Date: 3rd October 2025

Speakers: Rhys Bell (Student Recruitment Advisor) and Dr Alexis Paton MPH Programme Director)

Introduction

Rhys Bell: Thank you, everyone, for joining us here today. My name is Rhys, and I'm from the admissions team. I'm here to speak with you all about the online MPH programme. I'm going to be joined by Dr Alexis Paton, and today we'll just go into more depth about the programme in detail during this chat.

Rhys Bell: To give you all a bit of an outline on how this all works, I'm going to start off by speaking about some details related to the programme and the university at large, then I'll hand things over to Dr Paton. Afterwards, I'll jump back in, and then we'll have a Q&A session at the end. We’ll start with talking about the university.

 

Studying with Aston University Online

Rhys Bell: At Aston Online, our MPH programme is designed to equip you with the knowledge and leadership skills needed to drive large-scale improvements in health outcomes. You'll gain essential skills in epidemiology, health promotion and public health evaluation. You'll gain skills in research expertise and critical thinking.

Rhys Bell: You'll also make an impact in your community. That's what we hope you will get out of the programme. Across the university, we strive to offer a flexible, student-centered learning experience. We're triple gold rated, the highest possible rating for the Teaching Excellence Framework, for TEF in 2023, and we were ranked a top 25 UK university in the Guardian University Guide for 2025.

Rhys Bell: We were also University of the Year for Student Success by the Daily Mail University Guide in 2025. So, that's just some quick facts about the university at large.

 

Why Aston Online?

Rhys Bell: So, then you might ask, why Aston Online? Aston University Online offers various advantages, making it an appealing choice for prospective students globally.

Rhys Bell: You'll get round-the-clock support, expert tutors and one-to-one feedback. You'll have a dedicated student success team, you'll have a digital library, resources, and material available 24/7 through the online learning platform, and you'll also get complimentary full access to Adobe Creative Cloud.

Rhys Bell: Now, part of the benefits of this programme is that you can earn as you learn. You can spread the costs if you pay monthly or in instalments, so over 24 months, you pay each month. There are no extra fees or interest associated with that.

Rhys Bell: There's no need to take time out of your employment. I would say 90% of the students I work with for Aston's online programmes are full-time professionals, so we do understand the struggles that a lot of students face.

Rhys Bell: You may have funding opportunities, especially if you're based in the UK, you can look at Student Finance England, Student Finance Wales, and potentially other opportunities as well.

Rhys Bell: This programme's designed so that you can take control of your schedule, you can access the programme materials anytime, anywhere, there's no limitation on that. You can study at your own pace. We usually recommend 15 to 25 hours per week, and the programme is 100% online and fully asynchronous.

Rhys Bell: I’ll be happy to answer any more questions about what I've just covered at the end of the Q&A, but for the time being, I'm going to pass on to Dr Paton.

 

Entry requirements

Dr Alexis Paton: Hello, everyone! Welcome, I’m really pleased to see that you're interested in our Aston Online programme. I thought it might be useful just to give you a little bit of info in terms of requirements, but also answer what's the programme going to look like? What are we going to learn together? What can you expect to get out of it?

Dr Alexis Paton: So, just to be clear, there are a few requirements we have for the programme. The first is that you have an equivalent of a UK 2:2 or a lower-class honours degree, and this can be a recognised international equivalent as well. It doesn't have to just be the UK. We also have some English language requirements that we ask international students to meet, and this is because all our teaching is in English, and all our assessments are in English. So, we do need a certain level to ensure success for you as a student.

Dr Alexis Paton: For us, this is about offering an experience-based entry for students. It’s not just about someone who might have a degree-level qualification for their chosen field; it’s also about building professional experience and enhancing their qualifications through a master's programme.

Dr Alexis Paton: And so, this is also kind of quite a helpful degree in terms of progression for your own professional lives, or perhaps you're looking to move into more of a public health sphere. The master's can really help you with that.

 

Key programme information

Dr Alexis Paton: Just a little bit about what the programme looks like. So it is, of course, online, and it's a distance learning programme. The idea is that you are the one who sets the pace, and you have 24 access to your study materials, so if you fancy doing your module at 2 am on a Tuesday, you can absolutely go ahead and do that.

Dr Alexis Paton: The tuition fees are a set amount of £12,500, and as Rhys was saying, you can spread the cost out, so you don’t have to come up with the full amount of money up front. This programme has also been designed to be part-time, which is why it's so helpful if you are a working individual, and it's why so many of our students work with the Aston Online degrees.

Dr Alexis Paton: You will complete the degree over a 2-year period. So, it does give you quite a lot of flexibility for the other things that are happening in your lives.

 

Key skills learnt

Dr Alexis Paton: What is some of the things that we will probably learn? Well, we're going to learn quite a lot about public health, but in particular, you're going to learn about how you apply that knowledge in whatever realm it is that you're interested in. You might already work in a health or clinical sector, or maybe you're in the third sector, charity, something like that, but you're going to learn how we apply that knowledge.

