The Graduate Certificate of Health Professions Education will qualify you to apply principles and theories that inform educational practice in a range of clinical and other relevant contexts to undertake professional and highly skilled work and as a pathway for further learning. This practice-based qualification is suitable for a broad range of health professionals who are, or will be, engaged in the teaching, assessment, evaluation, mentoring and supervision of health professionals in a range of clinical and other contexts.

The two year Master’s specialization in Philosophy, Bioethics and Health will provide you with the theoretical and practical tools to deal with ethical issues in health care. You will learn how to reflect on practical problems from a medical, moral, legal, political and economic perspective. The need for interdisciplinary reflection is growing as developments within society lead to new challenges in health care. For example shifts in responsibility: patients are expected to take greater responsibility for their own health and to ’manage themselves’ and insurers are becoming responsible for both the cost and the quality of health care provisions. In addition, there are many rapid scientific and technological developments to take into account: from knowledge of the genetic basis of diseases, pre-implantation diagnosis and IVF, to the use of plastic surgery for aesthetic enhancement. Then there are the problems of just allocation caused by the growing number of treatment options for all kinds of diseases and the growing number of people living well into old age. Such developments cause a change in the medical ethical agenda. In the specialization Philosophy, Bioethics and Health, you will acquire expertise in the area where medical ethics meets neuroscience and mental health. The specific expertise you will acquire at VU Amsterdam is not covered by other Master’s programs in the Netherlands. It is the result of close collaboration between Faculty of Humanities at VU Amsterdam and the Department of Medical Humanities at VU Medical Center, and the backgrounds of the course coordinators and academic staff. With Philosophy, Bioethics and Health you will be an attractive candidate for the position of clinical ethicist or advisor to the management and the board within health-care organizations, health insurance companies, medical ethical committees and other organizations dealing with societal and ethical issues in healthcare.

Philosophy and Bioethics Curriculum

The PBH curriculum includes 30 EC in Philosophy, 30 EC in Master courses Health Sciences, or Medicine, or Psychology, 30 EC in Master courses PBH, 12 EC practical training and winter school in Oxford, 18 EC for the individual Master’s thesis, in total 120 EC.

In the Healthcare Management specialization you will be thoroughly immersed in understanding the key elements of managing healthcare organizations. Upon completion of the specialization you will be fully prepared to become a smart leader in the healthcare industry.

The MS in health systems administration program builds on a foundation of courses in policy and law formation, healthcare economics, finance, insurance reform, innovation, information technology, systems, operations and leadership. The course work is centered on skills and knowledge sets identified and endorsed by national health care leadership organizations. Graduates of the program are prepared to assume clinical and business leadership roles across the diverse healthcare industry. The health care industry is changing rapidly due to healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act. The MS degree encompasses course work that provides students with in-depth knowledge in areas key required for effective management of healthcare organizations such as:

• Research
• Governance and economics
• Finance
• Health insurance
• Process improvement
• Project management and informatics

The curriculum also provides graduates a broad view of health care issues that administrators and leaders must be prepared to deal with effectively. Students will also be prepared to develop and implement plans designed to create and steer health care organizations of the future. Graduates will not only lead today’s healthcare organizations, they will create patient-centered facilities of the future.

Plan of study

The program requires 39 credit hours at the graduate level and can be completed in two years or less. Students may complete the program on a part-time basis. Students must maintain a 3.0 grade point average. Toward the end of their program of study, students complete a capstone project consisting of a community research experience.

This 6-year Master Degree aims at forming professional doctors with biomedical and psychosocial knowledge as well as a multidisciplinary, integrated vision of the problems linked to health and diseases. They shall have an open approach to communities, local areas, disease prevention and health promotion, but also a humanistic culture to be applied to relevant medical aspects. The course has a distinctive feature, i.e. it is held completely in English to prepare learners for a full and informed exchange at international levels. The Degree includes Italian language courses to communicate with patients.

The doctoral programme in Biomedicine and the Health Sciences is aimed at offering an attractive opportunity for specialising in these areas, providing students with a state-of-the-art knowledge of concepts and skills related to basic and clinical aspects and of the research methodology employed in the various fields of Biomedicine.