Postgraduate MSc
Healthcare Management with Industrial Placement
Do you aspire to be a strong, solution-focused leader in the healthcare industry?
Contemporary Healthcare Management faces enormous challenges and requires leaders that provide effective management and oversight of healthcare organisations. Healthcare managers need sophisticated and refined leadership, strong communication skills and advanced organisational capabilities that are applicable to both private and public health care contexts.
Designed in collaboration with the Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS), the CMI-accredited MSc Healthcare Management with Industrial Placement course is taught by international experts and enables you to get to grips with corporate strategy and leadership alongside the study of healthcare.
Taking a 12-month industrial placement allows you to gain work experience in the UK or overseas as part of your Master's. While the placements are self-sought, the School offers support through extra-curricular engagement with our dedicated placements team. Opting for this course with a placement takes the length of your course to up to two years.
Watch our Postgraduate Placements video here.
You’ll learn about corporate strategy and performance measurement, finance and accounting, marketing management and leadership. You will also gain a detailed insight into healthcare topics such as global sustainability in healthcare and managing integrated healthcare systems. You will finish your master's with a detailed report with the support of a dedicated expert supervisor. At the end of Stage One, you start your Industrial Placement.
Being able to link theories and ideas between modules helped with my understanding of the business side of the healthcare industry.
~ Angel Saunders, MSc Healthcare Management 2019
A minimum of a second-class UK degree, or an equivalent internationally recognised qualification in a variety of subject areas is accepted for entry into this course.
All applicants are considered on an individual basis and additional qualifications, professional qualifications and relevant experience may also be taken into account when considering applications.
Please see our International Student website for entry requirements by country and other relevant information. Due to visa restrictions, students who require a student visa to study cannot study part-time unless undertaking a distance or blended-learning programme with no on-campus provision.
This course requires a Good level of English language, equivalent to B2 on CEFR.
Details on how to meet this requirement can be found on our English Language requirements webpage.
Examples:
IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component
PTE Academic 63 with a minimum of 59 in each sub-test
A degree from a UK university
A degree from a Majority English Speaking Country
Please note that if you are required to meet an English language condition, we offer a number of pre-sessional courses in English for Academic Purposes through Kent International Pathways.
The following modules are indicative of those offered on this programme. This list is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.
This module aims to provide an advanced understanding of the role of strategic management in organisations, relating to the strategic analysis, decision-making and processes within and between organisations in different business contexts. Through studying this module students develop critical awareness of current developments and new insights in strategic management and performance measurement.
Indicative topics may include:
Defining corporate strategy; the strategy context; strategy formulation; resource-based strategy; corporate and business strategy; performance measurement (tools and techniques).
The module aims to cover key accounting and financial management aspects of a business. The module begins by learning about the use of accounting principles in measuring and reporting financial position of a business for external stakeholders. It then moves on to analysing and interpreting financial reports for decision making. Under the financial management aspect, the module covers key capital investment decision making techniques such as NPV and IRR. Finally, the major aspects related to long term financing decisions such as sources of long term finance, capital structure, and costs of debt, equity and capital are covered.
This module will utilise domestic and international companies to shed light on change management issues, and models of change and therefore allows students to gain understanding of leadership and change in organisations and subjects covered will typically include:
This module examines recent developments in marketing thinking and market strategy development. Students will acquire a theoretical foundation through the lectures and discussions on marketing management and communications concepts and frameworks. The use of case studies will allow the student to explore the process of marketing decision-making and strategy development as well as enhancing the ability to apply marketing theory to a wide range of problems.
Indicative topics are
Employers are in search for individuals who possess logical thinking, analytical capability, leadership, communication and the ability to work under pressure. This module develops the necessary research knowledge and skills for students to be able to successfully complete a piece of research in industry or consultancy contexts or academia.
The module will focus on exploring how health systems need to adapt to changing health needs and maintain financial sustainability. Students will be introduced to a range of concepts relevant to developing sustainable health systems. This will encompass the way health systems are funded, how care delivery is organised to meet the needs of patients and how managers will need to respond to changing systems and organisational demands.