Dr Alexis Paton: What does it mean when we're thinking about public health practice, and how public health practice interacts with the policies that we have? Because, of course, all of healthcare is greatly influenced by the kinds of policies a country has, and public health is no different.

Dr Alexis Paton: You'll learn how to solve some of the more complex public health challenges that we have, and in particular, you will think about what it looks like to tackle a public health problem or challenge, and what it looks like to create health promotion campaigns.

Dr Alexis Paton: Another key part, that is sometimes not obvious with public health, is that public health tends to be a real team effort. It's all about collaborating. You tend to be working across different agencies, different groups, and different communities.

Dr Alexis Paton: And so, one of the things that we are keen for you to get out of this programme—and it’s been designed this way—is that you learn not just how to collaborate with other people to work, but how to be a leader. How can you effectively lead? It could be a project, a group, or anything that might give local authority.

Dr Alexis Paton: Public health is interesting because it tends to pull its information from lots of different places, and data is important for public health. You know, we need that population level.

Dr Alexis Paton: Of course, it's a master's degree, so we are expecting you to write a dissertation, and so we'll be supporting you all the way along the way, giving you the skills and training to do your own research project, and that will be the basis of your dissertation.

Dr Alexis Paton: And then, finally, the overarching message of our MPH programme is that it’s important to understand the context in which people make decisions about their health—how they choose different behaviours and act in different ways. That context is critical to capturing why a group or an individual is healthy versus a group that is not.

Dr Alexis Paton: And one of those things that is underlying all of that, especially here in the UK, but of course across the world as well, is inequality. What influence does inequality have on health?

 

Programme structure

Dr Alexis Paton: I've told you a little bit about how to get in and what to expect, but let's talk about what the programme itself looks like. Like I said, it's over a two-year period, and it's part-time, and within that, you'll have three modules.

Dr Alexis Paton: And then, each module is designed to bring together all the information that you need in a kind of stepwise fashion. So you'll start with Foundations of Public Health.

Dr Alexis Paton: And this is really what it says on the tin. So, what is public health? Why do we need public health? What has public health looked like over time? What are some of the different ways that public health interacts with the systems, and why do we need it?

Dr Alexis Paton: Our next module is Approaches to Public Health, which really focuses on the different ways public health is practiced. Public health is a broad term, but it can be broken down into areas like health promotion, prevention, health education, and screening programmes. This module explores what those approaches are.

Dr Alexis Paton: Methodologies of Public Health is designed to help us understand not only the different ways we practice public health, but also how we use data to inform that practice. This module focuses on various research methods, such as epidemiology—the use of population-level data to understand health trends—and qualitative approaches like interviewing, running focus groups, and designing surveys.

Dr Alexis Paton: And then we also have emerging areas in public health. T So the emerging areas in public health are where we really have quite a lot of fun in this module, because this is about what is trending in public health, such as what are the things that we need to be focusing on right now? What kind of changes are happening in the national, international environment that we have to be paying attention to as colleagues within the public health sphere?

Dr Alexis Paton: You'll also get to benefit from what's called the Aston Global Advantage and Research Methods modules, which runs alongside the Aston MPH online. And this is really about providing those everyday skills that you need when you're just working, you know, in employment, but also what kind of research methods you might need, not just for your dissertation, but perhaps you want to continue doing research in the future, and how can we scale that up for you?

Dr Alexis Paton: And then, of course, a big part of the programme is the dissertation. And this is an independent research project, which you'll get support from the Aston Online staff for you to run on your own. The idea is that you come up with the topic, we always suggest you choose something you're very interested in or passionate about, and you decide what are the questions you want answered.

Dr Alexis Paton: How are you going to answer them? What kind of ethical approval do you need? And then you go out and you do that research, and you write it up and you analyse it to tell us why that research is so important.

 

Career prospects for MPH graduates

Dr Alexis Paton: Here’s a quick look at the kinds of jobs you might consider with an MPH. The MPH is a very versatile degree, which is handy, so there are lots of different areas. So, of course, you might find that you're just really into data, you find that fascinating, and if that's the case, you know, there are loads of roles around for epidemiologists and statisticians in health, and that might be where you find your niche. This might be within a healthcare service or a local authority.

Dr Alexis Paton: You might find health research is just incredibly interesting, and there are lots of opportunities within, across the sector, both in universities, but also in charities, in local authorities, in the NHS, even in sort of think tanks around public health research.

Dr Alexis Paton: You might be more interested in that science, statistics side and go into something like health informatics. And another example could be working as an environmental health practitioner.

Dr Alexis Paton: But of course, people go on from our degrees to do quite a wide range of things, so we have clinicians, whether that be nurses or doctors or dentists.

Dr Alexis Paton: We have people working in local government, we have people within the NHS, NGOs and third sector organisations all around the world.

