Bachelor of Applied Science in Health Protection

By JANINE OGIER

The course

The Auckland University of Technology offers a Bachelor of Applied Science majoring in health protection for people wanting to be an environmental protection officer or a health protection officer.

Graduates of the NZQA level 7 qualification work for public health authorities on a regional, district or city level doing such things as inspecting restaurants, policing noise levels, responding to pollution spills and a range of other activities.

Students have 12 or 16 hours of face-to-face contact each week and are expected to study for an equivalent amount of their own time. There are two 16-week semesters in the AUT academic year.

First-year students do papers on environmental science, food technology, general chemistry, human anatomy and physiology, microbiology, nutrition and scientific communication. Second-year students learn environmental microbiology, environmental monitoring and risk assessment, epidemiology and communicable diseases, environmental health, food microbiology, Maori and Pacific health, operations research, and population health.

In the third year, students tackle environmental law, food industry legislation, more food microbiology, natural resource management, pharmacology and toxicology and a project.

Students are assessed by examination for each paper, plus there are tests and two or three written and practical assignments.

Applicants must meet AUT's numeracy, literacy, and general subject standards, with NCEA or Cambridge International Examination qualifications. Details can be viewed on the AUT website (www.aut.ac.nz).

As well as the general student criteria, this course requires students to have 14 credits at NCEA level 3 in mathematics with statistics or CIE mathematics, biology and chemistry.

Graduates have recognition from the Ministry of Health to be designated as health protection officers.

Fees for an AUT bachelor degree this year were $3339 including GST, plus costs for student services and Auckland University Student Movement.

Further study can be pursued through the University of Auckland's Postgraduate Certificate in Public Health environmental health specialisation.

What graduates think

Roimata Moore, 23

Food Act officer

Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS)


"One of my better subjects at school was science. The ARPHS Maori workforce development officer came to speak at our school and talked about working as a health protection officer, what sorts of thing they did and what sort of money you could earn. So I went to AUT to train.

"Practical and theory are evenly split. There are a lot of practical components within the course with field trips and lab work. I really liked it that way - I am not really a theoretical person. I learn best by doing.

"It really helped that I had a part-time job at ARPHS in the food safety team so I was putting a lot of what I was learning at AUT into practical work.

"What I do now is as part of the communicable disease control team. We specialise in investigation of food-borne and environment-borne illnesses.

"I definitely use most of what I learned at work as things can overlap in the service.

"In Auckland, because of the large population, people can be more specialised, but in smaller places people do everything from sampling mosquitoes to investigating disease, so they will use everything they learned."

What employers think


Bob Mack

Acting programme manager, disease investigation

ARPHS, Auckland


"The degree is certainly useful. The graduates are far more able to do the job than someone who does not have a qualification.

"People don't hit the ground running from the first day as there is always the practical side to be picked up. But the greater the theoretical knowledge the easier the practical is.

"There is difficulty in recruiting - there are quite a few people applying who are just short of what we want. Someone with the degree would be a preferred candidate.

"Health protection officers have to have a good technical microbiology knowledge, sound common sense, good oral and written communication skills, and be a team player.

"The type of work we do means people have to cope with hostility or obstruction and that requires maturity and good communication skills."

The qualification

Bachelor of Applied Science in Health Protection

Auckland University of Technology

Phone: 09 917 9909

Email

Earnings: start on $35,000-38,000