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Biotech and Pharmaceutical Management MSc

London, Stratford (UCL East)

Embrace one of the fastest paced sectors in health through this cutting edge Master’s programme that focuses on the business and management of biotechnology and pharmaceutical ventures.

UK students International students
Study mode
UK tuition fees (2024/25)
£19,300
£9,650
Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Overseas tuition fees (2024/25)
£34,400
£17,200
Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Duration
1 calendar year
2 calendar years
5 calendar years
Programme starts
September 2024
Applications accepted
Applicants who require a visa: 16 Oct 2023 – 28 Jun 2024
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 16 Oct 2023 – 30 Aug 2024
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

An upper second-class UK Bachelor's degree in a health, science, business or economics related subject 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.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 2

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree


This leading-edge programme brings business together with biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. It has been crafted by academics and industry experts at the world’s first business school dedicated to health. Taught from a global top 10 university, the Biotech and Pharmaceutical Management MSc offers a unique opportunity to learn from the best in the sector and secure your future employability.

With an ever-growing need for the development of new drugs in response to emerging global medical issues, applying a business mindset to this area of health is increasingly vital. The Biotech and Pharmaceutical Management MSc equips students with managerial tools that are needed to bring biotechnology and pharmaceutical innovations to the highly regulated markets. Moreover, this programme teaches students an advanced level of the interactions between business and science in this field. Bringing together the expertise of both the UCL Global Business School for Health (UCL GBSH) and UCL’s other cross-disciplinary centres including the UCL Institute of Clinical Trials and Methodology, participants on the programme gain crucial insights from multiple perspectives. With content bound together by the pharmacoeconomics discipline, the programme also includes important information on regulations and market access. Bringing this action learning environment to life, students have the opportunity to take an idea for a drug or biotech product from the trials stage to business case. 

This programme is taught from UCL’s state-of-the-art bespoke facilities on our UCL East campus, on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London. The UCL Global Business School for Health is situated in the Marshgate building with access to hi-tech teaching areas and collaboration spaces, a library, and a refectory. 

Who this course is for

Our Biotech and Pharmaceutical Management MSc programme is ideal for individuals who envisage a career that spans across biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, business, and entrepreneurship. This versatile degree is ideal for a range of individuals who want to work in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical world, from start-ups right through to established corporations. You may be a new or recent graduate in a health or science field, or have a PhD or lab experience, and want to gain skills in the business side of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Or you may already work in the biotechnology/pharmaceuticals industry or a consultancy firm but wish to cross over into management and leadership positions with ambitions to bring specialist knowledge to your clients.

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

The Biotech and Pharmaceutical Management MSc is an ideal programme for individuals who wish to run a successful start-up in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical sector, or for those who want to bring an innovative skillset to future employers in a biotechnology or pharmaceutical business.

Building on UCL’s longstanding health credentials – with health spanning across every faculty in the university – the UCL Global Business School for Health (UCL GBSH) has created a unique learning environment for individuals who want to thrive in their roles in the global health economy. Bringing together world-renowned academics in health and business, UCL GBSH is committed to disrupting and reimagining global healthcare by cultivating a new generation of changemaking leaders and innovators.

Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

Many Biotech and Pharmaceutical Management MSc graduates secured jobs and internships at different companies in UK, Europe and globally. For example, graduates were offered jobs at Cleveland clinic, consultancy firms and generic and principal global pharmaceutical companies. The employers were impressed with the knowledge and skills that graduates gained from the course.  

Employability

You will enjoy a solid foundation in your understanding of the interconnections between biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and business. In particular, you will develop an ability to think with an entrepreneurial mindset, identifying opportunities for products, solutions and inventions that come from healthcare research. You will gain practical skills in relation to different measures for biotechnology and pharmaceutical costs and outcomes, and acquire a detailed understanding of pharmacoeconomic techniques including Cost-Benefit Analysis, Cost-Effective Analysis, Cost-Utility Analysis, Cost-Minimisation Analysis, and Cost-Consequence Analysis. This is underpinned by a critical understanding of the ethical, legal and regulatory factors linked with biotech and pharma business development.

Your career is the focus of workshops and discussions during an enhanced induction at the start of the programme, and is revisited throughout the degree. You will also build contacts and networks with a variety of experts, industry leaders, and colleagues throughout your time with us.

Paths to work after this programme

  • Start-up companies in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical sector.
  • Public, private or non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical space.
  • Biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and business specialisms in professional services, e.g. accountancy, insurance or legal firms.
  • Government and public bodies.

Networking

MSc Biotech and Pharmaceutical Management programme offers the opportunity to engage with experts. GBSH offers a Health Executives in Residence (HEiR) programme to advise and empower our students to enhance their knowledge of career options, develop their self-awareness and their ability to reach their potential, whilst sharing their experience, expertise, and knowledge of the challenges which senior Health Executives face in driving forward healthcare improvements. You will also have an industry mentor who will be allocated to you to give you insights about business case writing and how to develop your communication skills. 

Teaching and learning

Module teaching is primarily in the form of attended lectures and seminars across Terms 1 and 2. Weekly group tutorials will allow in-group discussions, encourage informal learning, and discuss the materials that are covered in the weekly recorded lectures.

An ongoing seminar session will focus on informal case-based presentations and discussions related to module content to demonstrate and develop presentation skills and critical thinking.

Module consolidation seminars involving problem or case-based presentations that are related to module content to test knowledge and understanding and provide formative feedback to be given in advance of summative assessment.

Project development workshops allow for investigative, analytical, synthesis and data interrogation skills to be developed, while being put into practice as you advance your business and research projects.

