Management and leadership in the health and social care sector is increasingly important worldwide, with The World Health Organization highlighting the need for managers to have appropriate competencies and the NHS promoting specific values and principles of care.

You’ll learn how companies operate and compete in today’s climate whilst developing the full range of business and management skills needed to help organisations achieve their strategic ambitions. You’ll be able to use these skills to develop approaches to management and leadership, and be well equipped to put in place mechanisms which support the development of organisational learning.

You'll explore the important social and other factors which influence managing and leading both organisations and individuals, learning with other current and aspiring managers and leaders from a range of health and social care organisations from around the world.

Designed for you

ARU recognises and gives credit for your military training and offers advanced entry routes for, Royal Navy Officers, Royal Air Force Medical Support Officers and Army Medical Services Officers. Depending on your rank, training and experience you may qualify for Accredited Prior Learning (APL). APL can help you meet the course entry requirements, reduce the number of modules you need to study to complete the degree and potentially reduce the cost of studying with us. Each application is considered on an individual basis so if you would like to know if you’re eligible for an advanced entry route please do not hesitate to contact us.

Modules

If you are eligible for an advanced entry route you may not need to complete all of the modules below. Please contact us for more information.

Advanced Professional Decision Making

This module responds to the continuously changing nature of service design and redesign of health and social care systems informed by a constituted legal framework for practice. You’ll prepare for more autonomous and more integrated organisational roles and functions and utilise both strategic and operational decision making skills at an advanced level to accommodate national strategic intentions. You’ll be encouraged to focus on new or advanced areas of service development whilst acknowledging the ethics, legislation and quality assurance requirements for effective organisational decision making.

Organisational Transformation in Health and Social Care

The ability to accept rapid and significant change is a pre-requisite for organisational survival. This ability of organisations to adopt change rather than merely adapt to it is one of the major hall marks of a learning organisation. Organisational learning becomes the mechanism by which organisational competencies can keep pace with national, local or international challenges. You’ll explore cross cultural examples of health and social care and how the management of change is influenced by the environment in which it is implemented.

Global Leadership

Businesses, whether private, public or third sector, operate in a world facing a range of urgent global issues. You’ll examine the fitness of businesses and individuals to tackle such issues, based on the Global Leadership model developed by lecturers at ARU. You’ll cover effective decision making, adoption of a global approach, creation of a new business paradigm and creation of a contemporary mission. You’ll also consider the related concept of mis-leadership, which looks at how leaders have often failed to achieve the optimum outcomes for those they lead.

Postgraduate Research Design

This module is designed to give you the tools you need in order to identify and plan research to address a real world problem within your practice, or address an existing knowledge gap within your field. The module will provide a framework allowing you to propose and justify a research question and design appropriate to your professional practice.

Major Project

The Major Project, which is central to the Masters award, enables you to demonstrate your ability to synthesise learning from previous modules and use your learning as the basis for planning, conducting and writing up a research or work-based project.

Assessment

How you’ll be assessed will vary between modules. This is in order to assist you in developing submission evidence for Management and Leadership professional recognition later. Assignments include the production of reports, essays, a portfolio and Major Project.

Dr Nebil Achour, PhD, MSc, BSc 

Nebil is our Course Leader for the MSc and has a vast amount of expertise in the resilience of healthcare to major hazards, about which he published over 50 scientific articles and reports, and was a member of the global WHO Hospital Safety Index revision panel.

After gaining a BSc in Civil Engineering from the Tunis Advanced School of Science and Technology, Tunisia, Dr Achour worked in private engineering and design firms on designing structures and training engineers in several countries. Granted a Japanese Government Scholarship to further his education, he gained his MSc with a focus on the response of hospital lifeline systems following seismic activities and his PhD on hospital's fragility assessment in 2004 and 2007 respectively from Kanazawa University.

Following his graduation he was then employed as a Post-doctoral Researcher in his graduate University. He joined Loughborough University in September 2007 as a Research Associate. He coordinated the research activities of the £11million HaCIRIC research centre, and the CPM WBDL MSc Course. He was awarded the Best Paper Award during the CIB World Congress 2010, and the Highly Commended Paper in the 2016 and 2015 Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence. Nebil is actively involved in national and international research and consultancy activities and interested in exchanging knowledge with academics and practitioners, specifically those working on similar topics.

Our Healthcare Management MSc (Armed Forces) is studied 100% online.

You’ll study through Canvas, our world-class online Learning Management System (LMS), which can be accessed from your phone, pc or tablet at home or on the move. Canvas provides instant access to study materials, forums, and support from tutors and classmates, as well as enabling easy submission of your assignments.

On successful completion of your studies you’ll be invited to attend a graduation ceremony on campus. If attending the ceremony in person is not possible then we’ll arrange to have your certificate sent to you.

Whether you want to develop your skills and knowledge to enhance your existing role or you’re planning for life after military service, our Employability Service will work with you throughout your time at ARU and after you graduate.

We offer:

• careers advice, including one-to-one online and telephone appointments with our experienced advisers
• help with your CV, job searches, applications and interview preparation
• an online portal packed with useful careers resources
• our Employability Programme, which helps you hone the skills employers say they want in graduates.

Our standard entry requirements for this course are detailed below. If you are eligible for an advanced entry route then your current rank, training and/or experience may satisfy the entry requirements. Please contact us for more information.

Standard entry requirements

Applicants should ideally have a good first degree or equivalent and be currently working in, or have recently worked within, the area of Management and Leadership.

A professional qualification isn’t a necessity for access to the course, but you must meet the criteria above and demonstrate a strong interest in Management and Leadership.

If English is not your first language, you will be expected to demonstrate a certificated level of proficiency of at least IELTS 6.5 or equivalent.

As a distance learner, you'll also need a suitable computer with internet connection, together with sufficient IT competence to make effective use our online learning management system (LMS) with high-speed internet and email.

For non-graduates, non-traditional entry routes to the course may be possible by clearly demonstrating on your application that your qualifications and experience are equivalent to an Honours degree.

Fees

Our standard tuition fees for this course are detailed below. If you are eligible for an advanced entry route then your tuition fees are likely to be reduced.

Depending on your advanced entry route the full tuition fee will be between £4,690 and £7,035. The tuition fees you pay each year will be between £1,172.50 and £3,517.50 depending on how long it takes you to complete the course. The course will be completed in either 1.5 or 2 years depending on your entry route.

Please contact us for more information.

Standard fees (for non-advanced entry routes)

The full tuition fee for this course is £7,035.

The tuition fees you pay each year for the full Healthcare Management MSc will be £3,517.50. The course is studied over 2 years.

Funding

Your course can be fully funded by the new Postgraduate Student Loans now available (subject to eligibility).

We offer payment by instalments, so you can spread the cost of studying with us.

You can use your ELCs towards this course. ARU is a recognised ELCAS provider (number 1007). Please contact your Learning Centre for details of ELC, eligibility and how to apply.

For more information on how you fund your studies please see our funding page.