Professional Doctorate in Health FAQs

For Phase One students there will be an Induction/Summer School held in September. For Phase Two students, there will be a Summer School held in September at the beginning of Phase Two. These are face to face and are held at the University of Bath. The Summer Schools will be the only face to face component of the course until a student attends their Phase Two/Three Transfer Interview at the end of Phase Two and their thesis defence at the end of Phase Three.

The rest of the learning will be through the Virtual Learning Environment and individual support/correspondence. If you are an overseas student and happen to be in the UK at any one time, you might find it helpful to get in touch with your supervisory team. Postgraduate skills training is provided by the University, which students can attend at any time during their studies.

The Summer School will be face to face, but does not need to be residential. If it is easy for you to attend on a daily basis then that is perfectly fine. There will be one event in a year.

The Summer School is held in September each year and will include an induction to the programme for new students. Please e-mail DHealth@bath.ac.uk to request the date of the next event.

The city of Bath is well located for access from the M4, M5 and in proximity to London Heathrow for international guests/speakers.

See details for how to get to the University of Bath.

The minimum period of study for part time' students is three years – however this is the minimum period and would require a substantial commitment by the student. It is possible to aim for the minimum part-time period of three years, and if things take a little longer that is ok.

As a guideline, Phase One and Phase Two each take a year to complete, and Phase Three involves the research activity and writing up, taking a minimum of one year. We understand that life and work can intervene from time to time, so there is some flexibility for participants.

Details of the units studied within each phase are available from the Programme & Unit Catalogues.

Normally, there will be a written assignment at the end of each unit. Phase Three will be assessed by submission of a thesis and a Viva Voce examination.

Fees charged per year can be paid in two instalments, although an administrative charge will apply for this.

See fee information.

Yes, payments can be made by credit card and students will be instructed how to do so once they have accepted a place on the programme.

Fee concessions are available for staff on postgraduate programmes where the chosen course of study is available on a modular or part-time basis, and is therefore applicable to the Professional Doctorate in Health. Further details are available from the Director of Studies or the Graduate Office.

Applications can be submitted at any time but an early application is recommended. The deadline for applications is shown on the main application page.

If you would like to enquire whether a late application would be accepted please contact us at hss-doctorate-admissions@bath.ac.uk

Applications are made online and applicants are welcome to contact the team with informal inquiries.

There is no need to provide a comprehensive research proposal at the application stage - the team will be providing participants with support to develop ideas and areas of interest once they have commenced the course. We also expect that individual's ideas will change as each participant proceeds through the first phase and encounters different types of research approaches and designs.

Students who have studied units from postgraduate programmes offered by other institutions, but who have not completed that programme and received an award, may be eligible to transfer credit for this prior learning. This is considered on a case by case basis but as a minimum the course or programme in question must be recognised by the providing institution as being at M level for the M-level component for Phase 1 and at the D level for the D level component of phase 1 and of phase 2. All requests must contain an element of assessed work.

An accreditation Sub Committee will be established within the Programme, chaired by the Director of Studies, to oversee this activity, and guidance on the preparation of Portfolios of Evidence (if relevant and appropriate) will be provided both to applicants and the external examiner. The university’s standard guidelines on proportions of credit which can be recognised from other institutions will apply.

Yes – the Director of Studies will need to discuss their role and agree how we can support them so that they can support you.

Currently, the Personal Development Advisors are based at the University of Bath.