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Health MBA

London, Stratford (UCL East)

UK students International students

Study mode

UK tuition fees (2024/25)

£45,000

£22,500

Overseas tuition fees (2024/25)

£45,000

£22,500

Duration

1 calendar year

2 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

A minimum of an upper second-class UK Bachelor’s degree 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. At least three years’ postgraduate professional experience is also required. Applicants are expected to have a well-balanced GMAT score or a valid GRE score. All candidates will be interviewed to assure they understand the demands of the programme and are a good fit for this specialism in health.

GMAT Waiver

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.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 1

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 is a transformational programme designed and delivered by the world’s first business school dedicated to health. Our MBA Health programme, taught at a global top 10 university, offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity to realise your exceptional ambitions in health leadership.

We bring together world-class academia with practical business skills to enable you to gain the knowledge, skills, and attributes of a traditional MBA graduate with solid application of theories and tools to the health sector. This is a competitive programme with global relevance. It will enhance your employability and earnings potential, securing your place as a future changemaker and health leader.

Health and healthcare are in the global spotlight, and the transformation of healthcare delivery is widely needed. Now is the time to gain a qualification that will help you to engage meaningfully in the sector and to make positive impacts. Our MBA Health programme provides solid foundations to improve the quality of health and healthcare management and leadership in public, private, and not-for-profit organisations globally for high-quality outcomes.

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 MBA Health programme is designed for ambitious individuals who are determined to become exceptional leaders in health and healthcare. You may be a manager, clinician, business specialist or medical consultant looking to elevate your career in the public or private health sector. You could have some experience in healthcare management or leadership, with ambitions to lead at a higher level. You may also be a professional with a little work experience in any sector, intent on pivoting your career direction via this MBA Health degree. Our MBA Health degree is a highly competitive international programme for any individual who thinks they have what it takes to embrace top positions in healthcare management to make a difference to global health outcomes.

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

What this course will give you

Achieving an MBA Health degree from UCL Global Business School for Health will set you apart. As it is a specialist MBA fully focusing on health, you will gain all the competencies and attributes of a traditional MBA while honing the practical application of skills in healthcare management. We see this programme as part of your journey to boost not only your earnings potential but to make a real difference to the global health sector. Your personal and professional journey is at the forefront as we support your career, promotion, and network building throughout the MBA Health programme.

Ultimately, we expect graduates of the UCL MBA Health programme to become the world's most distinguished health sector leaders. Prior to starting the degree, you will be invited to complete a set of fully online self-paced primer courses. These provide you with a solid grounding to undertake the MBA Health Programme. Courses include economics, finance, and accounting.

There is a one-week induction prior to the start of term focused on personal development, organisational behaviour, and team building. There is also a three-day residency off-campus with personal and group development, personality and career assessment testing, and career coaching.

The three-day residential school is designed to help you build a sense of belonging and cohort identity and to introduce you to the MBA Health experience. Most importantly, it provides you uninterrupted space to learn more about yourself, your leadership style, and teamwork skills as you begin to create your personal MBA Health journey and experience.

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

The foundation of your career

Previous graduates from the programme have successfully secured work in edtech start-ups, medical insurance firms in the Middle East, gained internal promotions, and engaged in mergers and acquisitions in their own businesses, as well as experiences in management consultancy and big pharma.

Employability

Graduates of the MBA Health programme can expect to have:

An enhanced understanding of the intersection between health and business.
Substantial research and analytical skills that can be specifically applied to health and business leadership.
A detailed understanding of how health systems and enterprises globally are managed and lead in a rapidly changing environment.
Highly developed professional skills, with a focus on change and innovation in health and healthcare.
Well-honed written and verbal communication skills to support information and data management.
The capacity to identify business opportunities arising from healthcare research.
Important knowledge about the ethical, legal, and regulatory issues associated with bringing health innovations to market.
A keen awareness of your professional ambitions and skillsets, along with networks of colleagues and health leaders that will last a lifetime.
A mindset embracing innovation, nurtured by experiential learning and real-world examples used in teaching at UCL GBSH.
An appreciation of teamwork and collaboration for problem-solving and delivering equality, diversity, and inclusion in healthcare settings.

Career Support throughout your programme

You will receive tailored career support from day one of the MBA Health programme. Through a psychometric leadership profiling process you will develop your leadership style and follow your individual professional growth plans. You will have access to a personal tutor and one-to-one career coaching to help you navigate your career strategies from consultancy to C-suite roles in health, healthcare management, and business. You will also be able to choose mentors from the health executives in residence. Across the academic year, you will tap into a full programme of events, job boards, resources, and career workshops supporting the entire recruitment processes for MBA-related positions.

Networking

MBA Health students regularly network with a wide range of guest speakers at all levels from leading organisations, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, executives, and chairs of boards as well as overseas academics. There are site visits, networking events, and field study visits which broaden personal and professional networks.

Teaching and learning

You will be expected to prepare for each week of face-to-face instruction through a series of online activities and readings. Your face-to-face experiences are offered in four-week blocks. You will cover three themes – one per week and then have your wrap-up week with health professionals. There will always be a break between blocks for you to reflect, complete assignments, and prepare for the next block.

You will also be expected to present some of your work both as an individual and as a team member to other class members and visiting experts. The focus will be on giving you core theory learning, but more importantly application of theory through case teaching, teamwork, and projects.

Weekly group tutorials allow for more detailed discussion and consideration of the material covered in lectures and case presentations.

Module consolidation seminars involve problem or case-based presentations relating to module content.

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

Types of assessment undertaken on the programme will include written exams, coursework essays, presentations, the Global Health Challenge and Health Consultant project, and health and business case written analysis.

