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Bielefeld School of Public Health

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Application process and enrolment - Master Public Health

Admission to the Master's Program in Public Health is limited. Details of the particular requirements for this master's program are to be found in the subject-specific regulations.

All information about the application procedure at Bielefeld University can be found here.

We look forward to receiving your application!

 

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

The admission requirement is a successfully completed university or university of applied sciences degree with at least 6 semesters of standard study time or 180 LPs. The Master's program in Public Health is also explicitly aimed at graduates from other disciplines, which is why previous courses or comprehensive knowledge of our modules are not required.

All applicants for Bielefeld University’s Master’s in Public Health are required additionally to submit a study skills/aptitude test in the form of a project draft of approximately 10 pages. Master's places are then allocated on the basis of the final grade and the project draft.

The Master’s in Public Health starts every year in the winter semester, i.e. in October. Information on application deadlines can be found on Bielefeld University’s "Dates and deadlines" website (https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/studium/studieninteressierte/bewerbung/termine-fristen/).

The Master's in Public Health starts every year in the winter semester, i.e. in October. Information for applications deadlines can be found on the website "Dates and deadlines" of Bielefeld University (https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/studium/studieninteressierte/bewerbung/termine-fristen/)

Applications for the Master’s in Public Health can be made online via Bielefeld University’s application portal. The portal can be accessed via the application information page.

Please note that applicants without a German university degree must also send their documents by mail to the International Office.

There is no classic numerus clausus for the Master’s in Public Health at Bielefeld University. This is due to the fact that admission is based on the final grade for the bachelor’s degree and the score achieved in the aptitude test. Points are awarded for the final grade and the aptitude test, which are then added together to form a total score. The available places (currently 80) are allocated according to this total score.

The total number of points needed to obtain a place naturally varies each year and depends on the number of applicants and their academic achievements.

Yes, an application for the Master’s in Public Health can be submitted if no bachelor's degree certificate is available at the time of the online application but will be received during the summer semester. In this case, it will be sufficient for applicants to upload in the online application portal a preliminary degree document showing a preliminary average grade and/or a current transcript of records or other meaningful documents constituing a degree certificate. In case of admission to the program, a certified copy of the final bachelor's degree certificate must be submitted.

The Master’s in Public Health  program is also explicitly aimed at "non-specialist" graduates, which is why previously completed courses or extensive knowledge of our modules are not a prerequisite.

The application documents to be uploaded in the online application portal include:

  1. The degree certificate for a previous degree and the associated documents (transcript, transcript of records, diploma supplement or similar).
  2. If no degree certificate from a previous degree is available, a provisional degree document showing a provisional average grade and/or a current transcript of records or meaningful documents as defined in approach a) will be submitted.
  3. The subject-specific study skills test

All formalities concerning the aptitude test can be found in the subject-specific regulations, which also represent the legal framework. The FAQs on the aptitude test serve as a guide to support you in preparing the aptitude test.

All applicants for Bielefeld University’s Master’s in Public Health are required to submit a study skills/aptitude test in the form of a project draft of approximately 10 pages.  This project draft corresponds in form to a research project outline. The formal quality, coherence and relevance to health science of your submitted project outline (study skills/aptitude test) are decisive for admission to the Master’s in Public Health program. In completing the study skills test, you should demonstrate that you are able to present a problem with public health relevance in a well-founded manner and explain how you would work on it using scientific methods. You are not required to discuss the results (as it is often required for seminar papers).

You are completely free to choose the topic of your project. You can use topics you have already worked on or follow your personal interests. The only condition is that your topic has a clear relevance to public health. The project is purely hypothetical (see also: What are the content and formal requirements for the study skills test?).

The study skills test is completed by you independently (declaration of independence) and then uploaded together with the other application documents via the online application portal. It is therefore part of the online application. The places on the master’s program are allocated on the basis of the final grade and the project design (see: How is the study skills test assessed and what formal influence does it have on the application?).

The aim of the study skills test is for you, as an applicant, to show that you are able to present a problem relevant to public health in a well-founded manner and to explain how you would work on it using scientific methods. You are not required to discuss the results (as it is often required for seminar papers).

