Health MBA
Be at the cutting edge of health leadership. Make a difference as a health leader and achieve your bold purpose through our specialist MBA.
World #9
QS World University Rankings 2026World #3 for public health
ShanghaiRanking's 2024 Global Ranking of Academic SubjectsStart date
September 2025
Duration
12 months (full-time) or 24 months (part-time)
Cost
£45,000
Location
London, Stratford (UCL East)
Application deadline
27 June 2025 (visa required)
29 August 2025 (visa not required)
Lead at the forefront of health. Make a meaningful impact and realise your bold ambitions with our Health MBA programme. This one year in-person programme is designed for ambitious individuals who are determined to make a difference in the health sector.
Bringing together world class academia with practical business skills, as a UCL Health MBA candidate, you’ll gain the competencies of a traditional MBA, while homing in on the practical application healthcare management skills. More than that, through this programme, you’ll enhance your employability and earning potential, securing your place as a future changemaking healthcare leader.
The UCL Health MBA is designed for professionals seeking to lead and innovate in healthcare management. It can be completed full-time in 12 months or part-time over 24 months – the latter being especially suitable for those working in the NHS.

Director - Health MBA
I am proud to lead the MBA Health programme at UCL GBSH at a time when healthcare leadership demands more than clinical or operational excellence. The future of healthcare will be defined by those who can think strategically, lead across complex systems, and drive innovation with purpose. This programme empowers ambitious professionals to become transformational leaders - equipped with the business acumen, global perspective, and courage to lead health systems into the future.
Programme
The UCL Health MBA is designed to deliver a transformational learning experience that equips you with the skills, confidence, and insight to lead in today’s complex healthcare landscape. From day one, the programme blends academic rigour with practical application, offering a carefully structured journey that develops your leadership capabilities and deepens your understanding of global health systems. Key components of the programme include:
Your UCL Health MBA journey begins before classes even start, with a two-part onboarding experience designed to prepare you academically, professionally, and personally.
1. Online Primer Courses (Self-Paced)
Before the programme begins, you’ll complete a set of tailored, online courses based on your background. These may include:
- Fundamentals of Accounting, Finance and Economics
- Global Health and the Sustainable Development Goals
- Study Skills for MBA Success
- Time Management
These primers ensure you're fully prepared for the academic demands of the programme.
2. Two-Week Induction Programme
A comprehensive induction kicks off your MBA experience, including:
- A three-day residential retreat focused on personal development, leadership, and team-building
- Personality and career assessments
- Individual and group coaching with career experts and recruiters
- Goal setting and preparation for the Global Health Challenge
The induction is designed to foster a strong cohort identity, sharpen your leadership and teamwork skills, and help define your personal goals for the year ahead.
Together, these onboarding components lay the foundation for a transformative MBA experience.
Delivered in four immersive teaching blocks, the programme combines core business disciplines with healthcare-specific content. Each block spans four weeks of face-to-face teaching, covering three core themes, followed by a wrap-up week featuring real-world case studies and guest health experts.
- Block 1: Strategy, People and Marketing
- Block 2: Funding, Finance and Regulation
- Block 3: Data Driven Management
- Block 4: Contemporary Topics in Health and Healthcare
Between blocks, students complete readings, assignments, and preparation through online materials.
The Global Health Challenge is the capstone experience of the UCL Health MBA, designed to bring together everything you’ve learned throughout the programme. Working in diverse teams, you’ll tackle a real-world health issue in a low- or middle-income country through a year-long project culminating in a two-week fieldwork experience abroad in January.
What You’ll Do:
- Collaborate in cross-functional teams to research and address a major healthcare challenge
- Apply business and management tools across strategy, leadership, finance, marketing, and project management
- Conduct fieldwork, gather primary data, and develop actionable, evidence-based solutions
- Present findings to peers, faculty, and global health professionals
Key Features:
- Begins during induction with assessments to form high-performing, well-balanced project teams
- Projects may cover topics like healthcare supply chain bottlenecks, NGO budget analysis, health policy implementation, or introducing health innovations
- Supported by UCL's leading academics with regular supervision and field guidance
- Aims to deliver both professional development and meaningful global health impact
This immersive experience gives you the opportunity to drive real change, develop advanced leadership and collaboration skills, and leave a lasting mark in global health.
In your final term, you’ll undertake a consultancy project with a real client in the health sector – an opportunity to apply your learning to a challenge or opportunity that aligns with your career goals.