Dr Alexis Paton: So that just gives you a bit of an idea of what you can do with that. Of course, you may also be taking this MPH for your own professional progression within the job you already have, which is fantastic. We're happy to support you with that, too.

 

Digital Campus overview

Rhys Bell: Alright, excellent. Let’s talk about the digital campus. This is the platform you'll be using when you join the programme to essentially stay engaged and stay informed. Aston Online is a dynamic global learning environment.

Rhys Bell: By regularly logging in, you'll stay on top of all your programmes, you'll receive the latest updates from your tutors and remain connected with your fellow students. It's very easy to use, it's very intuitive, and we hope you'll enjoy it quite a bit.

 

Application process

Rhys Bell: So, I'll go into the application process a bit, and that’s where I come in during your student journey. Your success is our priority. We aim to make the application process quick, simple, and supported.

Rhys Bell: Step one of the application process; you'll complete your online application form if you haven't done so already. Then, a member of the admissions team will be in touch to discuss your career goals and the programme details. So, that will either be me or one of my colleagues.

Rhys Bell: You can find the admissions form, the application form on the main ASL Online website. It should just be a big, Apply Now button.

Rhys Bell: Step 2, submit for required documents as instructed by your admission advisor. This can include your most up-to-date CV, personal statement, references, and academic records. Depending on your application, we may require extra documentation, but we can definitely talk more about that when you reach out to us.

Rhys Bell: Step 3, you await a decision from the admissions team, who will be in touch throughout the process to support you. So, once you've submitted all your documents, you just sit back, let us do the rest of the legwork, we'll review your documents, see what we can do to help you, and see if we can't get you an offer letter.

Rhys Bell: This can usually take between one and two working days; depending on the complexity of our application, it may take longer. We may have to come back to you to ask for clarification or more documentation, but we'll be in touch consistently to make sure that's as smooth and easy as possible.

Rhys Bell: Step 4, you accept your offer by paying your deposit and arranging your funding and then get ready to start. Once you receive your offer, you just reply to the email saying you accept it, at which point you'll be asked to place your deposit payment. That will secure your spot on the programme for the next intake.

Rhys Bell: Here are some tips and tricks about your application, your cover letter, and personal statement, and all that good stuff.

Rhys Bell: So, with your CV, you want to make sure that you tailor the CV to a specific university programme, so highlight academic achievements and relevant coursework, as well as any professional work that you feel would be relevant to the programme. This is really important; it can really make your application stand out.

Rhys Bell: For your personal statement, you want to begin with a compelling introduction that captures our attention and then showcase relevant accomplishments and experiences. Connect your career aspirations with the programme's strengths and conclude with a strong closing argument. My tip is always to start with why you want to do the programme, what you hope to bring to the programme, and what you want to do after the programme.

Rhys Bell: For your academic records, we want you to gather all transcripts from previous educational institutions, including translations, if the transcripts are in another language. Please make sure it's in English. Highlight relevant coursework and achievements and provide contact details for academic referees if required. So, if you don't have your previous transcripts right now, I'd highly recommend getting in contact with your previous institution sooner rather than later. Some of them can be a bit slow about getting those to you.

Rhys Bell: For English language requirements, this will come down to a bit of a case-by-case basis, but applicants whose first language is not English will be required to provide evidence of an English language qualification. Alternatively, you can speak with me or another admission advisor, and we'll be able to help you and figure out a solution.

 

Continuous support

Rhys Bell: Once you're on the programme, you'll have continuous support throughout it. You'll have access to the Student Success Team, led by Gwyn Wilson, a good colleague of mine. He'll be there to help you every step of the way. You can see his picture here. You'll also have access to the career support team. They'll be there to help you during and after the programme as well.

Rhys Bell: You'll get comprehensive continuous support from start to finish with our student success team. They'll help you with a smooth onboarding process, and they'll let you settle in, including an introduction, an induction to the programme that will start a week before the official start date, when teaching starts. You'll also have access to a student hub with a range of comprehensive resources and support materials, and you'll have continuous academic support throughout your studies. Access to Aston's award-winning careers team, even after graduation.

Rhys Bell: So, that's the long and short of it. We'll now do some Q&As. I can see there's already been some messages in chat. We'll see what we can do to help you here.

Dr Alexis Paton: What I've done is I've popped the application link into the chat, just in case that's helpful. But also, if anyone's interested in the kind of stuff that we get up to, the MPH teaching team that's part of the MPH online, you might want to have a look at a recent documentary that just went out on the BBC that we're a part of, where I talk about understanding risk in a public health emergency.

Dislcaimer: 

This transcript is based on a recorded webinar and has been lightly edited for readability, clarity and conciseness. We’ve removed filler words, false starts, and repeated phrases (such as “um” and “ah”) without changing the meaning. All information remains accurate to the recording. 

Tuition fees may be subject to annual increases in line with inflation from 2026, in accordance with UK Government policy and maximum fee limits.