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Education and training of public health professionals in the European Region: variation and convergence

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Objectives

To assess the exit competences of public health graduates across a diverse European landscape.

Methods

The target population comprised 80 full institutional members of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region with a participation rate 82.5 %. The web-based questionnaire covered institutional profiles and the ranking of exit competences for master of public health programmes, grouped according to WHO Essential Public Health Operations.

Results

European schools and departments usually are small units, funded from tax money. A total of 130 programmes have been indicated, together releasing 3,035 graduates in the last year before the survey. All competence groups showed high reliability and high internal consistency (α > 0.75, p < 0.01). The best teaching output has been assessed for health promotion, followed by disease prevention and identification of health hazards in the community, the least in emergency preparedness.

Conclusions

Given the fragmentation of the institutional infrastructure, the harmonisation of programme content and thinking is impressive. However, the educational capacity in the European Region is far from being sufficient if compared to aspired US levels.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all members of ASPHER for their commitment in responding to survey questionnaire. We would also like to thank all members of ASPHER Working Group on Innovation and Good Practice in Public Health Education for their support and devotion: Milos Bajcetic, Jadranka Bozikov, Helmut Brand, Michael Jones, Aleksandra Jovic-Vranes, Marcin Kautsch, Kai Michelsen, Ehud Miron, Judy Overall, Milena Santric-Milicevic, supported by Tatjana Makovski, Zeljka Nikolic and Polina Putrik. This survey has been supported by ASPHER Operating Grant—ASPHER_FY2011; Agreement Number 2103202, DG SANCO as one of planned activities. No funding bodies had any role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Centre School of Public Health and Management, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Vesna Bjegovic-Mikanovic & Dejana Vukovic

  2. Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER), Brussels Office, Brussels, Belgium

    Robert Otok

  3. Department of International Health, Faculty of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences, School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Katarzyna Czabanowska

  4. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    Ulrich Laaser

Authors
  1. Vesna Bjegovic-Mikanovic
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  2. Dejana Vukovic
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  3. Robert Otok
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  4. Katarzyna Czabanowska
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  5. Ulrich Laaser
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Correspondence to Vesna Bjegovic-Mikanovic.

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Bjegovic-Mikanovic, V., Vukovic, D., Otok, R. et al. Education and training of public health professionals in the European Region: variation and convergence. Int J Public Health 58, 801–810 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-012-0425-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-012-0425-2

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