Holistic Palliative Care Programme (HoPE)

The curriculum of HoPE is designed around the local and regional culture and contexts, making it highly relevant to the Asian population. It is also customised to be “friendly” to working adults through its stackable design that  provides multiple entry and exit points in the training pathway, enabling new healthcare workers to join the palliative care workforce and for existing healthcare workers to upgrade their skills and capabilities. Since Asia as a continent also faces the challenges of an ageing population and manpower development needs in palliative care, HoPE can also help to enhance the palliative ecosystem across Asia.

This course is mostly conducted online, with both online self-learning materials and online tutorials.

Each course is assigned with an academic unit (AU) number, which indicates the amount of learning undertaken and the depth of learning involved. Assessments will be conducted and participants will be graded based on their performance in the assessment. Each completed course is stackable to the FlexiMasters Certificate. 

The Holistic Palliative Care Programme (HoPE) is a part-time postgraduate course that is designed to be stackable, so that participants can accumulate their AU along a single training pathway, requiring a minimum GPA of 2.5 (equivalent to a letter grade of C+) or higher. This allows them to graduate with a Graduate Certificate (9 AUs), FlexiMasters (16 AUs) and a Master of Science (MSc) degree in palliative care (15 AUs). Such a stackable programme provides the flexibility to meet different learning needs by allowing participants to exit and re-enter the training pathway within the maximum duration period of each sub-programme (refer to Table 1). The candidature will start once student is enrolled into the Graduate Certificate programme. The maximum candidature for the entire pathway of Graduate Certificate, FlexiMasters and Master programme is 7 years.

Table 1. Programme Duration and Academic Units

Note : The AUs are cumulative as participants progress along the compulsory pathway from Graduate Certificate to FlexiMasters to Master’s programme, i.e. 9 AU + 6 AU + 15 AU. Eligible participants who have successfully accumulated a total of 30 AU will be conferred the Master’s degree in Holistic Palliative Care (HoPE).

Participants are required to successfully complete a minimum of 9 AUs of specific HoPE courses and achieve a minimum GPA 2.5 from each considered course to be awarded a Graduate Certificate in HoPE and progress to the FlexiMasters in HoPE. 

Participants are required to successfully attain 15 AUs of specific HoPE courses and achieve a minimum GPA 2.5 from each considered course to be awarded a FlexiMasters in HoPE.

Participants who attain a FlexiMasters in HoPE may choose to stack it towards Master of Science (MSc) degree in HoPE, subject to prevailing University’s guidelines and approval. Credit transfers are by application only and will be assessed and approved by the University. Credit transfer is subject to prevailing University Credit Transfer Policy. Participants must meet all required admission standards of the MSc programme. The MSc programme will commence in AY2027 and is subject to minimum class size. For the MSc degree in HoPE, participants are required to successfully attain a minimum of 30 AUs of specific HoPE courses and achieve a minimum CGPA of 2.5 to successfully complete the programme.

A brief description of the programme is shown below:

This is mainly an online programme, with a small component of onsite tutorials.

1. Graduate Certificate in Holistic Palliative Care – 9 AU
   • Foundations of Palliative Medicine (3 AU)
   • Foundations of Psychosocial Care and Thanatology (3 AU)
   • Foundations of Palliative Care in Practice (3 AU)
2. Flexi Masters in Holistic Palliative Care – 6 AU
   • Advanced Palliative Medicine (2 AU)
   • Advanced Psychosocial Care and Thanatology (2 AU)
   • Advanced Palliative Care in Practice (2 AU)
3. Master in Holistic Palliative Care – 15 AU
   • Research in Palliative Care (3 AU)
   • Paediatric Palliative Care (3 AU)
   • Communications in Palliative Care (3 AU)
   • Economics of Care in Palliative Medicine + Global Palliative Care + Management and Leadership (3 AU)
   • Clinical attachment (40 hours, 3 AU) – MD6008 Clinical attachment is a compulsory module for all students. We recognize that many of our students are already engaged in meaningful work within the palliative care sector. As such, if you are currently engaged in clinical work within palliative care, you have the option to apply for your current work experiences to be recognised towards fulfilling part of the requirements for the clinical attachment module. You must clearly show how your current job responsibilities meet the learning objectives of the module. You also have the option to complete your clinical attachment at another approved location or through a combination of your current job and an external placement. Regardless of the path you choose, the submission of a final report is mandatory. All applications will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and subject to prevailing guidelines. 

*Students have to self-source their clinical attachment and submit to the programme office for approval a month prior to the clinical attachment.

Download the Graduate Certificate in HoPE programme schedule for the August 2024 intake here.