The aim of this module is to explore system changes, integrated care models, and system architecture as they relate to health care. The focus will be primarily on health systems in high income countries. In many high income countries, including the UK and Canada, health systems are facing the challenge of adapting to new approaches to healthcare that focus on the organisation and management of health services in primary and community settings to meet changing health needs. These organisations tend to be smaller, often networked or federated groups, have flatter organisational structures and are developing new ways of working, coping with more complex delivery settings and the need to adopt more collaborative and integrated ways of working between organisations.
The module will commence by considering two questions 'How can patients be part of an interdisciplinary team?' and ‘How can an interdisciplinary team be managed?’ thereby enabling students to think in terms of inclusion of the patient and reflecting upon the possible advantages and disadvantages of this approach. Students will then be introduced to the main history, challenges, and factors influencing collaboration and partnership between patients and professionals, and various practices of interpersonal collaboration practices. Subsequent weeks will cover topics on role clarification, negotiation and conflict resolution.
The module content includes business consultancy skills that are transferable into the business consulting profession, internal consultancy positions within organisations, and senior management roles.
Indicative topics are:
Managing uncertainty in the organisation of healthcare draws upon key managerial insights into the management of risk and uncertainty in contemporary systems of healthcare, with a specific emphasis on management of healthcare service delivery and organisation. The module begins with an introduction to general management principles of risk and uncertainty. Subsequently the module explores the nature of risk and uncertainty in the context of healthcare, in which notions of safety are paramount and the costs and visibility of organisational failures are high. The module further explores the impact upon decision making of increasingly complex systems of healthcare through different organisational forms (bureaucracy, market, network) and at different levels (policy, organisation, profession). The module considers values such as efficiency and effectiveness, and the role of knowledge and domain (e.g. health economics and implementation science in attempting to rationalise professional and managerial decision-making). The module concludes with an examination of new technologies and their impact upon risk, safety and uncertainty in healthcare.
This module will build on the module: Research Methods and Consultancy Skills and supervise health care students during their Management Report/ Dissertation Project.
Individual support will be provided regarding the following subjects:
• Formulating and clarifying the management consultancy/dissertation topic.
• Theoretical approaches and literature review.
• Philosophy of social science research.
• Research design.
• Research ethics.
• Secondary and primary research methods.
• Quantitative method and data analysis.
• Qualitative method and data analysis.
• Library resources: online sources and searching journal databases.
• Writing and presenting a research project/ management consultancy report/dissertation.
Students will spend a period of time working in an industrial or organisational setting, applying and enhancing the skills and techniques they have learned on the programme. Work will be carried out under the direction of a placement supervisor. This support will include ensuring that the work they are expected to do within the placement company/organisation meets the learning outcomes of the module.
Students will spend a period of time working in an industrial or organisational setting, applying and enhancing the skills and techniques they have learned on the MSc in Business Analytics programme. Work will be carried out under the direction of an industrial supervisor and supported by a dedicated Placement Support Officer within the School. This support will include ensuring that the work they are expected to do within the placement company/organisation meets the learning outcomes of the module.
Students will spend a period of time working in an industrial or organisational setting, applying and enhancing the skills and techniques they have learned on the MSc in Business Analytics programme. Work will be carried out under the direction of an industrial supervisor and supported by a dedicated Placement Support Officer within the School. This support will include ensuring that the work they are expected to do within the placement company/organisation meets the learning outcomes of the module.
Students will spend a period of time working in an industrial or organisational setting, applying and enhancing the skills and techniques they have learned on the MSc in Business Analytics programme. Work will be carried out under the direction of an industrial supervisor and supported by a dedicated Placement Support Officer within the School. This support will include ensuring that the work they are expected to do within the placement company/organisation meets the learning outcomes of the module.
