In the United Kingdom, one of the most sought-after master’s degrees is the Master of Science in Public Health, commonly known as MPH. Pursuing an MPH not only enhances your educational profile but also opens up a world of career opportunities in the dynamic field of public health. The beauty of an MPH degree lies in its versatility, enabling graduates to contribute to various facets of the public health sector, including health services management, policy development, and strategic planning. Furthermore, MPH graduates are highly sought after in areas such as housing, transportation, community organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and even major international health institutions. This degree equips students with advanced health research skills, making them highly competitive in the job market. In this comprehensive post, we present a curated list of the best Master of Public Health Programs (MPH) in the UK, each offering a unique blend of academic excellence and practical insights. Here, you’ll find key information on program duration, tuition fees, admission requirements, curriculum, and more.


Global Master of Public Health (Online) at the Imperial College London (best MPH Programs)

During this Course, the Candidates have the chance to learn about the shaping of global health policy. The Imperial experts led the most recent fight against the Ebola epidemic, described as the largest, most severe and most complex in the nearly four-decade history of the disease.

  • Duration: 2 years part-time or 3 years part-time
  • Study Process: The two-year Master’s course is divided into three terms per year and Completing eight-core specialisations per Year through different methods such as pre-recorded lectures and video capture, slide decks with audio commentary, practical exercises in coding and analysis and etc.
  • Modules:
    • Core modules
      • 1. Research Portfolio: Health Economics, Research Portfolio
      • 2. The Study Design, Research Portfolio
      • 3. Core Research Skills, Research Portfolio
      • 4. Research in Practice
    • Optional modules:
      • 1. Global health innovations
      • 2. Infectious disease modelling – please note that this specialisation will require some prior knowledge and experience with R programming which can be achieved through completion of Statistics for Public Health
      • 3. Quality improvement in healthcare
      • 4. Participatory approaches in public health
      • 5. Social epidemiology for public health
      • 6. Digital Health
      • 7. Advanced statistics and Data Science
      • 8. Life-course public health
  • Entry requirements:
    • Grade: Minimum 2.1 degree in science subject or an MBBS medical degree.
    • Backgrounds: medicine, health sciences, biological sciences or environmental sciences.
    • Language (for international students): IELTS (International English Language Testing System): Overall 6.5 and at least 6.0 on each of the four elements of IELTS
  • Tuition fees:
    • Home students from the UK: £12,600 (Full-time) and £6,300 (Part-time)
    • International students: £20,800 (Full-time) and £10,400 (Part-time)

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MSc Public Health at the University of Bristol (best MPH Programs)

Bristol is a research university in Bristol city which has six academic faculties composed of multiple schools with about 200 undergraduate courses.

  • Duration: 1 year Full-time and 2 or 3 years Part-time
  • Study Process: To be awarded a postgraduate diploma, students must have successfully completed 120 credit points, of which 90 must be at level M/7.
  • Modules:
    • Mandatory Modules (180):
      • 1. Essentials of Public Health and Health Improvement
      • 2. Introduction to Epidemiology and Statistics
      • 3. Research Methods
      • 4. Health protection: infectious disease epidemiology and control
      • 5. Public Health in Practice
      • 6. Health protection: Environmental, chemical and radiological hazards and occupational health
      • 7. Evaluation of Public Health Interventions
      • 8. Introduction to health economics for public health
      • 9. Healthcare services, policy and finance
      • 10. Dissertation
  • Entry requirements:
    • Grade: A minimum of an upper second-class honours degree in a relevant degree and a minimum of GCSE Mathematics at grade B or evidence of good numeracy skills from an undergraduate degree.
    • Backgrounds: Medicine, veterinary science, dentistry, pharmacy, biological sciences, statistics, geography, politics, psychology and social sciences
    • Language (for international students): IELTS (International English Language Testing System): Overall 7.0 and at least 6.5 on each of the four elements of IELTS
  • Tuition fees:
    • Home students from the UK: £9,900 (Full-time), £4,950 (Part-time 2 years) and £3,300 (Part-time 3 years) annual
    • International students: £21,800 (Full-time) annual

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MPH Public Health at the University of York (best MPH Programs)

The University of York has one of the Best Master of Public Health (MPH) programs in the UK. The University of York was founded in 1963 in historical beautiful York city.

