Postgraduate news & views

Why are there more compulsory admissions for black males with schizophrenia than white? When GPs make different mental-health diagnoses for different ethnic groups, is it misdiagnosis or cultural shaping? How do we take Western psychiatric concepts and apply them to people with different cultures and beliefs?

These are some of the issues tackled by the new MSc in Transcultural Mental Health, launched this month by Queen Mary, University of London. The three 12-week modules in mental-health assessment, transcultural mental health, and research into transcultural mental health are aimed at anyone with an interest in the psychiatric arena, including psychiatrists, doctors, social workers, nurses and those in the voluntary sector.

"We have two to three decades of research data showing inequalities of provision for ethnic minorities in mental health," says Dr Kamaldeep Bhui, the course director and senior lecturer in psychiatry, who hopes the course will produce a critical mass of independent thinkers who can effect change in practice. "There's a massive gap in professional knowledge and competency to work across cultures. Basically we've all been taking a colour-blind approach, but these days you need different ways of working with ethnic minorities."

¿ Spending a week in an eco-friendly hotel located inside an extinct volcano, with a bit of whale-watching from a schooner thrown in, can't be a bad way to earn a postgraduate degree. And there's no dissent from students on the MA in Adventure Tourism at Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies.

The course director, Melvyn Pryer, says: "Though it's classroom-based, we do a live project overseas, usually at a destination or project where students can make a real difference. The last two years we've been to the Azores to work for a niche operation. It's hard work, but the students thoroughly enjoy themselves."

Established in 1999, the course is designed for people already in adventure tourism or outdoor pursuits, or those wanting to pursue a career in that area. It covers risk analysis, strategic management and elements of finance and resource management – all with an emphasis on business management.

It has proved invaluable to New Zealander Jason Lord, 31, who is now setting up his own adventure tourism company in Germany: "There are only a few courses of this standard in the world geared specifically towards adventure tourism. I didn't need to know simple things like operational procedure, safety standards and guide qualifications, so its management basis was ideal."

¿ Mindful of the need for public-sector managers to work effectively together, Plymouth University has devised a new MSc/PgDip in Policy, Practice and Evaluation. A collaborative venture between a number of departments and disciplines, including community work, criminal justice, social policy, social work, probation studies and land use and rural management, it's aimed at middle to senior managers who want to enhance their policy-evaluation skills and update themselves on current policy and practice issues.

"We're responding to their needs, looking particularly at the way the different agencies work together and at common issues in the public sector, like the need for evaluation and risk analysis," says Alison Green, course co-ordinator and senior lecturer in the university's Department of Social Policy and Social Work.

Students can choose from over a dozen wide-ranging modules, each requiring a four-day attendance. "The rest can be done remotely, as we want the course to be as flexible as possible," says Green.

emma@haughton.net