Warm welcome to the new Master students at GPH 2022
The fall term of 2022 started 29 August and most of the accepted students have arrived in Stockholm. We are very happy to see new international students on campus!
A few students are unfortunately still having problems with their visa application, and we hope they will soon arrive without too much delay. The current number of students in the Master of Public Health Sciences is 45. They are equally distributed on the two tracks on public health epidemiology and health promotion and prevention. On the master in global health, we have accepted 41 students this year from around the world. New students in the Erasmus Mundus Master in Public Health in Disasters have also started their two year program. The students will come to GPH in March 2023.
Were there many applicants? And compared to previous years?
"Again, this year we had many more applicants than we can accept. It is a very competitive process to get into the programs even though the number of applicants has decreased some as compared to the previous years. This decrease has been observed across all international programs at Karolinska Institutet and in Sweden in general", says Helle Mölsted Alvesson, Departmental Director of Education, Department of Global Public Health.
Are there students from around the world?
"We have a global body of students! In the application process students write the university and country in which they finalized their bachelor training. We do not have information about country of birth. Based on this information, we have students who have been trained in Sweden and in a good number of European countries. In both programs we have students from several Sub-Saharan Countries such as The Gambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi in addition to students from different parts of Asia such as Mongolia and Indonesia. North and South American students have also been accepted this year. It is the first time we have students from Latvia and South Korea, and we are very excited about that."
Do you have any special expectations for this semester?
"Each new cohort of students is very exciting to meet! They develop into a special group, and it is a pleasure to witness. We will stay diligent to the Covid-19 pandemic developments and follow any changes that could affect interaction on campus. One special expectation is that we will be able to learn and reflect together on how evidence of ongoing Covid-19 responses is generated and communicated and that students from different parts of the world can discuss and share their different experiences."
Will the lessons take place in person or virtually? Or both?
"We provide a mix of learning activities at GPH which include in class discussions and lectures in addition to online assignments and self-studies. Each course is designed to expose students to different ways of learning. The main part of the learning activities will take place on campus, and we are very happy about getting students back in the seminar rooms!"