Minimum Requirements For the recognition of Master in Public Health- Nepal Health Professional Council

Introduction

Nepal Health Professional Council has approved this requirement according to clause of 9 (kha) of the Nepal Health Professional Council Act 2053. This requirement shall be called Minimum requirement for the recognition of Master’s Degree of Public Health Program (2061) and first revision 2076 (2019).

An institution that plans to start or conduct Master’s degree of Public Health Program shall ensure the standard as specified in this minimum requirement in order to qualify for granting accreditation.

Student

Entry Requirement for Students

• Bachelor degree in Public Health or Health Sciences with minimum 50% marks or equivalent grade score from a University with equivalence from legally authorized concerned organization recognized by Government of Nepal. Besides the basic academic requirement, an entrance examination will be held for all applicants and should secure 50% marks to be eligible for admission.
• Registered in respective professional council
• Passed the entrance examination organized by University.
• Selection of the student shall be done on the basis of merit obtained in the written entrance examination.

Admission Policies

• Intake of student should be annual.
• The maximum number for intake of students is 20 for general MPH and 15 for a specialized Master in Public Health Sciences per academic year.

Duration of Study

• Duration for the completion of all the requirements for the MPH or Specialized Public Health master program as a full-time student is 2 Years in annual system and 24 months (4 Semesters) in semester system or 120 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) or equivalent.

Attendance Requirements

A student must attend every scheduled lecture, tutorial, practical classes, journal club, seminar, field visit and internship. However, to accommodate for late registration, sickness and other contingencies, the attendance requirements will be a minimum of 80% of the classes actually held.

Course Coverage

A student must attend the core courses (Public Health, Epidemiology, Research Methodology, Health Management, Public Health statistics/biostatistics, Population Health, Health Promotion and Education, Environmental Health, Reproductive/Family Health,Nutrition and other subjects as per nature of specialization)

Student’s Evaluation

A student’s academic performance in a course is evaluated in two phases as:

• Internally by the concerned faculty member through quizzes, tutorials, lab works, home assignments, class tests, class participation, term papers, internal exam etc.
• Externally by the Office of the Controller of Examinations of concern University through year/semester-end examinations.
• Practical, field practice and internship will be evaluated by external examiner through practical, demonstration, presentation and oral exam.

Teaching Faculty

Number of Faculties

Minimum number of faculties for first MPH program should be maintained as follows; 

• Professor 1 Full time
• Associate Professor/Reader 2 Full time
• Assistant Professor/Lecturer 4 Full time

For each additional specialized program, the faculties should be as follows;

• Professor 1 Full time
• Associate Professor/Reader 1 Full time
• Assistant Professor/Lecturer 3 Full time

The above-mentioned faculty number is for the full-fledged master program (single program) and the number of faculties should be at least 7 full time for a first master program. For each additional specialized program there should be at least 5 additional full-time faculties.

For example:
One MPH (Nutrition) – 7 faculties
Next additional MPH (Health Promotion) – 7+5 faculties and so on

If both bachelor and master programs are run by an institution, the required number of faculties for each master program should be the total of bachelor program’s faculties and the required faculties of each specialization.

For example: BPH program – 7 faculties (See minimum requirement of BPH)

BPH and One MPH (Nutrition) – 7+5 faculties Next additional MPH (Health Promotion) – 7+5+5 faculties and so on

There should be at least one full time Professor/Assoc. Professor and two Assistant Professors at the beginning and the number should be increased before the new batch is enrolled.

Council will recognize the minimum qualification of a faculty as per the concerned university service commission eligibility.

• As per the curricular needs additional part time teachers or teachers in course contract should be managed by Institution.
• Full time teachers should be from core subjects (Public Health, Epidemiology, Research Methodology, Health System Management, Public Health statistics/biostatistics, Public Health Demography/Population Health, Health Promotion and Education, Environmental Health, Family/Reproductive Health and Public Health Nutrition)

Note: Faculties working as a full timer at one institution can NOT be full timer in another institution.

Teacher Student Ratio in Teaching Learning

There should be sufficient teachers to teach specialized course as per curriculum in a ratio as follows:

• Teacher student ratio should be 1:15 in theory class
• Teacher student ratio should be 1:5 in skill-based session

Qualification of Teacher

• Minimum academic qualification should be at least Master degree in relevant subject with at least 3 years leaching experience
• Experience and other requirements for the academic positions shall be as per the requirement of concern University

Work Load

For taking the theory and practical classes

• Principal: 8 hours/week (maximum)
• Professor: 12 hours/week (maximum)
• Associate professor: 14 hours/week (maximum)
• Assistant Professor: 16 hours/week (maximum)
• Teaching Assistant: 18 hours/week (maximum)

For guiding master’s thesis;

One main thesis supervisor can supervise maximum following numbers of students per academic year.

• Professor- 3 (can supervise 4 if he/she has already supervised 15)
• Associate Professor -2 (can supervise 3 if he/she has already supervised 10)
• Assistant Professor-1,if he/she has already co-supervised 3 (can supervise 2 if he/she has already supervised 5)
• Teaching Assistant -1 if he/she has already supervised 5 as co-supervisor

• Colleges where BPH and MPH programs are running, one hour of theory class in MPH is equivalent to 1.33 hours of work load (ratio of BPH to MPH workload shall be 1:1.33hours)
• One thesis supervision equivalent to one and half hour workload per week
• Co-supervisor’s workload is calculated as half of main supervisor’s workload
• One is to two (1:2) ratio (MPH to BPH) should be maintained to calculate total students for thesis supervision by each faculty where both MPH and BPH programs exit.

