For World Health Day, we explore the specialised programmes available at business schools that are enabling healthcare professionals and others working within healthcare to address challenges facing the sector, now and into the future.

Kingston Business School in London offers the Leadership and Management in Health course, which can be completed as an MSc, MSc top-up, Postgraduate Certificate, or Postgraduate Diploma. Regardless of the specific path chosen, the course is entirely remote. Students can learn from teaching staff with practical experience working within the healthcare sector, and content is applicable to public, private, and voluntary sectors in the UK and internationally.

Also, taking advantage of the flexibility that remote study allows students, Sheffield Business School offers an Online MBA Healthcare Management. This is comprised of three courses designed to help students gain an in-depth understanding of healthcare policy and procedures, leadership and administration, and how to manage innovation and change in a healthcare setting.

As well as MSc and MBA programmes, schools are also providing healthcare-focused Executive Education: Starting April 2025, Imperial College Business School Executive Education in London is launching Nutrition For Health: Evidence-Based Tools and Strategies in partnership with Emeritus, tackling societal relationships with food and nutrition.

The programme has been designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge to understand the physiological, scientific, and practical relationship that people have with food, and teach them how to use this knowledge to create a healthier future.

Dr. Federica Amati, Medical Scientist and Registered Public Health Nutritionist, who will lead the curriculum, says, “The need to better understand and manage societal health has never been more important, whether it’s healthcare providers facing increased constraints, a rapidly expanding, ageing population straining resources, or modern lifestyle choices harming public health. There is a need to bridge the gap between evidence-based nutritional science and real-world.”

Blending theory with real cases

Elsewhere in London, in association with IE Business School, King’s Business School has launched the Advanced Leadership Programme in Healthcare Management, an executive short course for senior healthcare professionals. Designed to address the challenges and opportunities presented in the healthcare sector, leaders must establish credibility and gain the skills necessary to guide their organisations through change successfully.

The programme offers a flexible learning environment combining online learning with face-to-face sessions to encourage collaboration and networking, and is designed for senior leaders working at pharmaceutical companies, healthcare innovators, and healthcare service providers with at least 15 years of professional experience.

But it’s certainly not just business schools in the UK offering healthcare-specialised courses. In Ireland, the Leading Healthcare Teams programme at Trinity College Dublin’s Trinity Executive Education is designed to empower healthcare professionals with essential skills to enhance team performance and resilience. Participants engage with live case studies from their own organisations, ensuring that skills learnt are relevant and applicable to real life. This programme is for healthcare leaders, managers, team members, and project managers looking to make a significant impact.

As part of their Executive Education portfolio, INSEAD in France offers the Healthcare Ethics & Compliance programme, tailored for the needs of compliance and legal professionals. In 2007, INSEAD organised its first annual Healthcare Compliance Leadership Programme, but the legal and regulatory environment for healthcare companies has changed drastically since.

In response to this, INSEAD created a comprehensive curriculum for compliance and legal professionals working in the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. To do so, the school worked with senior compliance officers of global healthcare companies and healthcare industry professional associations.

Working with industry professionals and experts is an important part of curating curricula that can most benefit students and allow graduates to make a real difference in the sector. BI Norwegian Business School in Norway collaborates with the Department of Health and Society from the University of Oslo and Experio Lab in Karlstad to deliver the Master’s level course in Health Management.

This course can be included as part of an Executive Master of Management and aims to equip leaders in health and care services with the skills needed to address changes in the sector. Students on this course will develop the competencies to carry out organisational and personnel-oriented development work, take a position on strategic patient-focused priorities, and develop expertise in user influence, innovation, welfare technology, and network organisation.

Another course incorporating insights from experts is the Johtaminen terveydenhuollossa (Healthcare Management Education) programme at Aalto University Executive Education. A management and financial training programme for industry leaders, managers, experts, and decision-makers, the curriculum is designed by medical experts from the Finnish Medical Society Duodecim and the University of Helsinki. After completing the programme, participants can continue on the Aalto EMBA or MBA to complete an Aalto Health EMBA or Health MBA, respectively.

Flexible learning for working clinicians

WU Executive Academy in Belgium also offers a healthcare-focused EMBA though the Executive MBA Health Care Management. Specifically tailored to the needs of hard-working professionals, its modular design enables participants to learn social skills, legal proficiency, and how national and international healthcare systems work while working full-time. The most appropriate applicants could be doctors, nursing and administrative staff, medical-technical staff, and employees in the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors, amongst others.

With the healthcare sector facing ongoing transformation, from technological advances and digitalisation to a focus on more patient-centric care, healthcare professionals need to be able to adapt to these changes.

In response to this, Vlerick Business School offers a selection of short-term programmes for doctors and hospital employees to give them the tools, knowledge, and confidence to contribute to their organisation and help them adapt to new ways of working. This includes Management for the Hospital Professional, Future-proofing your Hospital, The Hospital Sector from a Macro Perspective, and Evaluating and Improving Value Creation.

Another school focusing on the digital and data side of healthcare is emlyon business school in France with two healthcare-related programmes on offer. The MSc in Health Management & Data Intelligence prepares students to face the digital transformation of the healthcare sector, combining academic and experiential learning to develop professionals with expertise in the technical, ethical, and social approaches to managing innovative projects. Meanwhile, emlyon’s MSc in Healthcare Innovation & Data Science enables students to develop skills in data science and business innovation within healthcare, train as a professional in healthcare innovation, and develop their entrepreneurial spirit and leadership.

“Firms and organisations in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, diagnostics, and broader healthcare sectors operate in an environment shaped by specific economic, technological, and regulatory constraints and challenges. To be effective, training programmes for students and executives must address these complexities,” says Bruno Versaevel, Head of HITS (Healthcare Innovation, Technology & Society) Institute and Professor of Economics at emlyon business school. “Moving in this direction is a natural choice for emlyon business school, located in France’s leading biopharmaceutical region. Its new campus in Lyon is close to pharmaceutical, diagnostics, and biotech companies, research institutions, international organisations, hospitals, and clinical trial sites.”

Corvinus University of Budapest in Hungary also offers two postgraduate healthcare-related programmes, but with a specific focus on economics: Pharmacist-Economist, and Physician-Economist.

“The physician-economist and pharmacist-economist postgraduate programmes address the growing need for healthcare professionals who understand not just the medical but also the economic aspects of the healthcare system. They aim to enhance doctors’ and pharmacists’ skills in health management, healthcare policy, and economics, bridging the gap between medicine and economics,” explains Lajos György Szabó, Vice-Rector for Academic Programmes at Corvinus University of Budapest.

“This interdisciplinary approach equips professionals with the knowledge to improve healthcare efficiency, contribute to policy, and lead organisations. Additionally, the programmes emphasise economic, business, and management perspectives, enabling professionals to make informed decisions, apply effective communication and negotiation skills, and implement strategic management techniques tailored to healthcare organisations.”

Graduates of either programme will be able to understand the world around them through the eyes of economic professionals, as well as take advantage of economic positions in their relevant professional field.

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