Graduate & Research
Curriculum
Department Overview
As socioeconomic development progresses, the demand for a healthy life continues to grow, leading to increased demand for healthcare policies, systems, and health sciences. These changes ultimately aim to improve quality of life, especially achieving a healthy life, thereby increasing the need for research in health sciences.
Public health science strives to develop learner-centered educational programs that provide the specialized knowledge and skills required in 21st-century knowledge-based and advanced welfare societies, along with offering an excellent educational environment. It also pursues practical academic approaches that apply professional health science knowledge in both industry and academic settings. Through field-oriented education directly connected to real-world settings, invited expert workshops and seminars, international exchanges, and collaborative research with related institutions, the program aims to cultivate professional competencies and maximize the capabilities of both current and future professionals in the health sciences field.
Department of Public Health Sciences provides strong opportunities for advancement to help students become professional leaders who will guide society. Furthermore, it is committed to continuous efforts in education and research to establish a vision for national health and to cultivate talents who will contribute to improving public health.
Message from the Department Head
Health has traditionally been perceived as a matter of personal luck or fortune. However, since the rise of social epidemiology in the 1990s and the work of the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health in the early 2000s, perspectives have significantly changed. All conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, including the healthcare system,” influence health. Accordingly, all public policies that shape these conditions should be directed toward improving health—an approach known as “Health in All Policies.”
While the essence of the social determinants of health is that “there is no biological process that occurs without interaction with the social environment, as humans are both social and biological beings”, social sciences must also pay attention to these biologically manifested processes. Beyond simply stating that social factors influence disease and health, we must investigate the processes within the human body through which health and disease are produced.
To this end, our department focuses on public health, encompassing the full cycle of intervention from health promotion and prevention to treatment and rehabilitation. We provide problem-solving public health education and research that can propose policy alternatives across various sectors, including social policy, statistics/epidemiology, healthcare policy, science and technology policy, and nutrition and environmental policy. This approach is defined as problem-solving-oriented public health research and education. Through this, we aim to develop practical solutions for improving public health. We strive to cultivate globally competitive, interdisciplinary professionals capable of carrying out these goals.
Head of the Department of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School, Korea UniversityGraduate Program Status (as of Spring 2024)
- PhD : 18 students
- Master's : 40 students
- Integrated Master's-PhD : 7 students
- Full-time Faculty : 14
- Adjunct Faculty : 1
- Emeritus Professors : 3
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Master's :
- Major - 15 Credits
- Research - 8 Credits
- Total - 24 Credits (including major)
-
PhD :
- Major - 20 Credits
- Research - 8 Credits
- Total - 30 Credits (including major)
-
Integrated Program :
- Major - 27 Credits
- Research - 16(12) Credits
- Total - 48 Credits (including major)
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Subjects are designated by the advisor and approved by the head of department as follows:
- - Master's: 2 major subjects
- - PhD: 4 major subjects
- Students who fail must retake the failed subjects in the following semester
- Only courses offered by full-time faculty are eligible(Effective from September 1, 2025)
- Master's: At least one publication in an NRF-listed (or candidate) journal OR one first-author presentation at a conference
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PhD or Integrated Program
- - Natural Sciences: At least 2 SCI papers OR 1 paper in top 10% journal (first author)
- - Social Sciences: At least 2 NRF-listed papers OR 1 SSCI paper (first author) + proposal approval (Forthcoming publications accepted)
- Graduation requires completion of credits, foreign language requirement, comprehensive exam, human rights & gender equality, research ethics, and thesis/dissertation
Department Overview
The Department of Health Care Sciences aims to cultivate competitive global leaders who possess the ability to plan, implement, manage, and evaluate health policies and health promotion programs both domestically and internationally, based on an integrated understanding of individual, social, and environmental determinants of health, as well as the changing trends represented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
To achieve this, the department provides comprehensive education in both theory and practice across various related disciplines, enabling students to integrate this knowledge to develop strategic solutions to current health issues and to advance new theoretical frameworks.
Message from the Department Head
A society where everyone is healthy and happy is a shared dream for all of us. While appropriate medical services and healthy behaviors are essential to maintaining individual health, social determinants of health also have a significant impact on overall health status. However, factors such as education level, income, policy, and residential environment contribute to making certain populations more vulnerable to chronic diseases and other health issues.
The inequality in our society, often described as polarization, leads to health disparities and places a significant burden on society as a whole.Even in the 21st century, global outbreaks such as COVID-19 have demonstrated that unless we address health blind spots affecting vulnerable populations, no one can truly be safe.
In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, traditional boundaries of the healthcare industry are rapidly dissolving, and there is a growing need for health promotion systems that connect knowledge with practice using rapidly expanding data and provide real-time, personalized health services. To improve national health, reduce inequalities among vulnerable populations, enhance the quality of disease prevention and treatment, and lower healthcare costs, a paradigm shift in healthcare science is required.
The Department of Health Care Sciences aims to reduce health disparities and effectively promote public health through a problem-solving, social science–based approach aligned with rapidly changing societal conditions. To achieve this, the department offers specializations in “Health Law, Economics, and Policy”, “Healthcare Industry” and “Digital Health Statistics”, and is committed to fostering global leaders who will open new frontiers in healthcare through world-class interdisciplinary research and education.
Head of the Department of Health Care Sciences, Graduate School, Korea UniversityGraduate Program Status (as of Spring 2024)
- PhD :
- Master's : 1 student
- Integrated Master's-PhD :
- Full-time Faculty : 7
-
Master's :
- Major - 15 Credits
- Research - 8 Credits
- Total - 24 Credits (including major)
-
PhD :
- Major - 20 Credits
- Research - 8 Credits
- Total - 30 Credits (including major)
-
Integrated Program :
- Major - 27 Credits
- Research - 16(12) Credits
- Total - 48 Credits (including major)
-
Subjects are designated by the advisor and approved by the department chair:
- - Master's: 2 major subjects
- - PhD: 4 major subjects
- Students who fail must retake failed subjects in the following semester
- Exam subjects must be courses offered by full-time faculty (Note: This regulation takes effect from September 1, 2025)
- Master's: Publish at least 1 paper in an accredited journal OR present once as first author at a conference
-
PhD & Integrated Program
- - Natural Sciences : 2 SCI papers OR 1 top 10% journal paper (first author)
- - Social Sciences : 2 accredited papers OR 1 SSCI paper + proposal defense (Accepted papers are also recognized)
- Completion of credits, foreign language, human rights & gender equality, research ethics, and comprehensive exam