Students will spend a period of time working in an industrial or organisational setting, applying and enhancing the skills and techniques they have learned on the MSc in Business Analytics programme. Work will be carried out under the direction of an industrial supervisor and supported by a dedicated Placement Support Officer within the School. This support will include ensuring that the work they are expected to do within the placement company/organisation meets the learning outcomes of the module.
Students will spend a period of time working in an industrial or organisational setting, applying and enhancing the skills and techniques they have learned on the programme. Work will be carried out under the direction of a placement supervisor. This support will include ensuring that the work they are expected to do within the placement company/organisation meets the learning outcomes of the module.
Students will spend a period of time working in an industrial or organisational setting, applying and enhancing the skills and techniques they have learned on the MSc in Business Analytics programme. Work will be carried out under the direction of an industrial supervisor and supported by a dedicated Placement Support Officer within the School. This support will include ensuring that the work they are expected to do within the placement company/organisation meets the learning outcomes of the module.
Students will spend a period of time working in an industrial or organisational setting, applying and enhancing the skills and techniques they have learned on the MSc in Business Analytics programme. Work will be carried out under the direction of an industrial supervisor and supported by a dedicated Placement Support Officer within the School. This support will include ensuring that the work they are expected to do within the placement company/organisation meets the learning outcomes of the module.
Students will spend a period of time working in an industrial or organisational setting, applying and enhancing the skills and techniques they have learned on the MSc in Business Analytics programme. Work will be carried out under the direction of an industrial supervisor and supported by a dedicated Placement Support Officer within the School. This support will include ensuring that the work they are expected to do within the placement company/organisation meets the learning outcomes of the module.
Students will spend a period of time working in an industrial or organisational setting, applying and enhancing the skills and techniques they have learned on the MSc in Business Analytics programme. Work will be carried out under the direction of an industrial supervisor and supported by a dedicated Placement Support Officer within the School. This support will include ensuring that the work they are expected to do within the placement company/organisation meets the learning outcomes of the module.
Duration: 2 years full-time
This course consists of 10 compulsory modules in Stage 1 with Stage 2 consisting of a piece of healthcare management-related research.
If you opt for the Industrial Placement, you will be required to complete the Industrial Placement Report.
We use a variety of teaching methods, including:
Classroom-based learning is supported by the latest online technologies and learning platforms.
Your progress on this course is assessed through a variety of means, including:
Industrial placements are the perfect way for you to enhance your career prospects and deepen your understanding of a specific area of expertise. This MSc programme is available with the option to take an in-company or self-employed industrial placement of up to 12 months (visa dependent), allowing you to gain work experience in the UK or overseas.
Our lively and active postgraduate community is brought about in part by our strong research culture and by the close community between our staff and students. Staff publish regularly and widely in journals, conference proceedings and books and embed their research in their teaching.
Students have regular contact with their course and module conveners with staff on hand to answer any questions and to provide helpful and constructive feedback on submitted work.
You can also get involved with extra-curricular academic and social activities with guest lectures, talks and workshops organised by our academic staff, research centres and the ASPIRE team. You can catch up with our most recent Open for Business Seminar Series.
Our Medway campus is full of history and offers a unique experience to our students. We have recently moved to the Pembroke site, our new Medway home. This move puts Kent Business School at the heart of the Medway Campus, a former Royal Naval base combining historic and new buildings. You can find the Drill Hall Library, the Deep End where Kent Union at Medway are based and the Oasis lounge right on campus.
Off campus, there is lots to do in the historic town of Rochester and nearby Chatham, with cinemas, theatres and good shopping. London is just 40 minutes away by fast train.
Kent Business School has close links with: ifs (Institute of Financial Services); dunnhumby, who partners the Consumer Insight Service in the Centre for Value Chain Research; Hong Kong Baptist University, with whom we offer a joint Master’s programme in Operational Research and Finance Business Statistics; University of Castellanza (Italy); Audencia Nantes Business School (France); Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences (Denmark); Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; University of Ingolstadt, Bayern (Germany); City University of Hong Kong; Renmin University of China, School of Business.
