of public health. As the centennial of the report approaches, key considerations, design features and critical content of the core for the MPH need to be updated so that the rationale of the degree is well defined, the degree fits well into the evolving spectrum of education in public health, and MPH graduates are well prepared to deal with the expanding context and content of their public health roles in the 21st century.
This report from the MPH Expert Panel is organized into three sections, each of which contains a set of assertions intended to guide the purposeful transition to a 21st century model of public health education at the professional master’s level.
The MPH degree should be based on a rigorous, structured, and carefully sequenced curriculum that may require prerequisite learning.
The MPH degree should offer in-depth education in concentration areas that are responsive to the interests of students, the strengths of the institution, and the needs of employers.
The minimum number of credit hours for an MPH degree should not be increased beyond the current minimum of 42. To do otherwise would contradict rising concerns about length of time to degree and tuition costs.
Accredited schools and programs should have flexibility in designing many aspects of their MPH degree, including prerequisites and experience requirements, core design, and concentrations.
An in-depth concentration should be a distinguishing element of a 21st century MPH degree.
The common element of all MPH degrees should be a well-designed core that covers critical and interdisciplinary content in foundational areas of public health.
The practicum and the culminating experience in the MPH degree should be considered primarily as elements of the concentration rather than as elements of the core.
The MPH degree should have distinct and defined learning objectives for each of its major elements, including core, concentration, practicum, and culminating experience.
The common core of the MPH degree should educate graduates in these foundational areas of public health:
The panel wishes to acknowledge Katharine Stewart, PhD, MPH, formerly of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, for her role on the panel from December 2012 – July 2013.