Global Health & Social Medicine BA at Kings College London

Overview

Our Global Health & Social Medicine BA offers a unique and exciting course with the opportunity to study abroad for a year and aims to train a new generation of leaders who want to make a difference in the world.

The course is designed for those who wish to understand the social determinants of health and illness in a global context, and to recognise and evaluate the range of medical and healthcare approaches. 

Whether you want to promote responsible biomedical research, address global health inequities or ensure fairness across generations, you are required to consider numerous perspectives in order to succeed, fostering thinking across disciplines and national boundaries.

Key benefits

• Hear from some of our students about why they chose to study Global Health & Social Medicine at King's. 

• All applicants of our full time BSc or BA are eligible for the £9,000 scholarship opportunity, including UK, EU and Overseas students. 
• We offer excellent opportunities to study social aspects of health and medicine in a multi-disciplinary context with close collaboration between the social sciences, life sciences and biomedicine.
• Global opportunities for work experience including study abroad at world leading universities and fully funded international internships.
• The chance to combine high-level social science with an introduction to the main areas of biomedical knowledge and the implications for clinical practice.
• Taught by internationally renowned academics and clinicians with a strong focus on transdisciplinary education in key areas of health, disease and medicine.

Description

Modern society recognises the importance of health and has created supportive healthcare systems to maintain welfare and to tackle diseases. These systems are not only ‘medical’, such as training and certifying doctors, networks of general practitioners, hospitals and specialised clinics. They are also ‘social’, covering the provision of clean water, food and sanitation, the design of accommodation, education in child development and the promotion of health and hygiene.

The Global Health and Social Medicine BA is a degree course that creates unique opportunities for you to learn about Global Health and Social Medicine from the perspective of a range of disciplines including sociology and anthropology, law and bioethics, psychology and economics. This course will provide you with intellectual skills, practical knowledge and research techniques required for independent critical thinking and analysis.

Students on the Global Health & Social Medicine with a Year Abroad BA will spend their third year studying abroad before returning to complete a final year with King’s. Students on the three year course may transfer to the four year Global Health & Social Medicine with a Year Abroad BA. Studying abroad will be dependent on levels of achievement in second year modules.

Career prospects

This degree course equips you with the transferable skills of research, analysis and critical thinking, a skillset that’s highly valued and sought after by employers. Our graduates enter a wide range of professions within the health services, public health, government and NGOs in the UK and elsewhere; as well as in the commercial, medical and health sectors. A significant proportion proceed into higher professional or academic qualifications, often pursuing postgraduate degrees at King’s.

King’s is ranked 4th in the UK for Graduate Employability (Times Higher Education, 2018). 

Career destinations

Our graduates enter a wide range of professions within the health services, public health, government and NGOs in the UK and elsewhere; as well as in the commercial, medical and health sectors. A proportion proceed into higher professional or academic qualifications, often pursuing postgraduate degrees at King’s.