MSc in Healthcare Management
€13,750/€22,000
Become a solution-focused leader with the online MSc in Healthcare Management from the RCSI Graduate School of Healthcare Management.
Masters
2 years
Online - Part-time
90 ECTS
September 2025
About
Learn online at your own pace and acquire the skills to lead effective solutions for optimal patient care with the MSc in Healthcare Management from RCSI's Graduate School of Healthcare Management.
Over six taught modules you'll explore topics such as leadership leadership and change management, teamwork and performance management, quality and risk management, strategic management, project management and process mapping as well as financial and accounting within healthcare organisations.
The programme also includes an action research project, preparing you to take your learning into your workplace and be ideally placed to ensure the delivery and configuration of high-quality healthcare services. Learn to lead and manage change, respond to challenges and accelerate impact within your organisation.
Designed for professionals seeking to drive change and improve patient outcomes in healthcare settings you can study online at your own pace. This programme runs over two years part-time, and is delivered online.
Develop skills for the management of healthcare systems
Effectively manage people, finances, and organisational dynamics
Lead and manage change efficiently
Suitable for
This programme is ideal for healthcare professionals including: doctors, managers, nurses, allied health professionals, interdisciplinary health and social care workers, clinical specialists, and administrators. It is also relevant for those in medical supplies, the pharmaceutical sector, and healthcare regulation.
What you will learn
Learn about organisational structure, teamwork, and change management
Explore patient journey, lean management, and project management tools
Discover leadership styles, strategy design, and organisational analysis
Understand financial accounts, cash flow, and budgeting
Study quality improvement, patient safety, and risk management
Learn about data collection, analysis, and evidence-based practice
Develop a quality improvement intervention or a change roadmap for implementation
What our students say
Testimonial
"From this course, I gained the skills to go to meetings without feeling intimidated or put off by the terminology; instead, I am confident and can keep up, understand, lead and advocate for change."
"Because of the grounding we got in strategic planning, I was able to research and develop the changes that I wanted to bring about in our clinic."
“As a doctor, I think you get to a stage in your life and career where you want to take a lead role in driving change. My goal is to set up my own clinic, and this course gave me the skills to do that.”
"I worked on the clinical integration team for the high-tech areas of the new children's hospital. I’m so glad that I had the chance to study Healthcare Management at RCSI, as it will make a real difference to the lives of children and their families."
"It was a great opportunity to see Irish healthcare from many different perspectives and, perhaps best of all, I learned more about how to bring about positive changes to Irish healthcare."
Hear from RCSI Alumna We'am Maher about her Healthcare Management story and how she’s thriving in her operations role at one of the largest private healthcare providers in the United Arab Emirates.
Hear from RCSI Alumna Laura Dowling, who shares her personal experiences of studying the MSc in Healthcare Management programme and her professional progression since graduating from RCSI.
Faculty highlight
Biography
Dr Éidín Ní Shé
Dr Ní Shé excels in fostering collaboration among policymakers, healthcare professionals, and academics, with a focus on improving care and leadership in healthcare. She is a Senior Lecturer at the RCSI Graduate School of Healthcare Management (GSM) and programme director of the MSc in Healthcare Management.
Read more
Register your interest
Course information
This programme will provide you with the skills and knowledge to:
- Understand the complexity and determinants of health and healthcare systems.
- Understand management, the role of the manager in healthcare and understanding how organisations work.
- Manage resources – effectively managing people, finance and organisations.
- Manage across boundaries – evaluating how services can best be configured and delivered.
- Team work effectively and manage multi-disciplinary teams.
- Develop leadership, personal and professional learning and development skills.
