Ageing in a global perspective: a multidisciplinary approach, 3 Credits

Contents

Population ageing has become a global public health issue, especially for the population in low- and middle-income countries where the ageing transitions happen at faster speed than those experienced by high-income countries. This course is designed to provide students with knowledge on ageing from multidisciplinary perspectives. While the focus of the course is on epidemiology of ageing an its implication, other disciplinary perspectives on ageing, such as demography, health care, economic, and social sciences, will be used and discussed. Students will be introduced to state-of-the art knowledge and researches in ageing in these relevant disciplines, and will have the change to get aquainted to world-class research databases in ageing, particularly thoses which are in public domain.

Expected learning outcomes

At the end of this course, the students should be able to:
- describe the ongoing global demographic transition and its implications for the epidemiological transition and changing patterns of diseases in the population.
- recognise the biological and psychological aspects of ageing.
- explain and discuss the social construction of ageing.
- evaluate the impacts of population ageing on health system care and economic at global, national, and sub-national levels.
- assess issues related to ageing research in a multidisciplinary perspective, and practise to identify research questions for ageing research utilizing ageing research databases.

Required Knowledge

For non-programme students applying as single-course students, the requirements are 120 ECTS, of which a minimum of 30 ECTS are within one of the following: health sciences, environmental health or social sciences.

Form of instruction

The teaching in this course consists of lectures and paper seminar. The lectures are interactive and students are encouraged to prepare for lectures by reading the relevant course literature beforehand. Independent self-study is also an important part of the learning - for preparation of lectures and group work and for integrating the new knowledge following lectures and seminars, as well as for examination. Teaching is concentrated in two full weeks (autumn 2013).

Examination modes

The final grading will depend on in-class examination. To be able to participate in the in-class examination, students need to pass all the paper discussions and presentation. The grading scale is Fail, Pass, and Pass with distinction for the written exam.

For students who do no receive a passing grade at the first written exam on the course, a re-sit exam is arranged. Correspondingly, a student who does not receive a passing grade o the evaluation plan is offered an extra oppurtunity to submit the plan. A student who fails two examinations has the right to a change of examiner according to the University's set of rules. A request to change examiner should be sent to the Board of the Faculty of Medicine.

Other regulations

Start-of-study respite
A respite for the start of studies may be granted under special circumstances. Examples of such circumstances are illness, military service, pregnancy, care of children or other nursing responsibilities etc.

A negative decision about start-of-study respite may be appealed to Överklagandenämnden för högskolan.

Course roll call
Attendance is compulsory for the course roll call. A student may be relieved from this obligation only through a decision by the course coordinator and only under special circumstances. Non-attendence without a valid reason may lead to the seat being given to another applicant. A decision about this is made by the course coordinator.

Academic credit transfers are always reviewed individually according to the University's set of rules and academic credit regulations.