In Term 3, you will embark on the final part of your business project which you will pull together with colleagues having completed much of the research and analysis for the report and presentation. You will also finish your individual desk-based research project at this stage.

You and your project team will assemble your data, case and conclusions with the assistance of an industry mentor and academic supervisor. This approach will provide you with an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills you have developed in the programme into a project that you will have to take forward or highlight to potential employers as proof of your business acumen.

Written exams – these will test your knowledge of and ability to analyse various case studies and scenarios and you will demonstrate your ability to apply that knowledge.
Coursework essays – these will allow you to demonstrate your organisation of knowledge and understanding to develop cohesive arguments.
Presentations – you will demonstrate the ability to select, synthesise and communicate information for varied audiences/purposes, using a variety of media, through both group and individual projects.
Business project – you will demonstrate and further enhance your project management, business planning and design, budget forecasting, strategy development and marketing skills along with an understanding of stakeholder engagement.
Research project – the research project will hone your research analysis, literature review, critical appraisal, structured research writing and presentation of argument skill set. 
Enhanced research skills – you will learn how to model health based hypotheses, literature reviews and practical analysis of results.
Health and Business case written analysis – you will establish identification of need, challenges of buy-in, legal ramifications of development, obstacles and ethics through business and academic orientation.
Business presentation – through this you will gain communications skills and the ability to be targeted, persuasive and professionally interrogate current knowledge and understanding with the capacity to take existing knowledge to new scenarios.
 

Face-to-Face attended sessions and online directed learning form typically 15 to 18 hours per week in terms 1 and 2, and there is considerable independent reading and recorded lectures study expected through the module delivery period and in the identified revision weeks.

Modules

The MSc Biotech and Pharmaceutical programme offers you an opportunity to develop a breadth of understanding of what the Biotech and Pharma business landscape involves particularly in regards to various health systems and approaches to therapeutics.

The programme is designed to give you an appreciation of these complex and fast-changing sectors and is delivered during terms one and two in seven modules. You will receive in the first term a grounding in clinical trials and statistics coupled with the extensive regulatory frameworks that the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors operate within. 

In term two, you will focus on grasping and synthesising the key business issues and opportunities such as commercialisation, supply chain and drug management. All students on this programme will be engaged in a group business project that involves analysing and stakeholder mapping a drug or biotech product from trials to the business case and pitch. 

Throughout the 12-months, students will also work on two projects, and term three is dedicated to completing this project work and consolidating learning from terms one and two

There will be several milestones that will form part of the formative assessments to help students develop their projects along with workshops in term 1 and 2. You will also have industry mentors for your projects. The final output will be a business plan/report with presentation.

For the 2024/25 entry, students will choose between two optional modules: Commercialisation of Research Ideas and Initiating a Pharmaceutical Start-Up.

The two-year part-time structure consists of 180 credits. Students take 90 credits in year 1 and year 2.

For the 2024/25 entry, students will choose between two optional modules: Commercialisation of Research Ideas and Initiating a Pharmaceutical Start-Up.

The mod/flex structure gives students the flexibility to take 180 credits worth of modules over 2-5 years. Students can choose as many or as few modules as they wish each year.

Compulsory modules











Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MSc in Biotech and Pharmaceutical Management.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble accessable.co.uk. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing team.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time Part-time
Tuition fees (2024/25) £19,300 £9,650
Tuition fees (2024/25) £34,400 £17,200

Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.

Additional costs

This programme is based at the UCL East campus in Stratford. The optional modules for 24/25 entry, of which you will select one, are taught at the Bloomsbury campus: Commercialisation of Research Ideas (BENG0008) and Initiating a Pharmaceutical Start-Up (PHAY0030). Students will need to fund their own travel between the Bloomsbury and UCL East campuses for the face-to-face components of these modules. A one-way journey on the underground will cost either £2.80 or £3.40 depending on the time of travel.

For more information on additional costs for prospective students please go to our estimated cost of essential expenditure at Accommodation and living costs.

Funding your studies

UCL GBSH scholarships available for students:

The GBSH Women Healthcare Leaders Scholarships are for female students who demonstrate leadership potential. The recipients of these scholarships will also be provided with leadership coaching and high impact leadership training as part of their scholarship.

The Global Healthcare Leaders Scholarships is for students from either the UK, Africa, Asia and South America who show exceptional leadership potential in their fields, and who want to make a difference in healthcare.

The East London Healthcare Leaders Scholarships are for students who live or work in East London and are keen to make a difference for their local community.

For eligibility criteria and details of the application process and deadlines please visit the scholarships section of the UCL GBSH website.

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

UCL East London Scholarship

Deadline: 20 June 2024
Value: Tuition fees plus £15,700 stipend ()
Criteria Based on financial need
Eligibility: UK

Next steps

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

There is an application processing fee for this programme of £90 for online applications and £115 for paper applications. Further information can be found at Application fees.

When reviewing MSc in Biotech and Pharmaceutical Management applications, we will assess your eligibility for the programme based on a combination of your academic credentials, any relevant work experience, personal statement, and references. We are looking for applications from ambitious individuals who want to become the next leaders in the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors.

When we assess your application we would like to learn:

  • why you want to study Biotech and Pharmaceutical Management at graduate level
  • why you want to study the Biotech and Pharmaceutical Management MSc at UCL and what your objectives are
  • What particularly attracts you to the chosen programme (content and opportunities)
  • How your academic, professional and personal background has prepared and qualified you for the demands of this challenging programme
  • Where you would like to go professionally through and after this programme.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2024-2025

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

Global Business School for Health
Global Business School for Health

admissionsgbsh@ucl.ac.uk

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