MSc in Business Administration and Innovation in Health Care

What to consider

MSc in Business Administration Innovation and Health Care is the world’s first full two years master’s program offered in health care innovation.

Other leading universities are also beginning to offer courses or concentrations in this field. To see how the Copenhagen program is positioned among these initiatives, take a look at this short video from Harvard Business School.

Work in close connection with local companies
During their two years of studies students become involved in several innovation projects with local companies, start-ups, hospitals and health care organizations.

Students come from various backgrounds
To build an interdisciplinary learning environment MSc in Business Administration and Innovation in Health Care welcomes applicants with bachelor degrees across a range of both business and health disciplines.

Collaboration with University of Copenhagen
MSc in Business Administration Innovation and Health Care as been developed and is delivered jointly by CBS and the University of Copenhagen (Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences).

Certified by EIT
MSc IHC is accredited not only by the Danish Government by also by EIT Health and has obtained the EIT labeling. 

Study environment 

Student life at CBS
Studying at CBS is much more than just preparing for and going to classes.

At CBS, there are more than 23,000 students with different backgrounds and nationalities. Teamwork is an essential part of studying at CBS both in classes and in extracurricular activities. 

With more than 100 student organisations, you also have plenty of opportunities to engage and connect with students across programmes and classes. 

Learn more about the vibrant student life at CBS, the student organisations, and the international environment on Student life

For internationals
If you are an international student, we have gathered a lot of information about what it is like to be an international student at CBS and how you can prepare for life in Denmark.

Read more on For internationals 

Teaching and exams

Teaching 
Hear students tell about their projects hosts and about their experience of working together. 

Read more about Teaching and working methods on Student life

Exams
Read about Exams and exams types on Student life

Time consumption
You should know that it is demanding to study in a graduate programme, and both the curriculum and workload is  significantly higher than at bachelor level. 

If you are studying on a full-time graduate programme, you should expect spending approximately 37 hours on average on your studies each week. The workload will vary during the year.

The time leading up to assignment submissions and exams can be hectic, and you can easily work more than 40 hours a week in this period. Preparing for oral exams can be especially time consuming, because you have to be able to explain and discuss the covered concepts and theories and learn things by heart.

Read more about Time consumption on Student Life

Student job
Most programmes are quite flexible in terms of combining studies with a student job. Most students work a maximum of 15 hours a week in order to have sufficient time for their studies.

Studying in Denmark - for internationals
If this is your first time studying in Denmark, you may find teaching and exam formats, the grading scale and the academic calendar very different from what you are used to.

Read about everything you need to know as an international student studying at CBS on For internationals > Academic information  

Career

Competence profile
In the competence profile you can read about the purpose of the programme and the competencies you achieve in the programme:

Competence profile for MSc IHC

Graduates will find their jobs in a variety of segments, including:  

• Private providers of health care, monitoring, safety
• The (emerging) globalized health industry
• Hospitals
• The Medico and Health-IT industries
• Providers of software systems and applications,  incl. clinical decision support solutions
• Pharmaceutical firms (in their care-directed functions)
• Patient’s organizations
• Public health administration at national, regional and municipal levels
• Creating their own companies

How do employers see the MSc in Innovation in Health Care?
As part of the preparation of MSc in Innovation in Health Care (IHC) interviews were made with a broad range of leaders in health care organisations and businesses. According to these leaders, does the new degree address the right questions that will help solve important problems in health care? Will the new degree offer interesting jobs to its graduates? The following are quotes from these interviews:

•  Peter Huntley, CEO Medicoindustrien  the industry association for Danish device companies
  "There is a need for professionalization of skills in health care innovation. This new Msc programme fosters the new mind-set we need. Particularly I can see the potentials in the combination of skills provided by this programme and I clearly see a job market for it. When it comes to innovation the health care sector is at an infant stage. The sector has neither the tools nor the engine to drive innovations, and this where what makes the graduates from this new programme very, very interesting. They will make a difference in both the public and the private segments of the health care sector."
   