  • Duration: 1 year Full-time and 2 years Part-time
  • Study Process: The course runs over one year for full-time students (three days a week) or two years for part-time students (one to two days a week).
  • Modules:
    • Compulsory modules: 1. Public Health Foundations and Practice (20 credits), 2. Epidemiology (10 credits), 3. Infection and Disease (20 credits), 4. Introduction to Health Statistics (10 credits), 5.Health Research in Practice (10 credits)
    • Optional modules:
      • 1. Health and Social Behaviour (20 credits)
      • 2. Disasters in Complex Political Emergencies* (20 credits)
      • 3. Communities in Humanitarian Affairs* (20 credits)
      • 4. Global Public Health (10 credits)
      • 5. Public Health and Ethics (10 credits)
      • 6. Health Economics (10 credits)
      • 7. Health Policy – Principles, Practice and the Evidence Base (10 credits)
      • 8. Introduction to Regression Analysis (10 credits)
      • 9. Randomised Controlled Trials (10 credits)
      • 11. Systematic Reviews (10 credits)
      • 12. Qualitative Health Research (10 credits)
      • 13. Further Regression Analysis (10 credits)
      • 14. Practical Randomised Controlled Trials (10 credits)
      • 15. Measurement in Health and Disease (10 credits)
  • Entry requirements:
    • Grade: 2:1 or equivalent, or a medical degree or with a 2:2 (or equivalent) and sufficient relevant work experience eg in the health, humanitarian, or human/social development sectors.
    • Backgrounds: Health, humanitarian, or human/social development sectors
    • Language (for international students): IELTS (International English Language Testing System): Overall 6.5 and at least 6.5 in Writing and at least 6.0 in all other elements of IELTS
  • Tuition fees:
    • Home students from the UK: £8,440 (Full-time) and £4,220 (Part-time)
    • International students: £18,700 (Full-time) and £9,350 (Part-time)

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Public Health (MPH) at the University of Sheffield (best MPH Programs)

This course Public Health (MPH) at the University of Sheffield will make students ready to become public health experts on local and global health problems. It is aimed to learn students about multidisciplinary, evidence-based approaches based on epidemiology, evidence synthesis, randomised controlled trials and social medicine.

  • Duration: 1 year Full-time
  • Modules:
    • Compulsory modules:
      • 1. Dissertation
      • 2. Epidemiology
      • 3. Health Needs Assessment
      • 4. Planning and Evaluation
      • 5. Introduction to Research Methods
      • 6. Introduction to Statistics and Critical Appraisal
      • 7. Key Issues in Global Public Health
    • Optional modules:
      • 1. Disaster and Emergency Management
      • 2. Communicable Disease Control
      • 3. Contemporary Health Psychology and Behaviour Change
      • 4. Further Statistics for Health Science Researchers
      • 5. Economic Evaluation and Health Care Financing
      • 6. Health PromotionLeading and Managing Health Services
      • 7. Public Health Informatics
      • 8. Sociology of Health and Illness
      • 9. Systematic Reviews and Critical Appraisal Techniques
      • 10. Using Policy to Strengthen Health Systems
      • 11. Qualitative Research Design and Analysis
      • 12. Confronting Public Health Problems
  • Entry requirements:
    • Grade: 2:1 honours degree, or a recognised medical degree or significant experience in public health.
    • Language (for international students): IELTS (International English Language Testing System): Overall 6.5 and at least 6.0 on each of the four elements of IELTS
  • Tuition fees:
    • Home students from the UK: £9,500
    • International students: £22,150

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Public Health and Health Services Research MSc at Newcastle University (best MPH Programs)

The Newcastle University located in Northeast UK in Newcastle city with about 27000 students has one of the Best Master of Public Health (MPH) courses in the Northeast of UK. This university has recently currently had one of the largest EU research portfolios in the UK.

  • Duration: 1 year Full-time and 2 or 3 years Part-time
  • Study Process: A mixture of online and in-person on-campus teaching
  • Modules:
    • Compulsory modules:
      • 1. Fundamentals of Research
      • 2. Health Statistics
      • 3. Public Policy, Health and Health Inequalities
      • 4. Introduction to Systematic Reviewing and Critical Appraisal
      • 5. Dissertation
    • Optional modules:
      • 1. Advanced Social Determinants of Health
      • 2. Introduction to Global Health Policy and Medicines Use
      • 3. Global Health in the Anthropocene
      • 4. Global Health Policy and Medicines Use
      • 5. Health Economics
      • 6. Health Statistics
      • 7. Introduction to Health Policy and Health Systems
      • 8. Public Health Intervention
      • 9. Public Health Protection
      • 10. Public Policy, Health and Health Inequalities
      • 11. Health Care Quality
      • 12. Evaluative Methods in Health Services Research
      • 13. Introduction to Global Health
      • 14. Global Health
      • 15. Applications of Epidemiology to Public Health
      • 16. Chronic Disease Epidemiology
  • Entry requirements:
    • Grade: A 2:1 honours degree, or international equivalent
    • Backgrounds: Medical, health or social sciences discipline. If you don’t have non-standard qualifications then you will be invited to an interview.
    • Language (for international students): IELTS (International English Language Testing System): Overall 7.0 and at least 7 on writing element of IELTS
  • Tuition fees:
    • Home students from the UK: £8,400 (Full-time) and £4,200 (Part-time, 2 years course) and £2,800 (Part-time, 3 years course),
    • International students: £22,800 (Full-time)