The structure should be similar to that of an outline for a health science project. Your task is, firstly, to develop and justify a problem of relevance to health science. In a second stage, you are required to select (and justify your selection) the scientific methods you would use to work on this problem in order to gain new insights and (if possible) devise a solution to the problem.

You are completely free to choose the topics for your project. You can use topics you have already worked on or follow your personal interests. The only condition is that your topic has a clear relevance to public health. The project is purely hypothetical. However, you should not submit unchanged homework/theses or similar already submitted elsewhere, as these usually do not have the character of a project draft. A good model would be the project drafts that are submitted, for example, when applying for third-party funding. Another good source of inspiration for the various scientific research methods are health science papers of all kinds (or method manuals from the social sciences).

There are no fixed format templates for the study skills test. Therefore, you can use the common format templates that you are already familiar with from your bachelor’s course as a guideline. Cover pages and indexes are not included in the given framework of about 10 pages. It is important that you include a declaration of independence with your work.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Orange Table

Departmental Student Representative Committee

Academic Counselling Service

The study aptitude test comprises an examination of theoretical and methodological competencies. It serves to determine whether you, as an applicant, are likely to be able to successfully complete the master's program within the standard period of study.

The subject-specific study ability test is evaluated according to three criteria with regard to the following content requirements:

  • Development of a research question of relevance to health sciences
  • Theoretical justification of the research question
  • Methods for dealing with the question

A maximum of 20 points can be awarded for the subject-specific study skills test. The test is evaluated by two staff members with authorization to examine. Each assessor awards between 0 and 3 points for criteria 1 and 3 and between 0 and 4 points for criterion 2. The points are then summed to give a final score.

Places on the program are allocated on the basis of the total number of points achieved for the final grade (24 points -1.0 ... 19 points 3.5 to 4.0 more information can be found here) and the subject-specific study ability test. In case of a tie, the (preliminary) grade for the first degree is decisive. If there is still no clear ranking, lots are drawn. Admission is based on the ranking by the Student Office. Applicants will be informed of the results of the admission procedure by means of an electronic notification from the Student Office.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Orange Table

Departmental Student Representative Committee

Academic Counselling Service

For applicants with a foreign degree, equivalence with a degree program of at least 6 semesters incl. final exam(ination) at a German university or university of applied sciences must be confirmed by the University’s International Office (io@uni-bielefeld.de). Please contact the International Office at Bielefeld University.

Applicants with a foreign degree must send the required documents (officially certified) together with the application form by post. The address to which applicants must send these documents is indicated in the upper left-hand corner of the printed application form.

If admission is granted, applicants will receive the corresponding notice of admission and must then inform the University whether or not they accept the offer of a place.

Enrolment is possible up to September 30. If applicants cannot meet this deadline, they should contact the International Office or the Faculty of Public Health. The deadline may then, under certain circumstances, be extended until November 15 at the latest.

If all required documents are available, they do not need to be resubmitted for enrolment. Any missing documents will have to be submitted at a later date.

For enrolment, only the enrolment application form, proof of health insurance (corresponding documents where necessary) and, for non-EU citizens, a copy of the passport/visa must be submitted.

Applicants with a German university entrance qualification do not have to prove their language skills.

Applicants with a foreign degree must prove their language skills by submitting certificates such as TestDaF or DSH before the start date of the Master's program. Applicants should contact the International Office of Bielefeld University to have the certificate confirmed.
International Office contact form.

Most of the lectures for the Master's program in Public Health are held in German. Comprehensive knowledge of German is therefore necessary.

For the change of program to the Master's program, a provisional certificate for the successfully completed bachelor's program (the so-called "4.0 certificate") must be submitted by 15.11. of each year at the latest. The final bachelor's certificate (as a certified copy) must then be submitted later in the semester.

A schedule for the change of program can be found at the Student Office at Bielefeld University.

Have you received an offer of admission/admission offer from us? Then you will find all further steps here.

You can find a schedule for enrolment at the student office of Bielefeld University.

Feel free to contact the Academic Counselling Service:

studienberatung.gesundheit@uni-bielefeld.de

 

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