Project Highlights:
- Work independently or in a small team to deliver solutions for a healthcare client
- Identify, design, and execute a consultancy brief shaped with your client
- Apply research, strategy, and consultancy skills developed throughout the programme
- Deliver tangible outcomes while enhancing your professional capabilities
The project begins at the end of Term 2 with workshops and one-to-one career coaching to help match you with the right client and project. You'll be supported by an academic supervisor and meet regularly with both them and your client throughout Term 3.
What You’ll Gain:
- Practical experience managing a consultancy project in the health sector
- Expertise in client engagement, project structuring, and evidence-based problem solving
- Enhanced research, communication, and stakeholder management skills
This capstone experience prepares you to transition confidently into leadership roles in healthcare and consulting.
Careers
Earning the UCL Health MBA from the UCL Global Business School for Health positions you as a future leader in healthcare management. This programme is designed not only to enhance your earning potential, but to equip you with the skills and insight to drive meaningful change in the global health sector. From day one, your personal and professional growth is our priority.
Students work with NHS trusts, clinics, hospitals, consultants, national health institutes, and a range of other high-impact healthcare organisations.
You’ll receive personalised career guidance through:
- Psychometric leadership profiling to shape your leadership style
- One-to-one coaching and a dedicated personal tutor
- Career workshops, job boards, and networking events focused on roles in health, consultancy, and executive leadership
You’ll also have full access to UCL Careers Service and UCL Innovation & Enterprise, giving you the tools, resources, and connections to meet your career ambitions.
We’re committed to helping you build the confidence, skills, and network to thrive in a rapidly evolving global health landscape.
Faculty
The UCL Global Business School for Health faculty are world leading industry experts and healthcare management innovators.
Frequently asked questions
Please read all the information available on the UCL prospectus before making an application.
Admissions
We expect applicants to demonstrate a UK minimum of an upper second-class degree (2:1) or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. Graduates without the relevant degree classification but with extensive relevant work experience are welcome to apply and will be considered on an individual basis.
There are several items to include with your application upon submission:
- A personal statement
- Two references
- Your updated resume/CV
- Full academic transcripts
- Application fee (£90)
- IELTS (or suitable equivalent) English proficiency score
- GMAT/GRE exam score
The personal statement has a limit of 3000 characters, including spaces. Alternatively, you can upload your personal statement as an additional document. In this case, it is advised for the personal statement to be no more than two pages.
Yes, applicants must have a IELTS score at level 6.5 or above, with no area less than 6.0 in the sub-tests. You can apply to this course without your IELTS, but you will only be able to receive a conditional offer until we receive proof of your IELTS score.
Find out more about the English language tests scores UCL accepts
Yes, you can. Whilst there are English language test requirements for the Health MBA, you can submit your application without the test results. However, without IELTS (or equivalent) results, only a conditional offer will be made until you submit your IELTS results.
Yes, at the final stage of the selection process, candidates who meet all other entry requirements and are considered the most competitive will be interviewed to ensure they understand the demands of the programme and are a good fit for this MBA.
The application period opens in autumn for those wishing to join a programme of study in the next academic year.
There is currently an application processing fee for this programme of £90.
We advise you to include the following in your personal statement:
- Why you want to study our Health MBA and what your objectives are upon completion of the programme
- What particularly attracts you to this programme of study (it’s content and the opportunities it offers)
- How your personal, academic and professional background has prepared and qualified you for the demands of this challenging course
- Where you would like to go professionally through and after this programme of study
We require a well-balanced GMAT score or a valid GRE Score which we consider to be 550 and above.
Find out more about the GMAT scores and assessment process
We will consider a waiver of the GMAT score. To be considered for a waiver, you need to demonstrate exceptional academic performance and evidence of strong quantitative skills.
To request a waiver, provide both:
- A copy of your academic transcripts detailing modules taken and grades achieved
- CV
Requests should be sent to mbaadmissionsgbsh@ucl.ac.uk before you submit your MBA application and we will review on a case by case basis.
If you do not qualify for a waiver, you are required to submit a valid GMAT or GRE score as part of your application.
It is not possible to submit an application once the application deadline has passed. Applications can be submitted up to 5pm (BST) on the deadline date advertised. If you have missed the deadline you would only be able to submit an application for the next admissions cycle which opens in the Autumn.
Applications are considered on a rolling basis and, therefore, may close earlier than the advertised deadline. As we expect to receive a large number of high-quality applications, we advise that you apply as early as possible after the date applications open. A programme will be closed as soon as it is full or by the general deadline for applications.