Institution Organizational Structure of the Constitutional or Affiliated Academic Institution

• Concern constitutional or affiliated academic institution should establish the following committees/sections
  Departments/Instruction committees, Examination section, Student welfare committee, Research Management Committee (RMC), Institutional Review Committee (IRC),
• A separate organizational financial system should include; Financial viability plan, Annual budget for program, Source of income, Audit system

Principal or Campus Chief or Chief of Central Department or Director

• Sole Public Health College: S/He should have at least Bachelor Degree in Public Health or Health Sciences with Master Degree or above in Public Health or Public Health Sciences and 7 years of academic/teaching learning experience. S/He should be registered in NHPC.
• Multidisciplinary Health Science College: S/He should have at least Master’s Degree in any related subjects teaching in the college and 7 years of academic/teaching experience. S/He should be registered in concern council.

(Public Health Sciences include, but not limit to Epidemiology, Public Health Statistics/biostatistics, Population Health, International Health, Primary Health Care, Health System Management, Health Policy, Health Economics, Health Promotion and Education, Health Communication, Public Health Nutrition, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Occupational Safety and Health, Global Health, Community Health, Behavioral Health and other health sciences as decided by NHPC)

Head of the Department (HoD) and/or Coordinator

• S/He should have at least Bachelor’s degree in Public Health or Health Sciences with Master’s Degree in Public Health or Public Health Sciences and 5 years of academic/teaching experience.
• S/He should be registered in NHPC.

Administrative Staffs

Administrative staff should be sufficient in number to facilitate the educational/ administrative works. The required staffs are as follows:

• Administrative Officer: S/He should have passed minimum Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in any subject.
• Finance Officer: S/He should have passed minimum Bachelor’s degree in Commerce/ Business Studies/Administration or equivalent.
• Account/Administrative Assistants: Accountant and Administrative Assistants should have passed 10+2 or equivalent.
• Librarian: The Head of the Library should have University Degree and must have sufficient training in library science.
• Computer Technician: S/He should have passed minimum Diploma/ Bachelor’s in computer sciences and should be command both in English and Nepali languages writings and reporting.
• Laboratory Assistant: S/He should have passed University Degree in Laboratory Science or 10+2 (science) with training and or demonstrating laboratory work of Laboratory Assistant in concerning Faculty or Department of particular organization.
• Any Office Assistants (helper/peon/cleaner/driver) should be a Nepali citizen and should be literate in Nepali (Command in both Nepali and English languages is preferable).

Teaching Facilities

Land, building and physical facilities requirements are as follows:

• Land and Building: Building with adequate floor space and sufficient land
• There should be minimum of two rooms for routine classes, and two rooms for group discussion purposes for each master program. Number of classrooms should be increased with the number of sections and specialized programs.
• The classrooms should have: – Well ventilated with adequate light – 0.75 sq meter space per student – Appropriate desk and bench – White board – Multi-media – The theory classroom should accommodate of at least 15 students.
• Principal’s office room should have enough space for visitors/ faculties and for small meeting
• Administration office rooms should have enough space for administrative and financial work.
• Demonstration room for 15 students at a time on the basis of 1:15 teacher -student Ratio for demonstration.
• Teachers’ room with sufficient numbers of computers and printers.
• A Library should have enough space for book and students’ study
  – 1 course book per 5 students must be available in library.
  – Reference book in each subject should be available at ratio of 1:10 students in library.
  – Access to HINARI and/or other related free journals with an internet 15 mbps capacity.
  – At least 10 professional journals should be available in the library.
  – Adequate number of reference books on each subject for teacher should also be available in library.
  – Other related books/dictionaries magazines, newspapers should be made available.
  – Curriculum of the program must be available at office and at the library. Furniture like table, chair, open rack, must be available in the library as per required standard and quantity.
  – Sufficient computer, printer, photocopy machine, emails – internet facilities should be made available.
• For Classroom, one computer per class should be available.
• Audio-visual aid equipment should be available for class room.
• Toilet at a ratio of 1:10 for working staff and student. (male/ female separate)
• Rooms for each Laboratory with sufficient equipment as described in different section
• Multipurpose hall (at least 75 persons accommodation with essential facilities) should be available.

Facilities for Other Activities

• An outdoors athletic ground
• Indoor games
• Provision of vehicles for field activities
• Space for student welfare with counseling services.
• Students’ hostel (Male and Female separate) is preferable
• Canteen with safe drinking water, hygienic kitchen and dining hall.

Laboratory and Equipment

Registration for Foreign Degree

• Must have Bachelor Degree in Public Health or Health Sciences.
• Duration must be at least two years or 120 ECTS equivalent.
• Should submit a valid supporting document to prove a regular student (College letter of regular student, passport, visa, immigration documents).
• Must submit permission letter issued by NHPC for enrolment in the course.
• Should have equivalence from concern authority of Nepal.
• Should have passed the entrance examination of a University of Nepal.
• Must submit transcript having core subjects (Public Health, Epidemiology, Research Methodology, Public Health statistics/biostatistics, and other subjects as per nature of specialization).
• Must submit the copy of approval sheet of thesis/dissertation.

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