3GB014 : GH-Health Policy, Management and Economics
Overall: Good
Content: Good, covered many topics
Examination: Good use of quesions which were well contextualised, however only a few questions were provided
Quality: Overall good.
Relavence: Very relevant
Teaching/ supervision: Good
Strengths: Good economic and economic evaluation components. Good use of real life experience on programme design
Opportunity for improvements: Discuss with CHild health programme - the assignment 1 for Child health was extremely good (well structured, clear guidelines, clear description of manner of assessment etc), and may have been better suited to the programme management course
3GB013 : GH-Maternal and child health in a global perspective
Overall: Good
Content: Good
Examination: No examination. 2 assignments (assignment 1 very good, and in line with "real world" reality, described above. Assignment 2, was very similar to assignment 1, even though done individually - again, few new skills harnessed).
Quality: Good
Relavence: Highly relevant
Teaching/ supervision: Very good, especially child health component
Strengths: International visiting lecturer, providing good background and supporting literature
Opportunity for improvements: Improved communication between KI and visiting lecturers
3GB000 : GH-Global Health
Overall: An important course, and of increasing global importance. This is where much attention will be faced in the future. The course did manage to cover many topics within a short period.
Content: Covered a wide variety of topics, however, objectives and learning outcomes were not clear.
Examination: The group assignment guidelines needed more clarity in terms of marking schedule. I would suggest providing additional questions in the exam.
Quality: Overall fair, good facilitated discussions occured
Relavence: This is the core of the degree
Teaching/ supervision: Fair
Strengths: A course leader from a developing country; coverage of a wide number of topics; good discussions
Opportunity for improvements: I would suggest moving this course to the end of the "taught component". In reality, this course would do well to pull together all the smaller courses which are in fact the building blocks of global health. More discussion could be obtained through discussions around global health topics
3GB001 : GH-Research Methodology
Overall: Good
Content: Good, attempts to cover too many topics. It is not feasible to cover basic epi, biostats and advanced epi within such a short time. A final session to put all things into perspective would be of value
Examination: fair
Quality: fair
Relavence: extremely important
Teaching/ supervision: very good lecturers
Strengths: Provision of teaching for quantitative and qualitative methods, cover wide range of topics
Opportunity for improvements: More focused; clear session at the end to contextualise topics
3GB016 : GH-Infectious Diseases - a challenge to global health: Clinical, social and preventive aspects (GH)
Overall: Good
Content: Some topics covered very well, others not so well. TB was only covered in terms of resistance and vaccination - more on standard treatment is needed. Some Swedish STI data provided was very out of date and not relevant - not being presented recent data in Sweden is disappointing (since the record keeping here is so amazing!)
Examination: Controversial. The examination only had a limited number of questions, which were not well contextualised. There were concerns among students about unfairness of the exam. Results of the exam were also disseminated to students and then retracted, a very unprofessional action, which caused distress. I believe that the exam was poor, and could have been improved.
In the future I suggest the provision of more questions (perhaps also with a selection of questions for completion). Students should take responsibility of their learning and broader reading and if results are published they should not be retracted. I feel that the university teachers should be able to be accountable for the exams they set, and they should not change results, by adjusting results I feel that the vailidity of the examination is nulled.
Assignment: Like other courses required a similar tasks
Quality: Fair
Relavence: Extremely relevant
Teaching/ supervision: Good
Strengths: KI has several infectious disease experts, their insights are a major contribution to the course, particularly around HIV & TB resistance
Opportunity for improvements: Ensure "basics" are covered, and then specialist areas of interest should be complimentary
3GB015 : GH-Non-communicable diseases, injuries, natural emergencies and conflicts in a global health perspective (GH)
Overall: Clashes between lecturer personality and students
Content: Good context, good intensions
Examination: Different to other courses which was refreshing
Quality: Fair
Relavence: Very
Teaching/ supervision: Poor communication between teaching staff and students.
Strengths: Use of small groups and up to date literature; peer to peer review and teaching
Opportunity for improvements: Improve student - lecturer communication, use of written clear instructions
Overwhelmingly a great experience. I have been able to engage with many Swedes on a professional and social level. It has been really good to spend time at KI.
I have been greatly impressed by KI's facilities, research groups, networks and opportunities for collaborations. I am optomistic that I will continue a professional relationship with colleagues at KI.
I have been disappointed by the overall organisation of my particular course. Several lecturers were very good, but some would benefit from teaching training.
The course has much potential, and would do more justice to students if :
1. Communication between lecturers was improved (to ensure building of knowledge, not duplication)
2. Assignments should build several skills (i.e. not only looking at MDGs and writing a plan for interventions. Students would benefit from learning how to write reviews, research proposals, monitoring and evaluation plans, research proposals, budgets and other essential global health skills. By clearly communicating between course leaders/ coordinators and planners all of these important skills will be fostered during the course)
3. Examinations included more questions (perhaps also with option of questions to complete)
I will recommend KI as an institution for learning and research collaboration due to my experience of respected researchers committed to working with global partners to develop meaningful solutions.