Enumeration of the Schools and Students of Public Health in Canada

Abstract

Canada has experienced a growing trend in university public health education since the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak of 2003. However, the number of universities offering undergraduate and graduate public health degrees has not been accurately enumerated. Our study objectives were to quantify the university public health programs in Canada, examine the number of students graduating from these programs, and identify any trends and gaps. Websites of Canadian universities were reviewed to identify public health degree programs. We examined their academic units, degrees offered, year of establishment, references to public health core competencies, offerings of continuing education, and accreditation status. The faculties were contacted via survey, email, and/or phone to obtain the number of students issued a degree. We identified 36 faculties in 32 universities in Canada offering public health–related programs (four faculties offered programs accredited by a public health association). At present, 17 universities offer Master of Public Health degrees, representing over a threefold increase since 2003. We observed a twofold increase in the number of undergraduate and graduate public health students in the past 5 years. About two thirds of the universities stated a competencies-based learning curriculum, and less than half of the faculties offered continuing education opportunities for public health professionals. In little over a decade, public health education in Canada has changed from a subspecialty of medicine to distinct academic and research institutions. Further study is needed to determine the influences of the increase in public health academic programs and their graduates on Canada’s public health workforce.

The growth of Australian public health graduates and courses, 2001‐2018: implications for education and employment opportunities

“…One clear difference between findings in the US and findings in Australia is that the number of completions in Australia for bachelor's and master's courses were nearly identical in 2001 but have since grown apart. At a glance, this appears to be the opposite in the US, with master's courses in public health being more common initially, 1,3,5 but undergraduate public health courses increasing in popularity (we note that the apparent difference may be due to differences in how courses are labelled). Leider states that bachelor's courses may soon overtake master's courses in popularity; whereas, in Australia, that seems unlikely to happen based on recent trends.…”

“…This year has seen repeated calls for a bolstering of the public health workforce at state and federal levels in order to better protect the nation's health, 13-15 and it is reasonable to suggest that those trained in public health could fulfil such roles. Another important reason to consider job opportunities carefully is because the popularity of public health degrees may rise as a result of COVID‐19, as similar trends have been observed in Canada after SARS in 2003 3 . Further research to examine the relationship between labour supply and demand could elucidate these potential issues.…”

“…One approach is to count the completions of public health courses and use this information to make inferences about the supply of persons who will perform public health services in the future. Research examining public health course conferrals has been undertaken in North America recently, 1-5 but in Australia, there is a paucity of such research. The most comprehensive work in Australia was a national survey completed in the early 1990s, 6 finding 42 postgraduate public health completions in 1988 and 189 completions in 1993.…”

Analysis of Available Online Training for Canadian Public Health Professionals

“…A decade later, Canada has seen a large growth in universities offering undergraduate and graduate public health programs (Jung, Alexandre, Sarker, & La Prairie, 2015). While web-based training is considered an effective means of continuing professional training, its use in public health practice has been limited (Ballew et al, 2013; Escoffery et al, 2005).…”