Skills for success in Infectious Diseases

The University of Edinburgh offers a selection of online Infectious Disease masters programmes, aiming to address global challenges by developing your expertise in surveillance, prevention and control of infectious diseases through online distance learning.

If you are wondering whether postgraduate study is right for you, we are confident the course will develop your skills-set and enhance your professional prospects.

Students on these longstanding and successful MSc programmes come from all around the world. Not only are they doctors, nurses, scientists, vets and policy makers, but they’re also parents, carers, stay at home mums and dads, students continuing their studies, as well as those taking career breaks. Flexible online study is a great way to combine all these backgrounds and experiences!

Am I the right person to study Infectious Diseases?

In my experience as a lecturer, there are certain shared qualities that I have noticed in the students that have made the most of the programme.

An interest in the influence of infectious disease on our daily lives
Motivation and enthusiasm for learning
Confidence to critically evaluate the evidence that informs our understanding of infectious diseases
Adaptability to respond to new (and established) challenges
Ability to problem-solve and willingness to work within an inter-disciplinary field
Clarity in communication
Resilience and self-awareness

Word cloud with the words infectious, diseases, enthusiasm, inter-disciplinarity, global, confidence, resilience, critical interest, problem-solving, evaluation, self-awareness, citizenship, communication, motivation, adaptability and willingness.

Some of the important words and phrases associated with online learning in infectious diseases.

Studying infectious diseases involves much more than simply learning about pathogens. Studying infectious diseases in their global or clinical context will allow you to appreciate the factors that influence infectious disease at both an individual and population level. The global impacts of infectious disease are not limited to human disease or indeed to acute infection.

How will a postgraduate qualification in infectious disease benefit you?

An infectious diseases masters will equip you for a world in which infectious diseases continue to shape our world in new and unexpected ways. You can network, learn and develop academically and obtain a higher qualification.

We can offer you flexible study patterns. Our part-time postgraduate taught degrees enable our students to remain in employment while studying with us. The intermittent study pattern is especially responsive to changes in your work and life balance with commitment to one course at a time.

As students remain in employment, many use their degree to raise their work profile or to expand the focus of their role. Some graduates go on to secure a PhD position and move towards a research career. Other graduates have progressed to teaching, industry or something completely different.