Health promotion (Bachelor)

• You want to support people in improving their own health and environmental conditions and making more health a part of their everyday lives.
• Are you wondering how conditions can be created under which people can live healthy lives?
• You are interested in how health inequality can be reduced.
• Do you want to support people in improving their own health conditions and those of their environment and implementing more health in their everyday lives?
• You enjoy working in a team and would like to collaborate with representatives of other disciplines in research and practice to work together towards the goal of supporting people's health and preventing disease.

The university studies programme is structured around five subject areas: 1. understanding health, 2. methodically sound action, 3. targeted implementation of health promotion and prevention, 4. strengthening individual health, creating healthy living environments and 5. discovering and testing professional fields (more on this under professional practice and project work).

These subject areas are closely interrelated and provide you with important basics and methods that you will need for your future professional practice in health promotion. In the fourth semester, you will test yourself in a professional field of your choice as part of a practical placement. The fourth semester is also a suitable time to experience studying abroad during a semester abroad. The department supports periods abroad, particularly at one of the cooperating foreign universities. From the 5th semester onwards, you can choose individual specialisations via compulsory elective modules and gain experience in carrying out a research project as part of a course project. You will be guided step by step throughout your university studies and at the end you will have all the knowledge you need to write your thesis in semester 6.

English skills are expected in order to understand relevant health promotion documents and academic texts in English. You can improve and specialise in these skills during your university studies through numerous offers at the university's language centre.

Understanding health

At the beginning of your university studies, you will learn about health from various academic perspectives: You will gain an insight into the many factors influencing the development of health and disease and learn the basics, strategies and methods of health promotion and prevention. You will be taught both natural science knowledge (e.g. the development of diseases) and social sciences knowledge. They look at how health, illness and influencing factors are distributed in the population and how health inequality arises, for example. This is an important condition for identifying groups of people with special needs for measures, for example.

Methodologically sound action

In the first three semesters, you will learn the techniques for academic research, such as understanding university studies, academic writing and the necessary literature research. You will acquire basic knowledge of empirical research methods, comprising, for example, data collection and analysis. Building on this, you will learn how to analyse the current state of research on a topic in order to make evidence-informed decisions on health promotion and prevention measures. In the "Evaluation and quality development" module, you will use the methods for assessing the success and improving the quality of health promotion measures.

Implementing health promotion and prevention in a targeted manner

You will acquire knowledge of the legal, political and economic framework conditions for health promotion and prevention, which you will need in order to successfully develop and implement the measures or programs together with key stakeholders. To ensure that changes in living conditions and individual behaviour are successful, you will also learn how to design sustainable structures for health promotion, e.g. in organisations, and how to accompany this process - together with the teaching and application of the basics of health communication and advisory services.

Strengthening individual health and creating healthy living environments

We prepare you optimally for a career in central areas and promising fields of work in health promotion and prevention:

From as early as the second semester, you will deal with the central fields of action according to the guideline(s) on prevention: nutrition, exercise, stress and resource management (mental health), substance abuse and media consumption. This guideline(s) is a binding set of rules of the statutory health insurance providers for the funding of primary prevention, health promotion in living environments such as daycare centres, schools, municipalities and in workplace health promotion (BGF), in each case with behavioural and relationship-oriented approaches and concepts.

You can take additional compulsory elective modules from the 5th semester onwards to strengthen your individual profile: you can choose between Occupational Health Care Management (OHM) or Planetary Health. It is also possible to choose modules from other departments or other offers from the university. Ultimately, the integration of the content of such compulsory elective modules that interests you into your university studies is decisive. In the fifth semester, you can develop an additional individual profile in the module "Current Topics in Health Promotion and Prevention" through the specialisation of current social and professional issues.

Career-related knowledge and the ability to reflect shape your professionalism and are therefore taught during your university studies along with key aspects of professionalisation. From the first semester onwards, modules on professionalisation will prepare you for the challenges of university studies, including self-organisation techniques and professional practice. In the fourth semester, you will complete a work placement semester in a professional field of health promotion. Before and during the work placement semester, you will be continuously accompanied and supported by the placement office for health promotion, e.g. in the application process and in dealing with the new requirements of the practical phase. For example, in the second part of the professionalisation module, you will reflect on how to deal with challenges and stress and practise techniques for dealing with conflicts so that you can further develop your personal competencies in a targeted manner. In addition to the Professionalisation II module, you will also attend "Networking in community health promotion".

In the fifth and sixth semesters, you will build on your academic and practice-oriented skills as part of a course project. Various projects on different topics are always offered.

In addition to research-based training, the health promotion study programme places great emphasis on practical experience. This is why you have the opportunity to complete a work placement semester in a professional field of health promotion in the fourth semester. You will receive continuous support from the health promotion placement office. As early as the first semester, you will benefit from the experiences of students who have completed their work placement semester in reflection events and may already find an area or an internship institution that particularly arouses your interest. You can also attend various elective modules on relevant topics such as project management or networking to accompany your internship. The fourth semester is also a suitable time to experience studying abroad during a semester abroad. In the fifth and sixth semesters, you can develop your academic and practice-oriented skills as part of a course project. Various projects on different topics are offered for this purpose.

University entrance qualification
Applicants who have not applied for their university entrance qualification at a German-speaking facility must provide evidence of German skills at level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (DSH-2 or equivalent).

With German educational certificates: 1 May to 30 September

With foreign educational certificates: 1 May to 30 September