Health: Science, Society, and Policy Program

Yes, HSSP majors may receive credit for up to two courses and HSSP minors may receive credit for one course, provided that the course is closely related to HSSP courses. Some majors choose to avail themselves of health-related internships and field experiences to fulfill the HSSP hands-on-experience (HOE) requirement. With few exceptions (see FAQ 3 below), such outside courses may only fulfill HSSP electives, the HOE, and/or Additional Basic Science requirements.

 When choosing courses for HSSP credit:

• See HSSP List of  Pre-Approved Health-related Study Abroad Courses (“List”).

• If you are interested in petitioning for approval of a course that is not on this List, keep in mind that courses taken abroad don’t have to be identical to current HSSP courses; courses may be thematically similar. Therefore, the best strategy is for you to look for courses that fit in the three HSSP Focal Areas (health-related courses relating to Science, Society, or Policy).

  • Courses must have at least 50% health-focused content to count for HSSP.

  • HOE internships must be health-related.

Look for courses that are different from the Brandeis courses that you have already taken (or intend to take). For example, you should not take HSSP 102A - Global Perspectives on Health at Brandeis as well as a course abroad that is similar. In addition, if you've taken (or plan to take) BIOL 42A - Physiology, then you should not take physiology while abroad.

You will need to work with both the Office of Study Abroad (OSA) as well as the HSSP Program.

• Before going abroad: If you are a HSSP major/minor who wants HSSP credit for your study abroad work, after meeting with the Office of Study Abroad, you must seek written pre-approval from the HSSP Program the semester prior to going abroad.  See the Flow Chart.

• After returning from abroad: Follow the OSA's Returning to Brandeis checklist, including attending their Re-Entry Workshop.

  • To receive HSSP credit for courses for which you received HSSP’s written pre-approval, you need to complete:

    • The Registrar’s online Petition to Request Substitution for a Requirement form.

We encourage students to complete most, if not all, of their core Science, Society, and Policy courses before going abroad. In general, study abroad courses only fulfill HSSP electives, the HOE, and Additional Basic Science Course requirements. Other than the HOE, the only core courses that can be completed abroad are the following:

• The DIS Epidemiology: Danish Case Studies or Epidemiology: Swedish Case Studies can substitute for HSSP 100b; and

• Students may petition for a human physiology course taken elsewhere (US or abroad) in place of BIOL 42a - Physiology; such petitions are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Majors have many study abroad options for fulfilling the HOE requirement: You can do a health-related internship, a health-related research project, or take a study abroad course that has an experiential component. If your HOE is a part of your study abroad program, then you don’t need to take HSSP 89a - Internship Seminar.

If you plan to look for a health-related internship when you arrive, you will still need written pre-approval for that particular HOE. Importantly, when you arrive on site and identify an opportunity, notify the HSSP Internship Instructor in writing as soon as possible; your failure to do so may result in not receiving HOE credit. Upon your return to Brandeis you will need to petition HSSP for final approval.  

HSSP’s “written pre-approval” of OSA’s Academic Proposal of Study form means that you have presented a written plan of study that enables you to complete your HSSP major/minor. Importantly, the HSSP “written pre-approval” is not a guarantee that your course credits will transfer over for HSSP credit or that a particular internship or independent research project will fulfill the HSSP HOE requirements.  After you successfully complete the course(s)/HOE, you will need to petition for the credits to transfer (see FAQ titled "Who do I need to contact to about receiving HSSP credit? What approvals are needed?").

Yes. The OSA requires a written signature. After submitting this course approval form, or confirming your courses are already on the HSSP List of Pre-Approved Health-related Study Abroad Courses, you may obtain HSSP’s written signature on your OSA’s Academic Proposal of Study from Kathryn Howell during her Study Abroad Office Hours or from Prof. Curi at the OSA’s Study Abroad Extravaganza.

We understand that you may change your mind about what courses to take and/or the courses you hoped to take are no longer available or have changed. For example, because a change in the syllabus, a course that may initially appear to be appropriate for Focal Area C may only qualify for Focal Area B.

If your plans change for any reason, send the HSSP SAL an email with the syllabi for the new course option(s) you are considering as soon as possible at or before the start of the semester; your failure to do so may result in not receiving final approval of those credits.

To receive HSSP course credit for courses taken abroad, you must earn at least a C-.