PROGRAMME SPECIFICATION
PROGRAMME SPECIFICATION
Programme title:
Chinese Health and Humanity
Final award (BSc, MA etc):
MA
(where stopping off points exist they should be
detailed here and defined later in the document)
UCAS code:
(where applicable)
Cohort(s) to which this programme
specification is applicable:
From 2012 intake
(e.g. from 2015 intake onwards)
Awarding institution/body:
University College London
Teaching institution:
University College London
Faculty:
SHS
Parent Department:
History
(the department responsible for the administration of
the programme)
Departmental web page address:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/history/
(if applicable)
Method of study:
Full Time
Full-time/Part-time/Other
Criteria for admission to the
programme:
Bachelor of Arts/Sciences 2.1 and above
Length of the programme:
1 year limited to Chinese language speakers and graduates in
Chinese Studies
(please note any periods spent away from UCL, such
as study abroad or placements in industry)
Level on Framework for Higher
Education Qualifications (FHEQ)
(see Guidance notes)
Relevant subject benchmark statement
(SBS)
Level 7: Master’s degree
At time of production there is no M-level benchmark statement
(see Guidance notes)
Brief outline of the structure of the
programme
and
its
assessment
methods:
1 Year MA: 1 Core Course, Direct Reading and Translation, 1
Dissertation, 5 options, recommended courses across UCL.
(see guidance notes)
Board of Examiners:
Name of Board of Examiners:
MA in China Health and Humanity
Professional body accreditation
(if applicable):
Date of next scheduled
accreditation visit:
EDUCATIONAL AIMS OF THE PROGRAMME:
The new MA in China Health and Humanity is designed to further understanding and develop expertise in a range
of subjects concerned with Chinese health and well-being and the impact of China, historically and in the present
day, on health around the world. Students will be exposed to historical and cultural approaches to concepts of
health and therapeutics in the classical world and their legacy. They will study health from the point of view of
population studies, the built and natural environment, law and medical ethics, public health and policy making.
Historically China will be understood as an open empire, taking into account the people who live on its margins, and
its millennia of connections along the Silk Roads, on maritime routes, its international health diplomacy and the
recent Chinese medical diaspora. The Confucian concept of ren 仁, what makes individual and societies ‘human’ or
‘humane’ is at the centre of contemporary Chinese ethical discourse. While taking on challenging differences of
opinion, the programme begins with the premise that China and the rest of the world have much to learn from each
other. The target is, therefore, to attract a mix of Chinese and non-Chinese students. To this end the programme
will provide essential language and cultural training and create innovative spaces that will facilitate dialogue and
debate. The Core course will integrate UCL China expertise in a common agenda to train the next generation of
professionals in the interdisciplinary approaches and skills necessary for understanding and improving population
and individual health in China and internationally.
Apart from the European graduates in Chinese studies the one year MA is also designed for Chinese students with
excellent English, including graduate students following a PhD programme in China who generally like to spend a
year abroad during that time. Unique to the one year MA will be the Direct Reading and Translation module. This
will involve intensive translation, abstracting and presenting Chinese sources in English, as well as course essays.
It is envisaged that this course will offer PhD students an opportunity to analyse different approaches to their
existing research questions and to translate parts or the whole of their theses. Chinese students studying in the UK
regularly complain about the lack of support for academic English and poor acheivement in this area. This
deficiency will be addressed through the Direct Reading course, and by intensive interaction with English language
students on the Core and Dissertation courses. The students will be assisted in publishing their work online and in
print journals etc.
PROGRAMME OUTCOMES:
The programme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding,
qualities, skills and other attributes in the following areas:
A: Knowledge and understanding
Knowledge and understanding of:
Theoretical and practical approaches
to analysing:
1. Major issues of population
health and well-being in China,
and China’s impact on the rest
of the world. These will include
demographical studies and in
particular the health of children
and its aging population; the
built and natural environment;
the health of communities on
the margins; sports and
exercise; health policy; law
and health; drugs and materia
medica; religion and healing;
health diplomacy; food and
health.
2. Academic Writing and
Translation
Teaching/learning methods and strategies:
All the courses will require substantial individual
preparation which will comprise reading, library
research, language learning etc. For the thesis
1. Fundamental to the success of this course is
the first year Core course which will be a
twenty hour module taught in two hour slots
through the first term. These will be
delivered by specialists in different fields
critical to the interdisciplinary understanding
of health. Some of these will be China
specialists (Hesketh, Lo, Wang, Lim,
Bradwell), but this is not a requirement since
the second hour of each session will be held
in seminar style with presentation and
discussion of secondary literature as it
relates to China. The Dissertation course will
be dedicated to the development of such
research, debate and presentation skills,
presentation as necessary to the production
of the students’ theses.
2. The language element will be taught in the
Direct Reading and Translation course. This
course will involve reading, abstracting and
presenting Chinese primary and secondary
literature as well as the students’ own
writing in English translation. The best work
will be published online. Where the student
is also a PhD student registered at a Chinese
university it will involve re-writing elements
of their thesis in English.
Assessment:
Students will be assessed in a variety of ways:
through tests and examination, presentations,
essays and dissertations.
