UCL Global Business School for Health to help improve access to safe, affordable healthcare for all

The new UCL Global Business School for Health – the world’s first business school dedicated to health – will improve healthcare management and delivery through its world-leading teaching and research.

The health sector is growing and healthcare goods and services currently account for almost 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) globally. However, many healthcare systems struggle to provide adequate care for the very people they are designed to help.

“Giving more people access to better healthcare is a key part of reducing inequality and tackling poverty globally,” explains Professor Nora Ann Colton, Director of UCL’s newly established Global Business School for Health (GBSH).

Many national healthcare systems are disjointed, fragile and inefficient, and the disparities are greatest in low- and middle-income countries, and countries affected by conflict. The GBSH was established in 2021 to deliver research and teaching that will help achieve universal access to high-quality, safe and affordable healthcare.

The UCL GBSH’s flagship course is the MBA Health, which provides managers, clinicians and health business specialists with the transformative skills of an MBA graduate. The school also offers other Master’s courses to give students the competencies and skills they need to lead the way in healthcare management locally and globally. These include its MSc in Digital Health & Entrepreneurship, on which students learn the foundations of digital health and enterprise and take an idea for a health innovation through to developing a business case.

““Through our teaching, we will train a new generation of professionals uniquely equipped to question and transform healthcare systems for the public good.”

World-class academics across UCL’s faculties are working with industry partners at the GBSH to provide a unique learning experience for the next generation of health-sector leaders. The school also benefits from links with UCL Partners, a network in which clinical academics work alongside 23 NHS hospital trusts, 20 clinical commissioning groups and nine other universities, giving it access to a highly diverse patient population of more than six million people.

Students will contribute to research and acquire the skills and attributes needed to apply disruptive leadership in public and private sectors relating to healthcare innovations and management. 

The school’s research themes explore how healthcare can be better financed, how new health technologies can support behaviour change and what changes are needed to develop a sustainable healthcare workforce. Current research projects include investigating whether wearable technologies can encourage behaviour change to healthier lifestyles and how digital technologies are perceived by people in different demographic groups and cultures.

“Through our novel research, the school will define the fiscal, civic and clinical structures needed to support innovative universal healthcare approaches across the world,” says Professor Colton. “And through our teaching, we will train a new generation of professionals uniquely equipped to question and transform healthcare systems for the public good.”

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