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Health Economics and Decision Science MSc

London, Bloomsbury

Learn to use advanced quantitative techniques to address global health challenges, such as climate change, technological disruptions, growing inequality, and lack of access to medicines – on this one-year Health Economics and Decision Science MSc. You will work alongside our globally renowned researchers and gain access to extensive networking and career-building opportunities. 

UK students International students
Study mode
UK tuition fees (2025/26)
£18,400
£9,200
Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Overseas tuition fees (2025/26)
£33,000
£16,500
Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Duration
1 calendar year
2 calendar years
5 calendar years
Programme starts
September 2025
Applications accepted
Applicants who require a visa: 14 Oct 2024 – 27 Jun 2025
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 14 Oct 2024 – 29 Aug 2025
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A minimum of an upper second-class UK Bachelor's degree or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard in economics, statistics, mathematics or a related quantitative field such as epidemiology, engineering or physics.

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


Health economics and decision science is a growing field that spans the disciplines of economics, public health, epidemiology, and statistics. As people are living longer and health issues become more complex, there is a stronger need for specialists with advanced quantitative skills who can address the challenges of providing equitable access to cost-effective healthcare worldwide. 

Join us on this one-year MSc programme to gain practical expertise and skills in economics, public health, statistics, modelling, programming, research, policy development, and critical thinking – and be taught by UCL’s experts across various fields. The expertise you will gain will open career pathways in the pharmaceutical and consulting industries, government bodies, international organisations, think tanks, and academia.

As well as core modules in all the main foundational areas of health economics, you will also have the opportunity to focus more on advanced modelling or advanced applied health research, depending on where your interests lie.

Who this course is for

This programme is intended for applicants with a suitable qualification (see entry requirements) in economics, statistics, mathematics, or a related quantitative field such as epidemiology, engineering, or physics. Candidates with a background in medicine or allied health and social sciences may be considered if they can demonstrate quantitative proficiency in mathematics and/or statistics at the degree level, or through research and/or working experience.

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

What this course will give you

  • Benefit from teaching that is informed by cutting-edge research, and be able to conduct your own research, to get first-hand insights into the dynamic world of health economics in a global context.
  • Study at a university ranked 9th in the world (QS World University Rankings 2025), 6th in the world for public health (ShanghaiRanking’s 2023) and number one for research power and impact in medicine, health and life sciences (REF 2021).
  • Work with UCL’s renowned academics across multiple disciplines including economists, statisticians, epidemiologists, mathematicians and public health professionals.
  • You will have access to a highly interactive and engaging learning community of like-minded peers, researchers and academics (e.g. the UCL Health Economics Policy Lab), with regular networking for academic and professional development.
  • You will develop in-demand skills for your career and have access to opportunities drawing on our close links with consultancies, intergovernmental and government organisations, and academic institutions worldwide – including internships for select students.
Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

This MSc has been designed to fill a gap in training and skills that brings together expertise in economics, public health, epidemiology, and statistics.

Graduates have gone on to work for organisations like Ernst & Young, IQVIA, Public Health England, PwC, Nielsen and The Office of Health Economics*, and pursued doctoral studies in top universities such as UCL, Oxford, LSHTM, and the University of Pennsylvania.

*Graduate Outcomes survey carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), looking at the destinations of UK and EU graduates in the 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 cohorts.

Employability

Thanks to our strong links with industry and academia, and the high demand for skills in this area, graduates from this programme are highly sought after. You could take your skills into the pharmaceutical industry, government, international organisations, think tanks, consultancies or academia.

Networking

UCL Institute for Global Health (UCL IGH) students have priority access to academic events held throughout the year. This includes UCL's prestigious Lancet Lecture series which showcases leading global health scholars working on key public health issues. UCL hosts one of the largest communities of economists specialising in health and wellbeing in the UK and Europe, through the UCL Health Economics Policy Lab, offering students opportunities for academic supervision and networking. Students also have access to internal events, such as seminars and lunchtime lectures featuring the research of UCL IGH staff and doctoral candidates.

Teaching and learning

Teaching will be delivered using a wide range of methods including classroom teaching, peer-led seminars, online lectures and practical exercises, moderated debates, group exercises, and reading and writing tasks.

Meet the academics currently leading this programme on the UCL IGH website.

Assessments vary from written examinations to essays, portfolios, coursework, reports, and oral presentations.

Classes take place during business hours. Modules are delivered as blocks of study. The duration of modules ranges from four to eleven weeks.

With the exception of Health Systems in a Global Context, each core module in First Term is taught over 10 weeks and typically involves between 4 to 5.5 hours of contact per week (including lectures and tutorials). The Health Systems in a Global Context module is taught over a period of five weeks, with 5.5 contact hours per week. This results in a maximum total of 19 contact hours per week.

In addition, students are expected to spend at 3 hours per week per module on self-directed study, which includes reading, reviewing materials, and solving problem sets. Altogether, this amounts to approximately 31 hours per week (including contact hours and self-directed study) during First Term.

