Programme Specification for the 2023/4 academic year
MA Cultures and Environments of Health (Medical History and Humanities)
1. Programme Details
| Programme name | MA Cultures and Environments of Health (Medical History and Humanities) | Programme code | PTA1HPSHPS14 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Study mode(s) | Full Time Part Time |
Academic year | 2023/4 |
| Campus(es) | Streatham (Exeter) |
NQF Level of the Final Award | 7 (Masters) |
2. Description of the Programme
This interdisciplinary Masters programme examines the intersections between the medical humanities, social sciences and medical sciences in addressing some of the most urgent global challenges confronting human health and wellbeing. The programme is designed for graduates who are seeking high-level training prior to embarking on a doctoral career, and those planning, or already undertaking, a career within public health, health promotion, or health and social care, and those working in health and wellbeing-related fields within the statutory, third or community sectors.
Interdisciplinary health research at Exeter
Our Masters programme offers excellent opportunities to broaden and deepen your understanding of the intersections between cultures and environments of health. The MA Cultures and Environments of Health (Medical History and Humanities) offers an unusually large choice of modules from across the social sciences, medical sciences and humanities, with expert tuition in all areas including health inequalities, life-course approaches, biosocialities, mental health, urban health and methodological innovation.
The Wellcome Centre, where the MA programme is based, offers purpose-built facilities including shared common room, computing facilities and meeting pods. The Centre has attracted over £5 million from the Wellcome Trust to develop transdisciplinary and engaged health research, and hosts a vibrant postgraduate and research community. The Centre runs a series of events and symposia every year, is home to the WHO Collaborating Centre on Culture and Health, and has close links with a range of other groups and organisations including the Centre for Medical History, Digital Humanities Lab, Peninsula Applied Research Collaboration, the Sexual Knowledge Unit and UNESCO.
Advice and guidance on your programme can be sought from your personal tutor and programme director. All staff offer regular office hours that you can drop into without a prior appointment for this purpose.
Medical Humanities Pathway
Those choosing the MA Cultures and Environments of Health (Medical History and Humanities) are offered an exceptionally large choice of modules across the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, enabling students to take a rich and interdisciplinary approach. Students will be members also of the Centre for Medical History, and its programme of seminars, research workshops, reading groups, skills workshops and social events. This includes also the annual Postgraduate Medical Humanities Conference and PJMH: The Postgraduate Journal of Medical Humanities (an interdisciplinary journal open to postgraduate students across the globe).
3. Educational Aims of the Programme
- To offer an in-depth, focused and critical degree which is based on the latest health research across social and medical sciences and medical humanities, and which combines a wide-ranging choice of modules from across these disciplines.
- To develop academic and individual skills that equip you for further study, employment, or further professional development, and to foster intellectual agility and adaptability, so as to enable you to deploy these skills to implement systematic and balanced judgements in a variety of circumstances.
- To provide methodological skills and specialist knowledge, for advanced study or research in various fields, for professional development, or for employment.
- To provide a stimulating and supportive environment for you that is informed by research.
4. Programme Structure
The MA Cultures and Environments of Health (Medical History and Humanities) is a one-year full-time programme of study at National Qualification Framework (NQF) level 7 (as confirmed against the FHEQ). If the programme is taken part-time, 60 credits are taken in year 1 and 60 credits plus a further 60 credits (dissertation) are taken in year 2.
5. Programme Modules
The following tables describe the programme and constituent modules. Constituent modules may be updated, deleted or replaced as a consequence of the annual programme review of this programme.
Details of the modules currently offered may be obtained from the College website.
http://intranet.exeter.ac.uk/humanities/studying/postgraduatetaught/modules/
The MA Cultures and Environments of Health (Medical History and Humanities) is a one-year full-time programme of study at National Qualification Framework (NQF) level 7 (as confirmed against the FHEQ). If the programme is taken part-time, 60 credits are taken in year 1 and 60 credits plus a further 60 credits (dissertation) are taken in year 2.
