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What makes Healthcare Management and Leadership MSc at the University of Worcester special?

Management and leadership in the health, social, and community care sectors is increasingly important in both the UK and worldwide. Designed specifically for existing and aspiring managers and leaders, our Healthcare Management and Leadership MSc supports students in developing the skills necessary to critically debate the challenges facing healthcare leaders, and the roles that clinicians, managers, and the wider healthcare economy can play in reshaping healthcare services.

The programme offers learning opportunities delivered by experts from the School of Allied Health and Community, Worcester Business School, and School of Psychology, bringing together key theories of leadership and management with specific relevance to health systems and social and community care provision. By providing a flexible, multidisciplinary approach within a supportive environment, our MSc enables healthcare professionals across the sector to learn with and from each other, develop professional networks, and advance their own practice.

Overview

Overview

Key features

  • Supportive learning environment that nurtures students’ confidence to shape future health, social, and community care
  • Modules which develop critical reflection, originality, critique, and synthesis to advance decision-making skills in complex healthcare settings
  • Challenges students’ values and attitudes to develop new ways of thinking in relation to service design, implementation of change, patient safety, and risk management
  • Examines contemporary policy, practice, leadership, and management theories and how to apply them to real-world situations
  • Explores the principles, approaches, strategies, and techniques for analysing, designing, and managing complex essential healthcare organisations
  • Provides essential knowledge for managing the integration of people, systems, and technologies that ensure the delivery of consistent, high-quality healthcare
  • Develops students’ career progression as managers and leaders within healthcare
Entry requirements

Entry requirements

Entry requirements

Either

  • An honours degree at 2:2 level or above in a health-related subject or an honours degree at 2.2 level or above in business-related subject but, in such cases, working in a healthcare environment.

Or

  • Qualifications and experience considered by the Programme Leader and/or admissions tutor to be equivalent to the All students applying via this route will be assessed and interviewed by the Programme Lead.
  • Students whose first language is not English will be expected to have reached a sufficient standard on admission to the programme (e.g., usually IELTS 6.5, with a minimum of 5 in each element, or equivalent).
  • International students must hold a qualification equivalent to a UK first or second- class honours degree.
  • UK students being sponsored by their employer must provide evidence of employer approval and payment agreement.

Other information

When assessing a non-standard entrant’s suitability for entry onto the programme candidates will need to demonstrate their potential to achieve the aims and outcomes of the programme. The candidate will also need to demonstrate that their experiences are equivalent to having achieved a 2.2 at undergraduate level. The following criteria may be taken into consideration:  

  • Evidence of successful academic study at level 6 or equivalent
  • Ability to write in a clear, coherent and critical manner
  • Demonstrate awareness of the demands of studying at postgraduate level
  • Demonstrate interest and motivation for successful study on the programme
  • An interview with the candidate will be undertaken and a reference from an employer that details the applicant’s experiences and current (or previous) role(s) will be required. The applicant may also be asked to undertake a critical written report for consideration.  
Course content

Course content

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

Modules

Mandatory (for MSc, see programme specification for PGCert/PGDip mandatory modules)

  • Challenging and Enhancing Service Delivery (15 credits)
  • Leading and Managing People (15 credits)
  • Leading and Managing and Quality Improvements (30 credits)
  • Advanced Research Analysis 2 (15 credits)
  • Operations Strategy - Delivering Business Efficiency (15 credits)
  • Finance for Non-Financial Managers - Understanding the Numbers (15 credits)
  • Dissertation (60 credits)

Optional

  • Individual Negotiated Learning
  • Group Negotiated Learning

Healthcare Management and Leadership MSc students

students around a table and one of them is pointing three students looking towards the camera group of students standing in a line smiling at camera students in a group around a table three female students sitting together and looking towards the camera
Teaching and assessment

Teaching and assessment

Teaching

Students will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes staff from Schools across Health, Life and Environmental Sciences and may include staff from Worcester Business School on both sites.  

Students studying in Hong Kong learning, teaching, assessment, tutorial support, preparation, marking and moderation will be shared on a 50:50 ratio across the course from University of Worcester and HKMA staff. All the HKMA staff will be Registered Lecturers with University of Worcester.  

Each module will have a designated module leader from both UW and HKMA to offer support and input into the module.  

Teaching is informed by research and consultancy, and as at January 2018, 75% per cent of UW course lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. 

Location of teaching

This course is delivered in the UK at the University of Worcester campuses by University of Worcester staff from the School of Allied Health and Community, School of Psychology and the Business School.

In Hong Kong the course is delivered by Hong Kong Management Association.