• Henrik Wieland, Associate Partner, Healthcare industry leader, IBM
  "A main challenge with innovation in the public health system lies in moving a project from its introductory stage, where only few people use it, to the stage of having it strategically anchored and turned into an effective regional platform. For this challenge the sector simply lacks professionalization in the processes and management of innovation. There is not a doubt in my mind that the new MCs in Innovation in Health care will cover this important need that is currently unfulfilled."
   
• Thyra Jart, Business Line Manager, KMD
  "When we introduce new solutions to the municipal administrations, it is often difficult to find the local skills required to handle and implement the projects and to get them effectively anchored in the organization. There is simply a shortage of the competences needed to support the development of innovation in municipalities. Therefore this programme in Innovation in Health Care is highly relevant also at the municipal."
   
• Ian Røpke, Programme Director,  Copenhagen Municipality
  "There is a strong need for this new degree in Innovation in Health Care. It is important to get health care innovation articulated and defined as a serious discipline in its own right. Currently innovations in health care are too often handled by enthusiasts lacking relevant specialized managerial skills. From this we get results that are a far cry from what could have been achieved with more professionalized staff. "
   
• Adam Wolf, CEO, Danish Regions 
  "There is no doubt that innovation in health care will remain a focus area for years to come. Our innovation projects lack the skills to effectively connect the private and public sector, and a new MSc in health care innovation can contribute importantly to these skills. Neither clinical experts nor traditional bureaucrats have been trained in project management. This is one of the aspects we are missing in our work with health care innovation. It is important that the MSc in Innovation in Health Care will strengthen the ability to work with project management, including performance management of time and budgets and stakeholder involvement ".
   
• Bent Ottesen, Professor, Director of the project on The Future of the Juliane Marie Centre at Rigshospitalet)
  "It is important to educate a new type of professional innovation specialists and to get them integrated into hospitals. When it comes to innovation we are still at the level of amateurs. We need a professionalization of health care innovation. Hospitals are also ready to take innovation seriously. About 10 years ago I could not mention the words "Lean" or "innovation" without being hissed off. Today it's totally different, it meets full acceptance, and things have change profoundly.
   
• IHC was given the following comment by Thomas Kirk Vilsbøll, CEO, Falck Healthcare In Berlingske Tidende,  Nov. 9,  2011,  
  "The fact that now that the business school and with a clear business-oriented perspective going in and dealing with health, is incredibly interesting for a company like ours, working primarily with health in the workplace and prevention of diseases. There has been lacking a market-driven approach that meets the needs of both the companies, that are our customers, and employees themselves as well as society as a whole. Therefore, the combination of the two roads into the sector - the health sciences and the business-oriented – is spot on."
  
  Therefore we are ready to embrace graduates from this new degree, and I have no doubt that there is a need for them. It is important that hospitals have the opportunity to hire candidates with a solid education in this field. It is a great advantage for hospitals to get access to graduates with a broader professional skill set, embracing the entire field of innovation. I think that training in the innovation skills of health care should fill such a MSc programme entirely".

 

Digital Innovation in Health Care

Course	ECTS
Frontiers of Digital Healthcare	7.5
Digital Services and Innovation in Health Care	15
Register Based Epidemiology (at UCPH)*	7.5

*Takes place at University of Copenhagen (Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences)

Health Technology Assessment

Course	ECTS
Empirical Methods in Health Care Innovation	7.5
Health Innovation Assessment and Advanced Cost Benefit	15
Register Based Epidemiology (at UCPH)*	7.5

*Takes place at University of Copenhagen (Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences)

Health Care Entrepreneurship

Course	ECTS
Innovation Challenges in BioBusiness	7.5
Bio-Markets	7.5
Bioentrepreneurship	7.5
Finance and Accounting in Bio-Business	7.5