Stage 1
120 credits of compulsory modules, 60 credits of optional modules
Compulsory Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HUMM017 | Dissertation | 60 | Yes |
| HUMM018 | Cultures and Environments of Health | 30 | No |
| HUMM019 | Making, Using and Contesting Evidence | 30 | No |
Optional Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HISM048 | Critical Approaches to the Medical Humanities: Health and Disease in the Past | 30 | No |
| MA Cultures and Environments of Health MHH opt 2023-4 | |||
| HISM031 | Gender, Society and Culture in Early Modern England | 30 | No |
| HISM041 | Food and Agriculture in Historical Perspective | 30 | No |
| HISM186 | Supervised Independent Study in the Humanities | 30 | No |
| HISM477 | Sexual Discoveries: Reception of 'Erotica' From 'other' Cultures in 19th and 20th Centuries | 30 | No |
| CLAM081 | Galen and Galenism | 15 | No |
| EASM099 | Making Progress? Literature in a Changing Environment | 30 | No |
| EASM109 | Bodies Politic: Cultural and Sexual Politics in England, 1603-1679 | 30 | No |
| EASM154 | The Body and Identity | 30 | No |
| EASM171 | Expanding Queerness: Critical Debates in Theory, Literature, Film and Television | 30 | No |
| ARAM230 | Gender, Sexuality and Violence in Palestine/Israel | 15 | No |
| HPDM029 | Nature, Health and Wellbeing | 15 | No |
| SOCM016 | Cultures of the Life Sciences | 30 | No |
| SOCM022 | Food, Body and Society | 30 | No |
| GEOM131 | Geographies of Life | 15 | No |
| ARCM415 | The Archaeology of Humans and Other Animals | 15 | No |
| ANTM021 | Food, Body and Society | 15 | No |
| HPDM164Z | Disability, Social Justice and Climate Resilient Development | 15 | No |
| CLAM262 | Pandemics and disease in the ancient Mediterranean | 15 | No |
| HASM002 | Histories of Health in the Middle East and North Africa | 30 | No |
6. Programme Outcomes Linked to Teaching, Learning and Assessment Methods
Intended Learning Outcomes
A: Specialised Subject Skills and Knowledge
| Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) On successfully completing this programme you will be able to: | Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be... | |
|---|---|---|
| ...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class): | ...and evidenced by the following assessment methods: | |
1. Demonstrate an advanced and autonomous ability to explain how diverse disciplinary perspectives influence understandings of health and wellbeing. | The taught components of the MA Cultures and Environments of Health (Medical History and Humanities) are delivered in the first two terms, leaving the third for your dissertation. Modules are taught in seminar groups, with ample time for discussion and interaction. In seminars, you will be expected to take part in debate and present your work. You will be encouraged to discuss your ideas and interact with fellow students and academic staff. Throughput your programme, you will develop and enhance your communication, analytical, and critical thinking skills. During your modules, you will be assisted by the coursework you produce, such as presentations and essays. The final assessment piece will be your dissertation. You will identify, plan, research and write an independently researched 15,000 word dissertation that will display your subject knowledge and methodological skills. The dissertation is your opportunity to explore a topic that interests you in greater detail, and may be something that forms the basis of further research or other portfolio. | Modes of assessment are combined in a varied way across each module in line with the module’s intended learning outcomes. You should consult module descriptors for a detailed breakdown of assessment modes within each module. The range of assessment modes employed across the programme include the following:
|
Intended Learning Outcomes
B: Academic Discipline Core Skills and Knowledge
| Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) On successfully completing this programme you will be able to: | Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be... | |
|---|---|---|
| ...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class): | ...and evidenced by the following assessment methods: | |
4. Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the area under investigation, engaging critically and analytically with selected conceptual and theoretical approaches from a range of disciplinary perspectives. | As above | 4. Methods 1-5 as listed above 5. Methods 1-5 as listed above 6. Dissertation |
Intended Learning Outcomes
C: Personal/Transferable/Employment Skills and Knowledge
| Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) On successfully completing this programme you will be able to: | Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be... | |
|---|---|---|
| ...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class): | ...and evidenced by the following assessment methods: | |
7. Demonstrate initiative and originality in problem solving, act autonomously at a professional level. | As above | 7. Methods 1-5 as listed above, especially the dissertation 8. Individual and group presentations, critical review, essay, policy brief 9. Methods 1-5 as listed above 10. Methods 1-5 as listed above |
7. Programme Regulations
Classification
Full details of assessment regulations for all taught programmes can be found in the TQA Manual, specifically in the Credit and Qualifications Framework, and the Assessment, Progression and Awarding: Taught Programmes Handbook. Additional information, including Generic Marking Criteria, can be found in the Learning and Teaching Support Handbook.
8. College Support for Students and Students' Learning
The marking criteria, which closely reflect the skills outlined in the Programme Outcomes section, and the Department’s expectations with regard to study groups, are available in the Student Handbook, which can be found at: www.intranet.exeter.ac.uk/humanities/studying/taughthandbook/.
In addition to the centrally provided services detailed in section 9, the Department provides:
- Team Skills Development Programme
- Student Handbooks and module guides (available in print and on the department websites)
- ELE based learning support materials and activities (Hercules)
- Access to teaching staff – times when staff are available are posted on office doors and contact email addresses provided in student handbooks
- Student representation at department meetings and College Teaching Committee
- Student progress review and reporting via reserved agenda items at department meetings
9. University Support for Students and Students' Learning
Please refer to the University Academic Policy and Standards guidelines regarding support for students and students' learning.
10. Admissions Criteria
Undergraduate applicants must satisfy the Undergraduate Admissions Policy of the University of Exeter.
Postgraduate applicants must satisfy the Postgraduate Admissions Policy of the University of Exeter.
Specific requirements required to enrol on this programme are available at the respective Undergraduate or Postgraduate Study Site webpages.
11. Regulation of Assessment and Academic Standards
Each academic programme in the University is subject to an agreed College assessment and marking strategy, underpinned by institution-wide assessment procedures.
The security of assessment and academic standards is further supported through the appointment of External Examiners for each programme. External Examiners have access to draft papers, course work and examination scripts. They are required to attend the Board of Examiners and to provide an annual report. Annual External Examiner reports are monitored at both College and University level. Their responsibilities are described in the University's code of practice. See the University's TQA Manual for details.
14. Awarding Institution
University of Exeter
15. Lead College / Teaching Institution
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS)
16. Partner College / Institution
Partner College(s)
Not applicable to this programme
Partner Institution
Not applicable to this programme.
17. Programme Accredited / Validated by
Not applicable to this programme.
18. Final Award
MA Cultures and Environments of Health (Medical History and Humanities)
19. UCAS Code
Not applicable to this programme.
20. NQF Level of Final Award
7 (Masters)
21. Credit
| CATS credits | 180 |
ECTS credits | 90 |
|---|
22. QAA Subject Benchmarking Group
Level 1
23. Dates
| Origin Date | 24/02/2021 |
Date of last revision | 24/08/2022 |
|---|
