At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.

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Ghent University's Education Objectives

Quality Assurance at Ghent University

1. Clear profile: our programme is the only Health Care Promotion programme in Belgium. With our unique focus on prevention and health care promotion, we clearly distinguish ourselves from other academic study programmes.
2. Incoming students from various disciplines: it is our conscious choice to allow students with a professional Bachelor’s degree as well as students with an academic Bachelor’s or Master’s degree into the programme. They bring with them a wide range of disciplines. Not only does this multidisciplinary context result in interesting class discussions and group exercises, it also prepares students for a inter- and multidisciplinary professional reality.
3. Multiperspectivistic insights: our programme combines knowledge and methods from various academic disciplines: medicine, epidemiology, psychology, sociology, communication sciences, economics, policy sciences, political sciences and ethics. Naturally, our course units are taught by experts from various departments and faculties. The same holds true for the supervision of our Master’s dissertations.
4. Our research-based curriculum contains a clear learning pathway on research skills. Students confirm that our programme contributes significantly to research-related knowledge and skills.
5. Active teaching methods: we encourage our students to take up an active role in their learning process (among other things, by using active teaching methods like debates, group work, presentations). Work placement: students can choose between a research-oriented or a practice-oriented work placement. We also offer opportunities for an international work placement.
6. Our work placement offer allows students to choose a theme based on their own interests and experience.

1. Stakeholder involvement: our students, alumni and professional field representatives are strongly involved in our study programme’s policy. As active representatives of our student and alumni community and of the professional field, they sit on our various committees.
2. Student talent development:  we offer our students several (support) initiatives (e.g. content-specific coaching, feedback, fieldwork, the Master's dissertation, study abroad opportunities, work placement) for developing and strengthening their talents.
3. Our programme boasts a dedicated team of lecturers from various disciplines, who combine their research expertise with a passion for teaching and a continued enthusiasm to uphold the quality of their lectures.
4. Communication: students are satisfied with our communication. Course feedback has shown that students feel well-informed about assessment methods, learning outcomes, and more general aspects.
5. Approachability: we invest in personal contact between our lecturers and our students.
6. Career opportunities: the graduation fair organized by our alumni chapter offers students an overview of various career opportunities. The work placement is another window on the various career opportunities. And last but not least, our career guide - a collaborative effort of our study programme and our alumni chapter - offers an inventory of alumni employed in the various sectors of health care promotion.
7. The external perspective: we regularly perform a benchmark with similar study programmes abroad (e.g. Maastricht University, National University of Ireland-Galway, Deakin University-Melbourne).

1. Continue to focus on diploma awareness: the usual players in the sector of health care promotion are well aware that our diploma exists. However, as our graduates’ career opportunities go far beyond said sector, a more widespread diploma awareness is desirable. Together with our alumni chapter, work placement supervisors and our representatives on the Consultative Committee for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention we work on better diploma awareness in the wider prevention-related professional field.
2. More Master's dissertation topics for exchange students: our international mobility today is limited to existing contacts (established by our core lecturers), which also makes for a limited range of Master's dissertation topics on nutrition, physical activity, sedentary behaviour or sleep.

This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organization of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.

This information was last updated on 01/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.