Health professions education is in the frontline of professional practice. It helps to integrate a core set of competencies into health professions education to produce effective leaders and scholars in health professions education. It aims to create opportunities for learners to make contributions to their institutions, and to their national and regional priorities. IMU Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma and Master Programmes in Health Professions Education (PGHPE) are designed to fulfil the needs of the 21st century health professions educator. They aim is to enable learners to develop an in-depth understanding of educational theories, principles and values related to contemporary learning environment and assessment. The PGHPE enables learners for career opportunities in health professional education and equips students with enhanced skills to carry out health professional’s education research at a higher degree.
The PGHPE programme uniquely offers a mixed mode of coursework combined with research training. The Programme is offered in blended mode, enabling students to work towards a Master degree. Blended mode means that students can undertake much of their study online, with some weekend on-campus face to face sessions. The Programme is thus able to personalise education and offers the accessibility of online learning together with social and professional interaction.
The University’s e-learning environment (Moodle) enables students to access all study content and offers technology enhanced learning facilitated by moderators. Face-to-face sessions include lectures, workshops, seminars and case presentations. Most of these sessions are scheduled on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at the IMU Bukit Jalil campus. This enables students to work whilst undertaking postgraduate study with the potential to significantly build their careers. Students on the PGHPE Programme come from diverse backgrounds, bring varied talents and experience in the course. The small intakes foster an excellent learning culture and the programme provides many opportunities for cooperative learning with a high level of peer support.
Every student undertakes a research study, under the supervision of faculty members with established research credentials. Whilst the formal output of the research semester is a dissertation, students’ professional interpersonal skills are also enhanced from one-to-one interaction with their research supervisors, academic and other professional staff. At the time of writing, students of the first cohort are finalising their research dissertations, marking the last stage of their journey through the Master programme. Though not its primary purpose, the Master qualification also opens up opportunities for more advanced research training, for example via doctoral programmes. As befits a University with a 6 star SETARA rating, IMU degree programmes are periodically reviewed and re-imagined. The Postgraduate in Health Professions Education is no exception, and is currently undergoing a review of content and delivery, aimed at enhancing the learning experience and learning outcomes.