All students registered for a taught Master's programme are eligible to apply for a place on our Global Skills Award Programme. The programme is designed to broaden your understanding of global issues and current affairs as well as to develop personal skills which will enhance your employability.
Kent Business School is a research-led business school. Our research strategy is developed around the core theme of sustainable innovation which cuts across the entire School. This theme can be seen as being divided into two sub-strands of research aimed at answering these main questions:
Kent Business School advances knowledge through constant promotion and support of innovative research. We have an impact on wider society through extensive collaborations with external partners which range from other academic institutions to a variety of local, national and international businesses as well as the NHS. Within this wider context, our main strategic aim has been geared towards establishing ourselves as a leading institution for research in sustainable innovation.
Kent Business School is a global leader in research and develops a wide portfolio of research related activities including workshops, conferences and research seminar series. This has led to a large number of international collaborations and to over 200 co-authored papers with international partners.
Specialising in public-sector critical accounting and accounting history.
Looking into a wide array of financial issues from derivatives pricing to real-estate modelling.
Innovating in wide-ranging topics such as operational research and systems thinking.
Studying issues surrounding consumer behaviours, product development and maintaining value supply chains among others.
People, Management and Organisation
Specialising in improving human resource management, organisational behaviour and leadership.
Strategy and International Business
Helping in the development of innovative business strategies for business all over the world.
Centre for Logistics and Heuristic Optimisation
Helping companies to solve complex strategic, tactical and operational problems.
Centre of Productivity and Workplace Performance
Contribute to the productivity debate and drive improvements at all levels; from the national economic output, to changes in the ways SME’s operate.
Centre for Quantitative Finance
Providing quantitative analysis of issues in the financial markets for businesses and policy makers.
Helping both academics and practitioners tackle the challenges emerging from the rapid development of new digital technologies
Staff publish regularly and widely in journals, conference proceedings and books. Among others, they have recently contributed to: Critical Perspectives on Accounting; Quantitative Finance; Human Resource Management Journal; Journal of Product Innovation Management; European Journal of .Operational Research; and Psychology & Marketing.
Our Healthcare Management graduates find work across many realms of the NHS and private healthcare institutions. They also go on to work in general management and consultancy both overseas and in the UK in a wide range of companies and organisations.
You gain much more than an academic qualification when you graduate. We enhance your student experience and accelerate your career prospects to help you achieve your ambition.
From the moment you start with us, our efforts are focused on helping you gain the knowledge, skills and experience you need to thrive in an increasingly competitive workplace. As part of the course, undertake an Industrial Placement or opt for an In-Company Scheme to work on a real business case study. Go on our Business Start-up Journey and transform your idea into a business through ASPIRE. Our qualified careers practitioners provide support for up to three years after graduation.
Additionally, the Postgraduate Employability Edge programme, available to PGT students at Kent Business School takes place from Welcome Week through to the end of the academic year and is designed to enhance your career prospects further.
This course is accredited by The Chartered Management Institute (CMI), the Chartered Body for Management and Leadership. The CMI is the only organisation that can award Chartered Manager status, the highest accolade for managers and leaders.
The 2024/25 annual tuition fees for this course are:
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
For students continuing on this programme fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.* If you are uncertain about your fee status please contact information@kent.ac.uk.
The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from UKCISA before applying.
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
For students continuing on this programme, fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.*
The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from UKCISA before applying.
Find out more about general additional costs that you may pay when studying at Kent.
Search our scholarships finder for possible funding opportunities. You may find it helpful to look at both:
We have a range of subject-specific awards and scholarships for academic, sporting and musical achievement.
Next steps
Learn more about the application process or begin your application by clicking on a link below.
You will be able to choose your preferred year of entry once you have started your application. You can also save and return to your application at any time.
Supporting your success
Kent ranked top 50 in The Complete University Guide 2024.
Fees and funding
Kent has risen 11 places in THE’s REF 2021 ranking, confirming us as a leading research university.
Accommodation
