title: Factors that influence full-time MPH Students' willingness in China: would You apply again for an MPH graduate degree if you had another opportunity?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Current and emerging challenges to public health in the 21st century are vastly different from those faced in previous centuries. And the shortage of health personnel and their low level of educational qualifications hindered the development of Chinese public health services. In order to fulfill this requirement, the Ministry of Education initiated a full-time, Master of Public Health (MPH) graduate programme in 2009. This study aimed to evaluate the level of graduate students' satisfaction with full-time Master of Public Health (MPH) education in China, and whether they would apply again for an MPH graduate degree if they had another opportunity to do so, as well as to identify the factors influencing their decision-making process.
  
  
  METHODS
  An anonymous, web-based survey questionnaire containing 61 items was distributed to 702 MPH students in 35 universities or colleges. The questions covered the categories of student admission, training goals, lecture courses, practical training, research activities and mentorship. Levels of satisfaction were compared between MPH students who would choose MPH again as their graduate degree if they had another opportunity to do so and those who would not. Key influencing factors of training satisfaction were identified using logistic regression models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 65.10% of the participants would apply again for MPH education if they had another opportunity to do so. The factors influencing students' willingness included their university type, the time since admission and their initial willingness. In addition, the four common factors (admissions & lecture courses, research activities & mentorship, practical training and training goals) emerging from factor analysis were all significantly positively correlated with student willingness (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most MPH students surveyed were highly satisfied with their MPH education and, although they advocated for improvements and reforms in some aspects, they would still choose MPH as their graduate degree again if they had another opportunity to do so.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Health Science Center, Peking University Graduate School, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jinzhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Beijing Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Chi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Health Science Center, Peking University Graduate School, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China. zhfwangwf@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8486-0320
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000458:organization & administration; D000068:Accreditation; D002681:China; D003479:Curriculum; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000592:standards; D040381:Education, Public Health Professional / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D016730:Program Development; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Attitudes; Factors; MPH; Satisfaction