Registered UK Charity No

Registered UK Charity No

Registered UK Charity No. 1126265

The People's Open Access Education Initiative (Peoples-uni – is helping to build international Public Health capacity using Internet-based e-learning.

 Education is based on high quality materials published on the Internet

 More than 70 academics and Public Health professionals from 19 countries form an international volunteer faculty

 Awards are provided at the Certificate, Diploma level and Masters of Public Health (validated by Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK) . The education covers both the 'foundation sciences' of Public Health, and 'major problems in Public Health'

 A combination of freely available resources on the Internet and an international volunteer faculty allows learning modules to be developed and delivered at a very low cost

 Students have come from 28 countries to date: (each semester lasts 12 weeks, enrol in April and September each year)

 Collaboration with others, including NGOs, educational institutions and new volunteers welcomed – you can help us develop new courses, review course materials, support dissertation research or facilitate discussions on-line

Opportunities for partnership:

Peoples-uni are developing partnerships with local/regional organisations that understand the local context (eg professional networks/ training needs) and that have the capacity and the infrastructure to co-ordinate regional activities. This collaboration will enable

 targeted marketing of peoples-uni modules

 Increased opportunities for collaborative research (study design, data sources, communication of findings etc)

 Support alumni students to cascade their knowledge and skills

For more information or applications: See the web site at (you can contact us through this site)

Peoples-uni strengths

Peoples-uni provides higher education course that are accessible, affordable, appropriate, accredited and accepted and these are among the charity’s key strenghts.

Accessible: There need to be enough courses, and places available on these, to meet the demand and need in low-to-middle income countries [1,2]. Governments cannot provide free access to all [3]. Accessibility also means access to the technology and allied infrastructure through which distance education is delivered [3].

Affordable: What makes People’s-Uni very different from other education providers in the price of our fees, particularly as a vehicle for delivering courses: nearly all cross-border tertiary education is effectively offered for profit in the receiving country [3].

Appropriate:International providers often fail to make the education relevant to students in the receiving country. This has two difficulties - 1. the course gives the participating student very little that can be adapted to their setting and; 2. students from a variety of cultures and linguistic backgrounds follow the curriculum of provider country with little recognition of social, cultural, and ethnic differences [4].

Accredited:Accreditation is vital and to many students accreditation from any Western university is more valuable than accreditation from any university in their home country [2].

Accepted:Acceptability is about more than accreditation - it refers to recognition within their own setting (geographically and professionally).

[1]HellerRF, Chongsuvivatwong V, Hailegeorgios S, Dada J, Torun P, Madhok R, Sandars J (2007) Capacity Building for Public Health Bull World Health Organ vol.85 no.12 Genebra Dec. 2007 [Available: Accessed: 01.03.12

[2]Verbal - Public Health Resource Network (2012) People’s-Uni and Open Education Development Opportunities - Workshop 11-12th January, 2012 Delhi

[3]Daniel J, Kanwar A and Uvalic-Trumbic S (2007) Mass Tertiary Education in the Developing World: Distant Prospect or Distinct Possibility? Article submitted to the Europa World of Learning [Available: Accessed: 29.02.12

[4]Daniel JS, Kanwar A and Uvalić-Trumbić S (2005) Who's Afraid of Cross-border Higher Education? A Developing World Perspective: Quality Assurance in Transnational Issues, (INQAAHE), Annual Conference 2005, Wellington, New Zealand (1 April 2005) [Available:

Accessed: 23.02.12

Peoples-uni modules

We have 18 course modules covering the foundation sciences of public health and public health problems facing populations in developing countries, as well as a Dissertation project:

  • Foundation Sciences of Public Health group
  • Biostatistics
  • Evidence Based Practice
  • Evaluation of Interventions
  • Health Economics
  • Health Promotion
  • Inequalities & the Social Determinants of Health
  • Introduction to Epidemiology
  • Public Health Concepts for Policy Makers
  • Public Health Ethics
  • Communicable Disease
  • Disaster Management & Emergency Planning
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Maternal Mortality
  • Non-Communicable Disease - CVD & Diabetes
  • Patient Safety
  • Preventing Child Mortality
  • Public Health Nutrition
  • Dissertation

For more details about the course content and a demonstration module, see

Course Fees

  • Enrolling in a Peoples-uni module/unit costs £30 each
  • After 6 modules/units you are eligible for a Diploma (£180 total cost) and may be eligible to take the Dissertation for the Masters degree (£270 total cost).
  • The cost of enrolling in the Manchester Metropolitan University Master of Public Health is £1500
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