Three keywords of education at Teikyo SPH

Five core areas of public health
Problem-solving apprach
Competency-based education

These three keywords are quite important when talking about the current education system of Teikyo PSH. Through a unique style of education, we aim to cultivate core-competencies required to acquire an MPH or DrPH degree.

Five core areas of public health

Teikyo SPH provides comprehensive curriculum on the five core areas in public health: "Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Social and behavioral sciences, Helath policy and management, and Environmental and occupational health". At Teikyo SPH, lectures in each field are compulsory, and students can participate in many various courses from basic to advanced levels.

Problem-solving approach

To solve big problems in public health, it is not sufficient to be interested in just one topic and to only analyze data and publish findings. After selecting and analyzing a social issue, it is necessary to plan policies and projects for implementation based on the results of your investigation.

Education at Teikyo SPH is designed to train students to master a problem solving approach, consisting of eight steps as shown in the diagram. Students consider various methods to solve problems based on the knowledg gained through data analysis. At the same time, stakeholder analysis and economic evaluation are sometimes needed. Students attempt to understand problems using systematic and flexible thinking to propose appropriate solutions.

Competency-based education

We aim to foster agents of change who improve society. Competency is widely needed not only in the field of public health but also in our society as a whole. There are many challenges to protecting and maintaining the health of people, both in Japan and the world. Healthcare practitioners are not the only persons involved in these challenges. It is sometimes necessary to solve problems by involving the government, residents, private companies, NGOs, politicians, etc., and to speak with people to discuss ways to formulate policies that create a healthy society. Thus, it is critically important to develop public health professionals with not only scientific and academic knowledge but also communication skills, leadership, and the ability to adovocate for society.

Sometimes it may be necessary to change laws and policies and plan health-related programs to solve healthcare and medical problems. As the values of people have become diversified, is there a way to make as many possible select healthy behaviors without depriving them of their individual freedum?

Development of human resources using competency-based education leads to better change in society. At Teikyo University, we provide education to develop eight competencies as necessary to solve big problems in publi health.

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