Contact time

The programme comprises 6 mandatory taught modules with teaching and learning activities running across two semesters. In the UK, these modules are block taught. A 15-credit module is taught in 2 x 2-day blocks; a 30-credit module is taught in 4 x 2-day blocks. Blended learning, employing on campus and online teaching, will underpin the delivery of all modules. There will be some variation in the percentages of on campus and online delivery across the modules, however, students should expect some on campus delivery in all modules, whilst tutorials and supervision will normally be provided online.

In Hong Kong teaching hours will be structured around a two-day block weekend basis and delivered as a full-time programme only. This includes two 6-hour days (Saturday and Sunday). These weekends will occur twice per semester.    

Full time students (starting in September) complete all 6 taught modules across two semesters, plus the dissertation within a third semester. Part time students select which modules and how many they want to complete in each year, with their dissertation in the final year. It is expected that a full-time student will be spending 37 hours per week engaged in study which will, in a normal week, include a combination of taught sessions and independent study.    

For UK and Hong Kong students, in the final semester when students will normally be undertaking the dissertation, they will have less classroom contact time in order to do more independent study. Individual supervision will be provided on a one to one basis of a total of 6 hours. Students will also have the choice between 2 negotiated learning modules with most of the learning within these modules being self-directed supported by tutorials. Opportunities to meet with students and tutors will be timetabled across the semester.  

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, full time students are expected to undertake around 24 hours of personal self-study per week. Part time students are expected to undertake around 6 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for examinations.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Duration

  • 12 months full-time
  • 4-6 years part-time

Timetables

Please note that whilst we try to be as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week; and some classes can be scheduled in the evenings.

Teaching staff

Students will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes staff from Schools across Health, Life and Environmental Sciences and may include staff from Worcester Business School on both sites.

Students studying in Hong Kong learning, teaching, assessment, tutorial support, preparation, marking and moderation will be shared on a 50:50 ratio across the course from University of Worcester and HKMA staff. All the HKMA staff will be Registered Lecturers with University of Worcester.  

Each module will have a designated module leader from both UW and HKMA to offer support and input into the module. 

Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy, and (as at February 2021) 80% per cent of lecturers at the University of Worcester have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy.  

You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments both within the UK and Hong Kong. Each module, on both sites, has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessment which is graded and counts towards the overall module grade.

Assessment methods include a range of coursework assignments such as essays, reports, project plan, presentations and a dissertation. The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern, for a full-time student on both sites, for each year of the course is:

Semester 1
  • 1 research proposal
  • 1 critique
  • Personal development plan
  • 1 reflective essay
Semester 2
  • 1 report-based case study
  • 1 essay
  • 1 individual or group presentation
  • 1 peer assessment
  • 1 reflective report
Semester 3
  • Dissertation

The precise assessment requirements for part time students will vary according to the modules selected.

All assignments, from both UK and HKMA, will be marked, moderated and follow the same process and module assessment. They will all be presented at the same exam board regardless of the location of the course delivery.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.

Careers

Careers

Graduate destinations 

Almost all students are already in employment therefore their aim is to enhance their current role by introducing more effective ways of working within their employing organisations. Students may also use the skills and qualification as a platform for their career enhancement. This may involve moving into more strategic management and leadership roles within healthcare.

As part of the journey of professional and role development students are encouraged to continue on their academic journey through access to a range of higher degrees including PhD and other taught doctorates.

Costs

Fees and funding

Full-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard tuition fee for full-time home and EU students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes courses in the academic year 2024/25 is £9,000 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes courses in the academic year 2024/25 is £17,400 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Part-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard tuition fees for part-time home and EU students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes/PGCert/PGDip courses in the academic year 2024/25 are £750 per 15-credit module, £1,500 per 30-credit module, £2,250 per 45-credit module, and £3,000 per 60 credit module.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fees for part-time international students enrolling on MA/MSc/MBA/MRes courses in the academic year 2024/25 are £1,450 per 15-credit module, £2,900 per 30-credit module, £4,350 per 45-credit module, and £5,800 per 60 credit module.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Postgraduate loans

The Government will provide a loan of up to £11,836 if your course starts on or after 1 August 2022 per eligible student for postgraduate Masters study. It will be at your own discretion whether the loan is used towards fees, maintenance or other costs.

For more details visit our postgraduate loans page.

Additional costs

Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses.

If your course offers a placement opportunity, you may need to pay for an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

There should not be any other additional course related costs. However, you will require access to computers either personal or through UK sites. Travelling to university campuses and parking will need to be covered by the student.

Access to all relevant journals will be available through the Universities on line library access. Books are available within the Hive.
How to apply

How to apply

If you're interested in applying for this course and have any questions please do get in touch with us via the contact details below.

Full time applications Part time applications

Get in touch

If you have any questions, please get in touch. We're here to help you every step of the way.

Admissions

admissions@worc.ac.uk
01905 855111

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