Master of Science in Health Care Management and Policy
The health care management and policy sectors clamour for graduates with a Master’s degree, who are able to manage a health care institution successfully, while taking into account the broader social, ethical, legal, legislative, economic and governmental context.
What
Professional management of health care institutions presupposes taking into account both staff and patient welfare, while at the same time considering the institution’s financial viability. Social responsibility and economic acumen are the basic principles of good governance. An important goal of this Master's programme is to cultivate a critical-scientific attitude vis-à-vis the management and policy of health care institutions.
The following aspects take centre stage:
- developing thinking and working skills at an academic level;
- a focus on lifelong learning and learning in practice;
- groundbreaking, systematic and problem-solving thought;
- accessibility to students with a (part-time) job.
For whom
The admission requirements vary. Depending on your prior education, you are either able to enrol directly, or there are additional requirements.
Structure
> Master
The Master's curriculum focuses on an academic approach to management and policy issues. We offer our students advanced academic knowledge, so that they are well-prepared for sound decision-making in the complex setting of a health care institution. All our course units are management- and policy-oriented. Basic science course units are part of the academic bridging programme and (possibly) the preparatory programme.
Our curriculum enables students to acquire the necessary competencies to carry out three roles in health care management and policy, i.e. the role of scientist, manager, and professional. The curriculum culminates in a Master's dissertation, which proves that you are able to study a management and policy issue in a critical-scientific and independent manner. This is what distinguishes a Master’s programme from a professional Bachelor's programme. The first term of the Master’s programme contains a mobility window. An important asset of our programme is that it is tailored to the needs of students who are working their way through university. We offer them course units scheduled in clusters on a limited number of days.
> direct admission
If necessary, students with a prior education in economics can make up for their lack of a medical background by means of specific electives.
> academic bridging programme
Holders of a professional Bachelor’s degree enter the Master’s programme only after successfully completing an academic bridging programme. This 60-credit curriculum contains basic sciences and research skills, introductory course units related to health care management and policy, as well as the general health care context. We build on the learning outcomes of the professional Bachelor's programme.
> Preparatory programme
For a number of academic Bachelor’s programmes you need to take a preparatory programme before accessing our Master (cf. admission requirements). Depending on your prior education, you will take an individualised curriculum. Holders of a Master’s degree in Health Promotion or Nursing and Midwifery are also admitted into our programme after taking a preparatory programme. A thorough review of your track records may lead to additional exemptions.
Labour Market
Due to the increasing professionalisation of health care management and policy positions, specific knowledge on health care management and policy has become an absolute necessity. The health care sector clamours for academically trained managers and policy staff. Our purpose is to give holders of a health care-related or management-related professional Bachelor’s degree, as well as holders of other academic Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees (Economics, Medicine) the skills and tools sets they need to take up middle and top management positions in health care institutions, or to help shape government policy.
In addition to health care institutions, our graduates find employment in the health care supply sector, e.g. at consultancy firms and pharmaceutical companies. Another significant sector are research departments and/or health care-related government administrations.
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
- Multiperspectivism: our programme delivers reflective practitioners who are able to take up management positions in a health care context. We teach our students the necessary skills to work in a creative, interdisciplinary and problem-solving manner. The interdisciplinary character of our programme is due to our students’ highly diverse education backgrounds, with professional and academic Bachelor’s degrees as well as Master's degrees, on the one hand, and professional experience vs. no professional experience on the other. Our course units are taught by lecturers from different departments and faculties. Each of our lecturers has demonstrable experience in discipline(s) that are relevant to our study programme.
- Talent development: depending on their prior education, our students take an academic bridging programme or one of various preparatory programmes. There they receive adequate study (track) counselling. We pay special attention to students working their way through university by offering them course units in clusters. This should make the combination of work and studies more feasible.
- Knowledge creation: our lecturers are highly qualified, motivated and involved. They teach our students to look for, manage and assess research evidence. Students learn how to apply research evidence in healthcare practice and welfare. This fosters an attitude of lifelong learning.
- Curriculum: our curriculum enables students to acquire the necessary competencies to carry out three roles, i.e. the role of scientist, manager, and professional. The Master's dissertation is the culmination of their efforts: students are given the opportunity to prove they have acquired the necessary competencies in an integrated manner.
- Integration of theory and practice: a considerable part of our curriculum consists of active teaching methods like group assignments and case studies. We hone our students’ critical thought, problem-solving skills and learning capacity, and keep them up to date with the newest international developments in the discipline.
Strengths
- Preparation and monitoring: we inform newly arriving students about the mission/vision and learning outcomes of our programme through various channels, such as information sessions and an introduction day. We map the profiles of our newly arriving students in order to tailor our study (track) counselling to their needs. We survey our alumni on the added value of our study programme.
- Our programme boasts a dedicated team of lecturers from various disciplines and faculties, who combine their research expertise with a passion for teaching and a continued enthusiasm to uphold the quality of their lectures. Various lecturers have practical experience in health care management and policy. We focus on immediate and intensive personal contact between our lecturers and our students.
- Active teaching methods: our students apply academic/scientific knowledge to healthcare management and policy in practice. For this purpose, we rely on active teaching methods, a Master's dissertation based on empirical research in a specific professional context, and guest lecturers from the professional field.
- Assessment: we monitor the quality of our assessment continuously to ensure that our assessment is in alignment with the learning outcomes and that our exit level is up to standards. Our students appreciate the fact that they are well-informed about the form and content of the assessments so that they clearly know what to expect when studying.
- Stakeholder involvement: an intensive co-operation with our stakeholders (partners) is crucial to achieving our goals. In addition to our lecturers, our students are our partners in realizing our mission and vision. By involving them, we want to give them a shared responsibility in their study career. Finally, we place great store by the social embedding of our programme. We achieve this through our resonance board by means of which we involve employers and alumni in the assessment and development of the programme.
Challenges
- Responding to the needs of students with different study backgrounds: our students’ widely varying study backgrounds make it a constant challenge to answer all their wishes and needs within the constraints of just one study programme. An important point to consider is to focus sufficiently on the different health care sectors. Students entering our Master’s programme directly (i.e. without having taken a prior bridging or preparatory programme) need special attention/coaching at the start of the academic year.
- Monitoring the Master's dissertation process more closely: we highly appreciate our students’ conducting empirical research in the context of their Master’s dissertation, and encourage them on that point. However, we have noticed that students tend to postpone their Master's dissertation. We are committed to address this problem together with the students.
- Although internationalization is part and parcel of our curriculum, these aspects are not always very visible in the course sheets. We need to make our students more aware of existing study-abroad opportunities.
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organization of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.
This information was last updated on 01/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.