Yale-NUS College Launches New Concurrent Degree with Yale School of Public Health

Five-year programme designed for liberal arts and science students keen to pursue careers in the field of public health

Yale-NUS College has partnered the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) to launch a new Concurrent Degree Programme in Public Health. The programme is designed for students interested in applying their broad academic and intellectual background from the liberal arts and sciences curriculum to address public health challenges facing national and global communities.

The five-year programme will start in August 2016 and will offer places for up to five students. Applicants for the programme will be assessed on their commitment to the protection and improvement of the health of the public, in addition to academic and professional accomplishments. They must also display leadership, teamwork skills, and public-spirited initiative such as creating or participating in civil society organisations, non-profit organisations, and think-tanks. The Master in Public Health Programme at YSPH is designed to provide the students with rigorous education and training in public health. A unique sequencing of courses, community-based practice activities, and field or laboratory research provides students with multiple opportunities to tailor their academic programmes to their specific career interests. Students can choose concentrations in Biostatistics, Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Health Policy.

Interested applicants can submit their applications during the second semester of their third year at Yale-NUS. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview conducted by a panel comprising both YSPH and Yale-NUS faculty members. In their fourth year, successful applicants will spend the first semester at YSPH in New Haven taking core courses in such as Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Health Policy. For the second semester of their fourth year, students will return to Yale-NUS to complete their capstone project in their undergraduate major and two Public Health-related electives. Before embarking on their fifth year of studies at YSPH, students will participate in a public-health related summer internship – examples from previous years include community-level nutritional education at Haiti or safe water intervention in Kenya. The fifth year of the programme will be conducted at YSPH where students will take required and elective courses in their chosen concentration and will complete a thesis or capstone course. Students will graduate with two degrees – the Yale-NUS Bachelor of Arts (Honours) or Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree and the YSPH Master in Public Health.

At Yale-NUS College, students are exposed to an interdisciplinary inquiry-based curriculum which enables them to master a broad body of knowledge and techniques. Yale-NUS students are immersed in a living and learning environment within a global community that fosters the ability to analyse issues, reflect critically, solve problems and communicate effectively across borders. The first two years are devoted to the Common Curriculum which combines the strengths of established liberal arts and science conventions with the diverse intellectual traditions and cultures of Asia and the world. The next two years are a mix of modules in the student’s major, which are designed to ensure the right balance between maintaining the integrity of individual disciplines and adding the breadth of the Common Curriculum to the subject to augment the learning experience. Students can draw upon the strong foundations of a broad-based, multidisciplinary education and their perspectives as global citizens honed from four years of residential living within an international community, to navigate the complexity and multidimensionality of public health issues.

“As the first liberal arts college in Singapore, Yale-NUS offers a distinctive curriculum and residential programme that encourages active learning, adaptability and critical thought. Our students are exposed to multidisciplinary perspectives and will develop the confidence, creativity and cultural sensitivity to thrive in diverse environments, collaborate across disciplines, and quickly master new challenges. We strongly believe that the graduates from this new concurrent degree programme with YSPH will be well equipped to tackle the challenges of public health practice at both national and international levels.” said Yale-NUS Executive Vice President (Academic Affairs) Tan Tai Yong.

Founded in 1915, the Yale School of Public Health houses numerous interdisciplinary centers and programmes that give students the opportunity to collaborate with some of the world’s foremost experts in their area and apply the knowledge they gain in the classroom. Through innovative research, policy analysis, and education that draws upon multidisciplinary scholarship from across the graduate and professional programmes at Yale University, the School of Public Health serves local, national, and international communities with its knowledge and expertise.

Yale School of Public Health’s Dean, Professor Paul Cleary said, “One of the hallmarks of a Public Health Education at Yale is collaboration among different faculties to provide a rich, interdisciplinary education that will prepare students to address major health issues around the world. Because addressing the most pressing health challenges requires many perspectives, we strive to have a diverse student body from a range of educational backgrounds.  Addressing global health issues is a high priority at Yale and every year we admit students from countries around the world.  Partnering with Yale-NUS, the first liberal arts college in Singapore, will allow us to work with even more talented and innovatively trained international students. The concurrent degree students will enrich our student body and further our academic mission of training the next generation of public health leaders.”

Besides this new concurrent degree in public health, Yale-NUS also offers a concurrent degree programme with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, concurrent degree programme with the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (YF&ES) and a Double Degree Programme in Law with the NUS Faculty of Law.  Yale-NUS students are also given special consideration to enter into the Yale School of Management (SOM)’s highly selective MBA programme called the Silver Scholars Programme. This provides the unique opportunity to enter the Yale MBA programme immediately after undergraduate study and moves one more quickly toward career goals.

For media enquiries, please contact publicaffairs@yale-nus.edu.sg.

19 June 2020: Outdated links have been updated.