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Master of Public Health MPH at University of Liverpool (best MPH Programs)

The Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at the University of Liverpool started first time in 1989. This Master Programme has some adventures. It is a multidisciplinary focus mater degree which has an engagement with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Health for All principles.

  • Duration: Part-time (2 to 3 years), Full-time(1 year)
  • Advantages: approved training programmes for Health Education North West (HENW) such as NHS Specialist Registrars in public health, working towards Certificate of Completion of Specialist training and also Students who wish to go on to complete MFPHM Part A.
  • Study Process: 3 semesters per year two days per week (Wednesday, Thursday) for full-time or one day per week (Year One – Wednesday, Year Two – Thursday) for part-time
  • Modules:
    • Compulsory modules:
      • 1. Epidemiology and Statistics for Public Health I
      • 2. Health & Society
      • 3. Health Improvement
      • 4. An Introduction to Qualitative Research
      • 5. Health Inequalities: Evidence and Policy
      • 6. Health Policy, Governance and Economics
    • Optional modules:
      • 1. Epidemiology and Statistics for Public Health II
      • 2. Health Protection
      • 3. Evidence-based Public Health: Theory, Methods and Practice
  • Entry requirements:
    • Grade: GCSE Grade C or GCE O Level pass in Mathematics and English.
    • Backgrounds: medicine, nursing, pharmacy, occupational therapy, health services, health service management, environmental health and graduates with a background in the natural sciences, social sciences or humanities subjects.
    • Experience:
      • 1.Graduates in medicine should have one-year post-registration professional experience
      • 2.Graduates in health-related undergraduate degree: at least one year of relevant public health work experience
      • 3.non-health-related undergraduates:  at least two years of relevant public health work experience.
    • Reference: one independent academic/professional reference
    • A personal statement detailing: why they wish to undertake the programme.
    • Language (for international students): IELTS (International English Language Testing System): Overall 7.0 and at least 6.5 on each of the four elements of IELTS
  • Tuition fees:
    • Home students from the UK: £9,400
    • International students: £21,650

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The comparison of Master of Public Health (best MPH Programs) Tuition Fees for UK students

In the following table, we had ranked the best Master of Public Health (MPH) programs at different universities based on their annual tuition fees for home students (from the UK). As it is obvious in this table, Newcastle University has the lowest amount of annual tuition fees for a UK student to study for a Master of Public Health. It should be noted that the living cost such as student accommodation and grocery shopping in Newcastle is cheaper than in other cities.

The annual tuition fees in Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Bristol are almost the same. While Oxford University and Imperial College of London have the highest amount of tuition fees for home students per year.

Top 10 UniversitiesFull-time per annualPart-time per annual
1. Newcastle University (9th)£8,400£4,200
2. The University of York (7th)£8,440£4,220
3. The University of Liverpool (10th)£9,400_
4. The University of Manchester (4th)£9,500_
5. The University of Sheffield (8th)£9,500_
6. The University of Bristol (5th)£9,900£4,950
7. The University of Leeds (6th)£10,250_
8. The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (2nd)£10,470£5,235
9. Oxford University (1st) £11,320_
10. The Imperial College London (3rd)£12,600£6,300

The comparison of Master of Public Health Tuition Fees for International students

The comparison of tuition fees of a full-time Master of Public Health in our 10 top-ranked universities for international students in the UK is shown in this Table. As you can see in this table the least value of annual Master of Public Health tuition fees for international students is at the University of York by £18,700 per year. While an international student to study a Master of Public Health at Oxford University should pay more than £34,000 per year. It should be noted the tuition fees for international students in Liverpool, Bristol, Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle are en for international students are nearly similar.

Top 10 UniversitiesFull-time per annual
1. The University of York (7th)£18,700
2. The University of Manchester (4th)£19,000
3. The Imperial College London (3rd)£20,800
4. The University of Liverpool (10th)£21,650
5. The University of Bristol (5th)£21,800
6. The University of Sheffield (8th)£22,150
7. The University of Leeds (6th)£22,500
8. Newcastle University (9th)£22,800
9. The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (2nd)£24,200
10. Oxford University (1st)£34,970

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