title: Competencies required from public health professionals by health based organisations and the role of academia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the complementarity between what is taught in Masters of Public Health courses and real world expectations of practitioner organisations.
  
  
  METHODS
  The online survey of academic institutions and health-related organisations from high- and low-/middle-income countries was conducted between May 16 and August 1, 2011. A combination of snowballing and purposive sampling was used to recruit the respondents. The survey questionnaire was devised using a validated competencies framework.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 45 organisations responded to the survey. They were evenly distributed between academic institutions and practitioner organisations, high-income countries and low/middle income ones. There was marked disparity in rating for 14 (22%) of the 63 competencies examined. Practitioner organisations valued practical competencies such as contracting and negotiation skills, whereas academic institutions favoured research-based elements such as critical thinking and data-collection skills. Practitioner organisations also rated less highly course modules such as the dissertation component and research methods.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The lack of congruence between what is taught and what is required could result in public health practitioners being ill-prepared for the demands of the real world. Greater engagement between academic institutions and practitioner organisations is necessary to ensure that Masters of Public Health courses are appropriate and up-to-date.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health Sciences, Fatima Memorial Hospital, College of Medicine and Dentistry, Lahore. taureanvibes@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Syed Muslim
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology, Fatima Memorial Hospital, College of Medicine and Dentistry, Lahore.
authors.forename: Hafsa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mubashir
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D011361:Professional Competence; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education*