B: Skills and other attributes
Intellectual (thinking) skills:
Teaching/learning methods and strategies:
The programme will provide an
opportunity to reflect on Chinese
health and humanity from a variety of
different angles. Students will be
introduced to key topics and the Core
course will challenge them to
approach those topics systematically,
selecting and integrating the range of
approaches that are appropriate to
each context. The historical and
language training aims to give a good
foundation in Chinese culture enabling
a more sophisticated cross-cultural
analysis of evidence. The
concentration on history and language
in the first year that gives way in the
second to more contemporary
subjects ensures a firm intellectual
grounding in China’s own approaches
to health and humanity. Outside of the
programme’s dedicated courses
students are required to engage more
thoroughly with selected approaches
integrating them innovatively in the
analysis of their subject of choice.
The Core Course will instruct students in the basic
theoretical approaches of the Social Sciences. Each
session will be split into two parts with a taught
element and a seminar element, inviting immediate
application of the new theories to the China context.
Preparation for the seminars will require a
substantial amount of research, reading and film,
and the seminars themselves will encourage student
participation with rigorous presentation and
analysis of evidence according to individual
disciplines.
Where possible these presentations will be
encouraged as collaborative enterprises between
the students, especially where Chinese students and
graduates can be integrated with those without
advanced Chinese, allowing access to a expanded
range of primary sources.
Assessment:
Students will be graded on their presentation, long
essays and a dissertation of 10 to 12,000 words.
C: Skills and other attributes
Practical skills (able to):
1. Read, write and speak English
to IELTS 7.0 -7.5.
2. Select an original dissertation
topic or develop an original
analyses of a subject.
3. Form a working hypotheses
and adapt it during research to
the evidence.
4. Present ideas in a seminar
setting, listen and engage in
peer debate.
5. Use peer debate to reflect and
develop those ideas into
original hypotheses.
6. Use data-bases, digital and
web resources, wordprocessing in English and
Chinese.
7. Research to graduate level in
English and Chinese.
8. Analyse different disciplinary
approaches to the same
subject.
9. Evaluate at least two
theoretical models as
appropriate to a subject.
10. Demonstrate the ability to work
steadily to a research plan.
11. Manage the evidence
rigorously and formulate a
single and coherent
conclusion.
12. Use basic Mac and PC based
film making software.
13. Adapt research to different
media: making short films or
artworks conveying core ideas
to non-specialist audiences.
Teaching/learning methods and strategies:
The practical skills will accumulate through and
across Core and Optional modules, according to
their individual structures and requirements. Each
module will be delivered by specialists in subjectspecific areas who will teach different aspects of a
skill which will, when combined, contribute to the
overall achievement and competency i.e. language,
word processing and the manipulation of web
resources all require interdependent skills taught
separately, but are essential when combined to
research strategy.
1. Workshops involving reading and
abstracting articles; presenting and
discussing the ideas in a seminar setting.
2. Through the Core course lectures combined
with extensive reading and reflection guided
in structured seminars.
3. – 5. Across the compulsory modules all of
which will involve presentation, feedback,
and debate of individual research and
responses to taught elements.
6.
7.
Individual library work and tutorials.
Through computer and web-based language
Classes
8– 11. In seminars and tutorials that require
staged presentations and working papers.
12-13.Through a series of dedicated workshops.
Assessment:
Examinations, essays, dissertation, film and
artwork. Thesis presentation.
D: Skills and other attributes
Transferable skills (able to):
1. Communicate effectively in
writing, debate, film and
lecture presentation in ways
appropriate to different
audiences: peer group,
academics, students, general
public.
2. Adapt knowledge and
understanding of China to
different contexts.
3. Listen, reflect and contribute to
class discussions.
4. Know the location of and how
to access the secondary
literature on China past and
present.
5. Understand and use internet
resources on China and
Chinese health and humanity .
6. Challenge own embedded
ideas with alternative views
and empirical evidence.
7. To listen to peer group, yet
think independently.
8. To meet challenging academic,
health policy and management,
and personal issues with
positive responses.
9. Communicate in Chinese and
English.
Teaching/learning methods and strategies:
These are contained within the overall teaching
strategy. Special attention will be paid by module
teachers to the larger context within which their
particular subject is nested. This will ensure a broad
education where health is related to the different
disciplinary approaches and their larger remit.
Assessment:
Transferable skills will not be assessed in isolation, but
student development in this respect will be evident in all
the assessments described above.
The following reference points were used in designing the programme:
 the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications:
(http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/qualifications-frameworks.pdf);
 the relevant Subject Benchmark Statements:
(http://www.qaa.ac.uk/assuring-standards-and-quality/the-quality-code/subject-benchmark-statements);
 the programme specifications for UCL degree programmes in relevant subjects (where applicable);
 UCL teaching and learning policies;
 staff research.
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the
learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes
full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided. More detailed information on the learning outcomes,
content and teaching, learning and assessment methods of each course unit/module can be found in the
departmental course handbook. The accuracy of the information contained in this document is reviewed annually
by UCL and may be checked by the Quality Assurance Agency.
Programme Organiser(s)
Lily Chang
Name(s):
Date of Production:
March 2011
Date of Review:
November 2015
Date approved by Chair of
Departmental Teaching
Committee:
Date approved by Faculty
Teaching Committee
November 2015
November 2015