Columbia University Master of Public Health Core Curriculum: Implementation, Student Experience, and Learning...

Area of Science:

• Public Health Education
• Curriculum Development
• Higher Education Pedagogy

Background:

• Public health education faces evolving 21st-century challenges.
• The Master of Public Health (MPH) Core curriculum at Columbia University was developed to address these challenges.
• Evaluating curriculum effectiveness is crucial for adapting to modern public health needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the implementation and educational outcomes of the Columbia University MPH Core curriculum.
• To quantify student experience and learning outcomes during and after the program.
• To assess the curriculum's impact on students' ability to integrate and apply public health concepts.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective evaluation of 6 years (2013-2018) of student survey data.
• Utilized Core Evaluation Survey (CES) and Graduate Exit Survey (GES) data from 1902 students.
• Employed statistical analyses including chi-squared tests, ANOVA, and McNemar tests.

Main Results:

• High completion rate of the Core curriculum (94.4%).
• A significant majority of students (81.7%) reported ease in integrating concepts across modules.
• Postgraduation, students successfully applied Core content to coursework and field experiences.
• Consistently high on-time graduation rates (85%-93%) were observed.

Conclusions:

• The MPH Core curriculum successfully meets its objectives by fostering critical learning abilities.
• Improvements in teaching structures, training, and active learning strategies contributed to positive outcomes.
• The curriculum effectively prepares students for interdisciplinary work in public health.
• The program demonstrates a strong capacity to equip graduates for contemporary public health practice.