General Information

The Faculty of Public Health was established concurrently with the Faculty of Nursing and Professional Health Studies and the Faculty of Specialized Health Studies under the Slovak Medical University. The University itself was founded by Act No. 401/2002 Coll. on the establishment of the SMU and amending Act No. 131/2002 Coll. on higher education and amending Act No. 209/2002 Coll. effective from September 1st, 2002.

Faculty Mission

1. To provide curricular education to students and public health professionals in accordance with the current study plan for the academic year in question.
2. To ensure practical education in Slovak public health authorities and in scientific and academic positions at the SMU, in accordance with the valid syllabus and ECTS letters.
3. To offer continuous education.

Faculty Focus:

• prevention of infectious and non-infectious diseases
• protection and promotion of health
• increase in life span (to decrease premature mortality)
• improvement in life (to fully exploit health potential), increase in health (lower morbidity, limit adverse effects of illness)
• increase in quality of life (life without illness, without disability)
• decrease in work inability
• positive impact on health determinants
• improved health of population
• raising managers for public health
• proliferation and formation of knowledge, values, and habits necessary for the protection, support, and development of health of both the individual and society as a whole.

Basic Activities of the Faculty

1. Educational activities
2. Scientific and research activities
3. Sharing expertise
4. Consulting activities

Educational Activities of the Faculty

1. Pre-graduate study in environmental health
   1. Bachelor’s degree – first tier (undergraduate)
   2. Master’s degree – second tier (graduate)
   3. Doctorate study – third tier
2. Offering specialization study in fields of public health - single three-year part-time study programme for all categories of health care workers with higher education – School of Public Health (SPH) – Master of Public Health (MPH) (qualification management study programme).
3. Providing specialization study to physicians with sub-specializations in public health.
4. Educating health care workers in preparation for careers in public health.
5. Specialization study for assistants with higher education in public health, DAHE, IZP in public health fields.

The Faculty organizes:

• Thematic courses
• discussion groups
• teaching seminars before specialization exams, including examinations in individual public health subjects
• habilitation proceedings and professorship award proceedings.

Practical Activities in the Field of Public Health

• In educational facilities established by public health authorities and the SMU scientific resource base, in an effort to provide practical experience with working at a public health authority, and to become familiar with the day-to-day workload of its departments.
• Aiming to increase the number of existing academic facilities (public health authorities, the Regional Public Health Authority in Bratislava, the Regional Public Health Authority in Banská Bystrica) by more, in regional centres.

The goals of the Faculty are:

• to be involved in the training of professionals for practice
• to help raise a new generation of pedagogues in public health
• to create its own academic resource base
• to participate in raising young scientific professionals.

Textbooks

Existing FPH textbooks:

1. Concise English-Slovak Dictionary of Public Health
2. Care for the Young Generation
3. Health Education and Health Support
4. Environmental Hygiene
5. Nutritional Hygiene
6. Objectification of Environmental Factors
7. General Microbiology
8. Special Microbiology
9. Epidemiology – Introduction and Methods
10. Introduction to Social Gerontology for Public Health
11. Propedeutics of Essay Writing and Written Assignments
12. Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases I. and II.
13. Introduction to Social Work for Public Health
14. Selected Concepts from Pedagogy and Communication Skills for Public Health

New upcoming titles:

1. Introduction to Hygiene
2. Public Health Aspects of Biological Weapons

Other Faculty Activities

• to cooperate with relevant facilities and institutions both nationally and internationally
• to share experiences and knowledge in pedagogy
• to include experts with practice in the curriculum
• to implement knowledge gained through practice in the curriculum
• to publish textbooks

Bodies of Academic Self-Government at the FPH

• Academic Senate
• Scientific Board

Academic Representatives of the FPH

• Dean
• Vice-Deans
  • for undergraduate and graduate study
  • for further education
  • for science, research, and postgraduate study

FPH Directors

• Academic Directors of the Faculty
• Department Chairs

Future Goals of the Faculty:

• to provide ideal conditions (material, technical, and staff-related) for uninterrupted academic activities
• to support scientific and research activities
• to foster international cooperation
• to prepare a concept of development for each department of the Faculty
• to publish textbooks