Optional modules are usually offered in different formats, and students must take three of these across Second and Third Term. The format can vary between a long format, involving 3 hours of contact time per week and at least 3 hours of self-directed study over 10 weeks, or a short, intensive format consisting of 3 to 4 weeks with at least 3 hours of teaching plus 6 hours of self-directed study per week.

Estimated time in dissertation supervision is around 20 hours (including group sessions and supervisor meetings).

Modules

For full-time students, you will undertake modules to the value of 180 credits, comprising eight taught modules worth 15 credits each and a substantive piece of student-led research that will carry 60 credits. You must undertake six compulsory modules and three optional modules. 

When completing your dissertation, you will investigate and apply health economics and decision science methods to real-world problems in global health research and present your findings in a written report.

The optional modules allow students to tailor their training to their academic interests, offering further specialisation in health economics, economic evaluation, modelling, statistics, public health and health policy, applied health research (in specific areas such as gender and health, urban health, or climate change and health), and programming software such as R and Python.

Students who are reading for this programme part-time are advised to take 90 credits each in their first and second year of study.

Students are encouraged to get in touch with one of the Course Directors to discuss their module choices before finalising their selection.

We recommend that students take modules in the following order to ensure that all pre-requisites are met or that threshold knowledge is consolidated before taking advanced modules:

  • Microeconomics for Health and Econometrics for Health must be taken before the optional module of Health Economics.
  • Statistics for Health Economics must be taken before any of the following optional modules: Bayesian Methods in Health Economics and Medical Statistics 2.
  • Economic Evaluation in Health Care must be taken before any of the following optional modules: Modelling for Decision Science and Advanced Economic Evaluation.
  • Dissertation module is required to be taken in their final year.

Students are encouraged to reach out to one of the Course Directors or Teaching Administrator for module selection advice before finalising their selection.

Compulsory modules








Optional 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 Health Economics and Decision Science.

Placement

A number of students will have the opportunity to undertake an industry placement over the summer. This will not be assessed as part of the programme and access to placements is voluntary and based on open competition.

Accessibility

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

Visit us

All open days and events

Online - Open day

Graduate Open Events: Health Economics and Decision Science MSc Information Session

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Join us at our virtual information sessions to learn about Master's degrees delivered by the UCL Institute for Global Health. In each session, you will hear an introduction to the programme and be able to ask your questions. If you cannot join for the full session length, you are welcome to drop-in, or out, at your convenience.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time Part-time
Tuition fees (2025/26) £18,400 £9,200
Tuition fees (2025/26) £33,000 £16,500

Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Where the programme is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

For Full-time and Part-time offer holders a fee deposit will be charged at 10% of the first year fee.

For flexible/modular offer holders a £500 fee deposit will be charged.

Further information can be found in the Tuition fee deposits section on this page: Tuition fees.

There may be additional costs should students choose to undertake primary data collection or fieldwork as part of the dissertation. These additional costs may include travelling, accommodation, translation services, etc. 

The institute offers several competitive travel bursaries each year to cover some of these costs.    

UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £114.50. This price was published by TfL in 2024. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

All applicants may apply for the UCL IGH Postgraduate Bursaries. 

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

African Graduate Scholarship

Deadline: TBC
Value: A substantial award towards fees and living costs (1 year)
Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need
Eligibility: EU, Overseas

Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme (CSSS)

Deadline: 12 December 2024
Value: Full fees, flights, stipend, and other allowances (1 year)
Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need
Eligibility: EU, Overseas

Institute for Global Health Postgraduate Bursary

Deadline: TBC
Value: £2,000 towards tuition fees) (Duration of study)
Criteria Based on financial need
Eligibility: UK, EU, Overseas

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. Further information can be found at Application fees.

When you apply, you will be required to provide a number of supporting documents including:

  • Academic transcript, personal statement and one reference. Details of the standard supporting documents you will need to provide can be found on the website, please read this carefully.
  • Curriculum vitae (CV)/resume. 
  • 500-word research proposal
  • While the English language requirement is not necessary for the initial application, you may receive a conditional offer contingent on you meeting this requirement - you should upload the relevant documents as soon as possible to avoid delays. More guidance can be found on the website. 

The personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match what the programme will deliver. When we assess your personal statement, we would like to learn:

  • Why you want to study Health Economics and Decision Science at graduate level.
  • What particularly attracts you to the Health Economics and Decision Science MSc at UCL.
  • How your academic and professional background meets the demands of this challenging programme.
  • Where you would like to go professionally with your degree.

Your 500-word dissertation research proposal outline should include:

  • the background to the issue you are researching;
  • the intended research question and objectives;
  • a description of evidence or data you could use;
  • and the methods you intend to use.

You might find it helpful to look at open access peer-reviewed academic papers to guide you with this task. However, be careful not to copy their wording as this would be considered plagiarism. We encourage you to summarise the available research evidence on the subject and use appropriate academic referencing throughout. During your time at UCL you will receive help in refining your topic and you will be able to change your topic if you have new ideas.

We reserve the right to close application early if the programme is full. Applicants are recommended to submit applications early.  

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: 2025-2026

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

Institute for Global Health
Institute for Global Health

igh.heds.information@ucl.ac.uk

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