Program Overview

MSc Contemporary Healthcare

KEY FACTS

Faculty:
School of Health Sciences

Study Options:
Part Time

Start Date:
September 2025

Level:
Postgraduate

Course Length:
2 Years

Qualification:
MSc

Fees:****All Students: £5,045* per annum

_*(Annual fees will remain the same price for the duration of your studies) _

Due to immigration constraints, we cannot accept part-time applications for visa requiring students for this programme.

Placement Option:
No

About this programme

The MSc Contemporary Healthcare programme is designed for healthcare professionals who wish to pursue further education and training to differentiate themselves in a competitive job market. The degree will equip you with advanced knowledge and skills in management, leadership, teaching, and research, preparing you to think critically about your practice and implement change management strategies to improve patient care and health services. These skills are transferable to other occupational settings, such as research, education, or clinical management.
The MSc Contemporary Healthcare aims to provide a practical grounding in all aspects of contemporary healthcare, while developing your ability to critically analyse, communicate, and make decisions. Real-world, hands-on assignments will allow you to apply your learning to healthcare settings, enabling you to advance your career and gain a conceptual understanding of health and social care for future global healthcare provision. Through this programme, you will develop the skills needed to comprehensively analyse, systematically evaluate, and apply the evidence base that underpins their professional practice.

Modules

The MSc Contemporary Healthcare is a 2-year postgraduate degree, delivered by expert teaching staff and health care practitioners.

• Year 1
• Year 2

Semester 1

Enabling Teaching, Learning and Assessment for Practice

This module is designed to develop the skills, knowledge, and attributes of health and social care registered practitioners in practice-based learning, teaching, and assessment. You will learn how to manage and evaluate the learning environment, facilitate learning and teaching, assess learners in an honest and accountable manner, and maintain quality in both the learning and assessment process. You will also learn how to promote enquiry-based learning for all learners in a culture of inter-professional practice.

Semester 2

Leadership and Management Skills in Contemporary Healthcare

This module aims to equip healthcare professionals with the advanced knowledge and skills required to lead and manage complex healthcare systems effectively in a constantly changing and challenging environment. The module covers five broad themes, including leadership, management, service improvement, change models, and risk assessment and quality management. Through critical examination of concepts and theories, you will learn how to apply leadership and management knowledge and skills to influence change in healthcare settings and deliver high-quality, safe healthcare.

Semester 3

Work Based learning in Contemporary Healthcare

This module allows healthcare professionals to gain academic credit for workplace learning through a student-led project or practice innovation/development negotiated with managers and/or peers. You will develop and implement various actions and learning opportunities, such as a clinical audit, teaching package, update clinical policy, presentation to peers with new evidence for practice, staff induction package, or work collaboratively with peers on a change management project. You will be encouraged to appraise and apply concepts from the literature to their work-based project and critically reflect on their personal and professional development. The assessment will allow you to demonstrate in-depth knowledge, understanding and the impact of their project on their practice.
*This module can be exchanged for any internal micro-credential module of equivalent level and credits.

Semester 1

Advanced Decision Making in Practice

This module focuses on evaluating and applying established theories and models relevant to decision making in health and social care. The theories and models are drawn from various disciplines, including philosophy, ethics, legal frameworks, service user involvement, and values-based decision-making. The module emphasizes critical thinking skills and applying learning to decision making in the student’s own health and social care context. You will use your existing personal and life skills and knowledge of health and social care to develop relevant and focused learning based on their practice needs and professional development stage.

Semester 2

Research Skills

This module focuses on enabling you to apply research and evidence-based practice relevant to their specific area of study, discipline, and clinical setting. You will enhance your knowledge and skills in research by searching for literature from a variety of sources, critically appraising it using different appraisal tools, and contextualizing the evidence within practice. The module emphasizes understanding research methodologies to propose primary research relevant to their discipline. It will contribute to your personal and professional development by fostering independent study and encouraging you to further develop your research skills to critically appraise existing evidence, identify knowledge gaps, and propose primary research to inform your area of study.

Semester 3

Dissertation/Independent Project

The module is designed to enable you to engage in independent primary study and apply research knowledge and skills, which will be of value to your area of work. You will be able to critically review the theoretical and empirical literature and design and conduct a systematic investigation by applying appropriate and robust methods. You will be allocated an individual supervisor to facilitate the successful completion of this module.

Entry Requirements

Typically, all applicants will have:

• ​​A good first degree (i.e. a minimum of a 2.1) in a health-related degree awarded by a UK university or overseas equivalent.
• If an applicant does not have an undergraduate degree, then applicants with evidence of level 6 equivalent professional development or academic proficiency may be considered on an individual basis. The level 6 modules previously studied must be awarded within the last five years.
• Current and active registration with a professional body is essential. For example, HCPC or GNMHVRB.
• A minimum of one-year employment as a registered healthcare professional in an appropriate clinical setting.

English Language Requirements:

• An overall IELTS test result of 6.5, including a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-tests. Equivalent awards will be considered (e.g. Pearson’s Test of English, Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English, Duolingo English Test, City & Guilds International ESOL 8984, or the TOEFL- IBT test of English proficiency). If you do not meet our entry requirements, you can still apply as we will consider your application.

Fees

Programme | Fee (per annum) | Year
---|---|---
| £5,045 | 2
International and EU | £14,950 | 2 (For 2025, international and EU fees will be the same as Home fees)