Teaching blocks are delivered face-to-face in person from 1 - 6 pm every weekday during the first two terms for four weeks each. There is considerable independent reading and recorded lecture study expected through the module delivery period and in the identified revision weeks.

Modules

: The MBA Health core content is delivered in four blocks. Each block cluster develops an understanding and application of business disciplines. They require you to develop specific knowledge and skills on themed business and management topics aligned with core MBA learning. Each block is brought together in a wrap-up week where the topics come alive through real-world scenarios and case studies presented and discussed with health experts in appropriate fields and roles. These blocks are team-taught by experts to make sure that the module comes together for you and there will always be a break between blocks for you to reflect, complete assignments, and prepare for the next block.

The final block of the programme comprises selected health themes to assist you in exploring specific challenges and opportunities currently faced by the health sector. Given that this module focuses on contemporary issues and opportunities, the themes of the various weeks may change over time.

In January you will travel with your academic staff member and project group colleagues to the location you will be working on for your Global Health Challenge. This two-week immersive experience of undertaking primary research and collecting data and information to complete your project is an integral part of giving you practical skills and experience that will enhance your career outcomes.

In Term 3, you embark on the final part of your programme by working with an identified organisation on a health consultancy project that will form a report that will be presented to the organisation as well as submitted as your final assessment. This opportunity will provide you with hands-on experience of consulting on a specific health/business challenge. It will enable you to integrate what you have learned across the academic year and apply your insights to work.
: You will study over two academic years. During this time, content will be delivered across four blocks and each block cluster will be compatible with business disciplines and require you to develop specific knowledge and skills on themed business and management topics aligned with core MBA learning. Each block is brought together in a wrap-up week where the topics come alive through real-world scenarios and case studies presented and discussed with health experts in appropriate fields and roles. You will complete the Global Health Challenge project in the first year and the Health Consultant Project during the second year.

Compulsory modules

Strategy, People and Marketing

Funding, Finance and Regulation

Data Driven Management

Contemporary Topics in Health and Healthcare

Global Health Challenge

Health Consultant

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 210 credits. Upon successful completion of 210 credits, you will be awarded an MBA in Health.

Fieldwork

Global Health Challenge
Through the Global Health Challenge, you will learn the importance of team dynamics and collaboration for identifying health issues and finding solutions. It brings your learning across your MBA Health programme together through an overseas project in a low- or middle-income or developing country. It will require you to use key tools of business and management that you have acquired across the programme in fields such as strategy, project management, finance, marketing and leadership together. This group project involves conceptualising issues, undertaking fieldwork, researching solutions, and working as a diverse team to find solutions to the question you are exploring. You will learn how to present and communicate your findings as part of the learning on this capstone experiential learning component of your programme.

This experience will begin as soon as you arrive at GBSH. As part of your induction, you will take a number of assessments that will support to place you in the most appropriate project team.

This project is designed to give you experiential learning by allowing you to work on a current health problem in a low- or middle-income or developing country to find a solution. This contextualised approach with a two-week fieldwork experience in January will allow you and your teammates to experience what it is like to undertake research in a low- or middle-income country as you develop your project management skills.
This project aims to provide you with:

In-depth knowledge of a specific area of health and healthcare in the context of low- and middle-income countries
Appropriate use of business and leadership skills acquired across your MBA Health programme to solve real-world health challenges.

Health Consultant Project
In your final term of the programme, you will have the opportunity to connect with the health sector in an area that will help shape your career. You will bring together what you have learnt across the programme into a consultancy project working for a health sector client. This piece of work is an opportunity for you to work independently or in a small group depending on the project to shape and engage on a problem or opportunity that needs addressing by the health client. This project may include an enhanced synthesis of the literature, practice, or applied research. The ambition is to identify and shape the project with your client and develop your academic and professional skills for personal and professional development while delivering tangible outcomes for the client. You will begin to work on the project at the end of term two through a focused workshop and individual work with a career coach to ensure you get the right fit in terms of project and client for your future aspirations.

The consultancy project will be delivered primarily through supported independent project work. This consultancy project is primarily student-centred learning. You will have developed your consultancy skills via a series of lectures and workshops delivered in term two. Key skills, methodologies, critical paradigms, and approaches to consultancy in practice will have been covered in your other modules and through workshops. These topics will come alive for you as you work on this client-driven project. There will also be training in database searching to assist you with any desk-based work to your project.
The project aims to provide you with:

In-depth knowledge of how to undertake effective consultancy projects in the health sector
Appropriate research and reviewing skills required for a successful project experience
Knowledge and skills on how to manage client expectations and engagement.

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)	£45,000	£22,500
Tuition fees (2024/25)	£45,000	£22,500

Additional costs

You are required to pay for the cost of return travel to the destination where they are undertaking their Global Health Challenge. You must also pay for your accommodation in country but all food and on the ground transport will be covered.

If you require a visa for the duration of your stay, you will also need to cover this cost.

We have a range of scholarship and funding options which can be put towards covering the costs of your Global Health Challenge field trip.

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

The UCL Global Business School for Health has three types of scholarship options available for applicants on the MBA Health programme:

The MBA Health Future Impact Leaders Scholarships are for those applying to the MBA Health who plan to take back the knowledge gained from their period of study and make a real difference in the society of their home country.

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 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.

When we assess your application we would like to learn:

why you want to study for the MBA Health programme
why you want to study at UCL
what particularly attracts you to the chosen programme
how your academic and professional background meets the demands of this challenging programme
your professional plans following graduation.

Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match what the programme will deliver.

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.

This programme requires two references. Further information regarding references can be found on this Selecting your references page.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.