Healthcare Leadership

Education / Social and healthcare

Are you a healthcare professional, ready to take the next step and respond to the new needs within your field? Do you see yourself as a leader open to digitalisation, innovation and sustainability in healthcare? If so, our online master’s degree programme is perfect for you!

  • Degree title
    Master of Healthcare
  • Delivery method
    Online
  • Level
    Master's programme
  • Language
    English
  • Scope
    90 ECTS
  • Education duration
    1,5 or 3 years
  • Entry requirements
    In order to meet the eligibility criteria, the applicant must have a suitable bachelor's degree in nursing, midwifery, public health nursing, occupational therapy, emergency care, physiotherapy, sports and physical education or social care, and a minimum of two years (24 months) of relevant work experience gained after the completion of the bachelor's degree.

Simona Dell'Angelo
graduate (2021)

Simona Dell'Angelo
Learning everything by heart doesn’t automatically make you a good leader – it’s your attitude that will make the difference. I find the approach to leadership in this master’s degree programme to be very hands-on with theory easily translated into practice.

Programme

The online master’s degree programme Healthcare Leadership will support you to become a change leader. The Nordic social and healthcare sector faces rapid shifts brought about by digitalisation, privatisation and demographic changes. Especially the development in health technology has with recent implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) evolved rapidly and calls for leaders that can understand and utilize health technology and effectively harness innovation.  

In this programme, you will be given the opportunity to explore new leadership techniques, discover your leadership strengths and expand your professional horizon. The programme consists of two main focus areas; Healthcare Leadership and Health Technology. 

Within  Healthcare Leadership we focus on the broad overview of leadership theories, change and transformational leadership, personal leadership behaviour, team-behaviour, cultural awareness, and systems thinking. You will get a broad overview of leadership theories and learn creative and critical thinking skills required for successful leadership. The focus on Health Technology provides a broad overview of health technology healthcare and focuses on healthcare leadership in the age of Artificial Intelligence.

You will analyse, critically evaluate and develop both projects and your own personal leadership style. The programme also makes you eligible for doctoral studies.

You can choose between completing the programme in one and a half years (full-time studies) or in three years (part-time studies).

What you will learn

  • Leadership competence
  • Change and innovative competence
  • Collective sensemaking competence
  • Technological and ethical competence
  • Applied advanced research competence

As development and digital communication is in focus, you will also strengthen your competencies to:

  • Work proactively and multiprofessionally contributing to smart service development and digital communication with the client at the centre
  • Compare and evaluate knowledge about digital innovations
  • Understand the principles of user-centred service design to be applied in healthcare

Arcada – a window to the Nordics

Arcada, with its wide Nordic network and long experience of leadership in the social and healthcare sector, is a self-evident home for master studies combining healthcare and leadership from a Nordic perspective. The common Nordic landscape for future healthcare arrangements offers us a dynamic and interesting starting point for learning and exploring different best practices.

Flexible and completely online

We offer a flexible online study programme which enables you to work alongside your studies. With several years of experience of delivering degrees online, you can rest assured that the online tuition at Arcada is of high quality. Our pedagogics are rooted in problem-based and student-driven learning. We believe that learning happens when you get to be active and ask questions. However, our teachers continuously offer you support, guidance and feedback, ensuring that you are not left alone with your studies.

In practice, all lectures, coaching and assignments are handled online. Lectures will usually be held on Tuesdays 15:00–17:00, with the exception of the Leadership online conference in February that is an all-day event. We expect you to take part in online discussions once a week, usually in the evenings. There are only online lectures (no campus visits are needed) and there are no lectures during weekends.

Specialise according to your own interests

You do assignments individually and as group work. The master’s thesis project (30 ECTS) is a development and research project with the aim of developing Nordic healthcare. The project gives you the possibility to specialise according to your own interests. Through the thesis project you get to demonstrate your skills to systematically work solutions to a practical problem.

Tuition fees and scholarships

All students enrolled in the programme are expected to have a laptop they can use in their studies.

Please note that applicants from countries outside the European Union/EEA are required to pay tuition fees. No scholarships are available for master's degree studies, but we do have an early bird offer. Learn more on our Application pages.