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Does a bursary scheme for students in low- to middle-income countries influence outcomes in a master’s programme in Public Health?
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Machingura, Pasipanodya Ian, Shantikumar, Saran, Babalola, Olukemi Solabomi and Heller, Richard F. (2019) Does a bursary scheme for students in low- to middle-income countries influence outcomes in a master’s programme in Public Health? MedEdPublish, 8 (2). doi:doi:10.15694/mep.2019.000122.1
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.15694/mep.2019.000122.1
Abstract
Introduction
The People’s Open Access Education Initiative (Peoples-uni) provides online education for health professionals in Public Health at the master’s level. Although fees are low due to the use of volunteers and Open Educational Resources, a bursary scheme is provided to waive all or some of the fees. This study tests the hypothesis that student outcomes of completing and passing modules are higher among those given a bursary than others.
Methods
Data were retrieved for all students enrolling between 2009-2017, including demographics and module outcomes, where available. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with a successful bursary application, as well as to elicit whether a successful bursary application was associated with ever completing, or ever passing, a module.
Results
Data were obtained from 1499 students. Of these, 624 (42%) had ever completed a module, and 513 (34%) had ever passed a module. 503 students (34%) had applied for a bursary, of whom 285 (57%) were successful. After adjusting for demographic variables, employment status and education level, students who were given a bursary were more likely to ever pass a module (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.3, 95% CI 1.7,3.3), as were those who applied for a bursary but were unsuccessful (aOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.3,2.8), compared with students who had not applied for a bursary. Similar results were obtained for the outcome of completing a module.
Conclusions
Students who were successful in gaining a bursary, as well as those who were not but still able to enroll, were more likely to complete or pass a module than those who did not apply. These results point to the success of the bursary scheme and give us confidence to continue to offer bursaries, in order to sustain the mission of improving population health through capacity building in low resource settings.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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| Subjects: | L Education > L Education (General) R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences > Population, Evidence & Technologies (PET) Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School |
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| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Public health—Scholarships, fellowships, etc., Education, Higher -- Computer-assisted instruction, Internet in higher education, Continuing education, Master of arts degree | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | MedEdPublish | ||||||
| Publisher: | Association for Medical Education in Europe | ||||||
| ISSN: | 2312-7996 | ||||||
| Official Date: | 4 June 2019 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 8 | ||||||
| Number: | 2 | ||||||
| DOI: | doi:10.15694/mep.2019.000122.1 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access |
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