The Batten School offers a combined program with the University of Virginia Department of Public Health Sciences in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, in which the student may obtain the MPP degree and the MPH degree in three years instead of the four that would be required if each were taken separately.
The MPP-MPH program is particularly demanding, and unless the students is clearly able to see the applicability of both degrees to future career plans, he or she should not assume that the chance to squeeze one year from a normal five-year sequence is in itself a persuasive rationale for this undertaking.
Administration of the Program
The program is administered by a Program Committee composed of one member of the public policy faculty and one member of the public health faculty, as designated by the respective deans. The responsibilities of the Program Committee extend to admission to the dual program, coordination of curricula for the students involved, resolution of problems that may arise, reconciliation of course and examination conflicts, and promotion of dual offerings by the two schools where that seems feasible. The Deans from each school will also appoint a faculty advisor to the program who may or may not also serve as the school representative to the Program Committee.
Students who have been admitted independently to both schools and who wish to undertake the dual program should notify the registrar of both schools and apply to the Program Committee for permission to do so. Entrance to the MPP-MPH program will not be guaranteed by virtue of acceptance at both schools, but will be judged according to criteria, which is the responsibility of the Program Committee.
The program takes three years to complete. In brief, it consists of the complete first year program of each school followed by one year of courses taken from the curricula of the two schools and, in appropriate cases, from other graduate offerings at the University. A student who has been admitted to the program will ordinarily be allowed to elect whether to start in the Batten School or in the Department of Public Health. The student will then spend the second year in the program as a regular first year student in the other school.
At the conclusion of the third year, students who have earned a minimum of 42 credits in the Department of Public Health Sciences and a minimum of 39 credits in the Batten School will be awarded both the MPH and MPP degrees. The MPP-MPH candidate is obligated to take, as part of these credits, all of the required curriculum in both graduate public policy and public health. A maximum of two courses (six credits) can be counted toward both degrees. The remaining credits will be elective credits and can be chosen from the respective public policy and public health curricula after consultation with the program committee.
At any point in the program, the student may terminate plans for a dual degree and continue toward a single degree at either school. The student must then satisfy the normal requirements of the school elected, which may include credit for some of the work done in the other school, as determined by the appropriate officials of the school in question.
Financial aid will be provided by the school to which the student is paying tuition during each semester. Financial aid is not guaranteed and is subject to individual school and University availability and regulations.