World’s First B-School For Healthcare Management Launches New Courses

After its initial launch last year and enrolling its first MBA cohort just this fall, the UCL Global Business School for Health has recently announced two new programs for health-focused professionals – a doctorate in business administration and a new course geared to working executives.

UCL Global Business School, launched by University College London East in September 2021, bills itself as the world’s first business school dedicated to health. It hopes to position itself as the leader in health-focused management education at a time when the COVID pandemic continues to impact healthcare access, delivery, and outcomes around the world.

It enrolled its inaugural 12-month MBA Health cohort this September at a cost of £45,000 (about $60,500).

Its latest course announcements enhance a program offering that will include a portfolio of executive education, Master’s programs such as Health Policy and Practice, and an MSc in Digital Health and Entrepreneurship and others.

DOCTORATE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (DBA) HEALTH

The school’s DBA Health is designed for health sector leaders from senior management backgrounds or entrepreneurs with business experience. The program will be flexible to allow working professionals to stay in their current jobs.

The first cohort will begin in September 2023, and applications are currently open. Ideal candidates will have around seven years of work experience and may have already completed an MBA or MSc degree.

Some people overlook the perks of an DBA, conflating it with a PhD or opting for an MBA supplemented with executive education later on, says Nora Colton, school director.

“This is unfortunate because the skills and knowledge they could obtain through a DBA, done part-time alongside their professional career, is invaluable for the complex world we live in today. Health professionals are a group for which a DBA could make such a career difference,” she says.

“There are several goals for a DBA graduate. One of the most important will be to obtain substantial research and analytical skills to use when designing projects and applying research methodologies for using an evidence-based approach to inform decisions. In a sector such as health, these skills are invaluable, along with conceptualizing, designing, and implementing health projects.”

EXEC ED: LEADING & MANAGING HEALTH INNOVATION

UCL Global Business School for Health is also launching a new executive education course beginning in April 2023.

Leading and Managing Health Innovation is a six-week program that equips leaders to develop solutions to pressing health challenges through the principles of design thinking and multidisciplinary skill sets.

Program lead, Charlotte Wu, MD, MSc, draws from her experience as a primary care doctor and helping organizations around the world innovate to solve problems. She is the founder of Harness Health Global.

“In the wake of the pandemic, there is an urgent need for innovation that will dramatically impact the quality of care for people around the world,” Wu says. “Creating real change requires strengthening the cohort of health leaders who have the vision, leadership, and capabilities to empower a broad set of stakeholders, many of whom have been worn down by the current systems.”

Students will study human-centered design, UX research, QI methodology, and project management while strengthening their leadership skills for healthcare teams. The format includes a series of facilitated sessions, exercises tailored to their organizations, take-home tools, and case studies in health innovation.

Cost is £1,800, or about $2,200. Register or learn more here.

The program is one of eight courses in the school’s growing portfolio. Other courses include topics such as Value-Based Healthcare, Leading Change, and Leveraging Technology for Social Care. Learn more here.

FIRST MBA HEALTH COHORT BEGAN THIS FALL

In October, UCL Global Business School for Health welcomed about 300 students across its various programs to its campus in London for the first time. That included its first cohort of its MBA Health. The school expects cohorts of about 35 MBA students, it says on its website.

Its 2022 cohort is 69% female, 72% underrepresented minorities, and come from 13 different countries.

The school is also accepting applications to a new 24-month Executive MBA Health, with both part-time and flexible/modular formats. Much of the program will be delivered virtually with an annual health systems residential week, according to the program’s website. It costs the same as its MBA program.

“I think this is where business schools will go and need to go .. We’ve got to be able to develop health professionals, but moreover health leaders,” said Colton, the school’s director, upon its launch last fall.

“And we need leaders who can be system thinkers, innovators, problem solvers. But most importantly we need people who can break the barriers that often exist in health care between different professional groups, to really reinvent health care management.”

DON’T MISS: THIS IS THE WORLD’S FIRST B-SCHOOL DEDICATED TO HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT AND THE B-SCHOOL WHERE MBA GENDER PARITY IS AN ANNUAL EVENT