| Module name | Description |
|---|---|
| Module 1: Managing Organisations and People (10 ECTS) |
This module introduces you to organisational structure and culture, teamwork, conflict, power and influence, and change management. You will also learn how to use analytical management tools. The module is supported by the development of your individual electronic portfolio. |
| Module 2: Operations & Management and Quality (10 ECTS) |
In this module you will examine the patient journey using process mapping, identifying areas for improvement and discussing the concept of lean management. Project management tools are introduced and applied as part of the learning. |
| Module 3: Leadership and Strategic Management (10 ECTS) |
Different approaches to leadership and your preferred leadership style are explored here. You will learn how to design and implement strategy using a wide variety of tools to understand the external environment and assess the internal strengths and weaknesses of your organisation. |
| Module 4: Managing Finance in Healthcare Organisations (10 ECTS) |
This module introduces you to financial and management accounting. Topics covered include: preparation and interpretation of financial accounts, working capital, cash flow forecasting, budgeting and costs and costing. |
| Module 5: Quality and Risk Management (10 ECTS) |
Quality maintenance and improvement is necessary in healthcare given the imperative of maximising patient safety. In this module, you will explore the concepts of quality, safety and risk and examine current best-practice in a variety of healthcare contexts. |
| Module 6: Evaluation, Measurement and Research (10 ECTS) |
Modern health services require a complex range of information to support evidence-based practice. In this module, you will learn how to collect, analyse, interpret and present valid data as a foundation for evidence based practice. |
| HCM Capstone Planned Project (30 ECTS) |
A capstone dissertation brings together your learnings from the six modules and encourages you to reflect and think critically on a specific project. In line with the international best practice of increasing the diversity of assessment methods and student choice in assessment, the Graduate School of Healthcare Management offers you two options to fulfil the Year 2 requirements. Use your learning from Year 1, in conjunction with Year 2 seminars you will choose one option to undertake in Year 2: Option A Co-design: Develop a co-designed quality improvement intervention for implementation into practice. You will identify a participatory co-design process that will bring together service users, clinical and non-clinical staff and, relevant support and advocacy groups to work together to improve or refine elements of the health and social care system, services or processes. Option B Change: Develop a change roadmap for implementation into practice. You will identify a project within a real-life health or social care context and articulate the strategic areas of change required to be ready for implementation. Year 2 of the programme is an exciting and beneficial opportunity for students dedicated to understanding and leading context specific healthcare change. |
The below timetable is provisional and subject to change.
A confirmed timetable for the 2025-26 academic year will be provided in due course.
Semester 1
- Orientation: 8 September 2025
- Module 1: 22 September 2025
- Module 2: 3 November 2025
Semester 2
- Module 3: 5 January 2026
- Module 4: 16 February 2026
- Module 5: 30 March 2026
Continuous assessment including a capstone planned project/dissertation.
We are proud to be a recognised University of the National University of Ireland (NUI). All RCSI programmes are accredited by the NUI.
Recognition by Ministries and bodies in all jurisdictions must be determined by the individual applicants.
We are pleased to confirm that a number of our recent graduates who are domiciled in the United Arab Emirates and in the Kingdom of Bahrain have successfully had their certificates recognised by the Ministry of Education in their respective countries.
Admissions
To be eligible for the programme you must:
- Hold a bachelor degree. If you don’t hold a bachelor degree, please see the recognition of prior learning pathway outlined below.
- Be working in the healthcare industry.
Learning occurs in many contexts including work, involvement in social and community activities, or learning through life experience generally. RPL does not give credit for experience as such – rather, it considers the learning that was acquired as a result of the experience.
RPL may be used to gain:
- Admission to courses/programmes where a person may not have obtained the standard entry requirements.
- Exemptions from course modules which duplicate the learning outcomes an individual has already demonstrably acquired through prior learning.
You must meet the English language requirements (unless exempt): IELTS score of 6.5, Duolingo 105-110, or equivalent score on another standardised test. Please see below for list of exemptions.
Exemptions may apply for:
- If you have completed your school or undergraduate studies (three or more years) through English in a country where English is the majority native language.
- If you have completed your school or undergraduate studies (three or more years) in an English speaking institution in a country where English is not the majority native language and where an IELTS score of 5 or more was a requirement for admissions to the programme.
- If you have been working in a country (three years or more) where English is the majority native language or for an employer where English language is the official language.
- Graduates of an RCSI Undergraduate, Masters or Professional Diploma programme in Dublin and Bahrain.
Please note: Certified proof must be uploaded as part of your application.
EU applicants
- Year 1: €8,800
- Year 2: €4,950
Non-EU applicants
- Year 1: €14,000
- Year 2: €8,000
| Year 1 | Date | EU | Non-EU |
| 1st payment | On acceptance of offer | €2,200 | €3,500 |
| 2nd payment | 30 November 2025 | €2,200 | €3,500 |
| 3rd payment | 31 January 2026 | €2,200 | €3,500 |
| 4th payment | 31 March 2026 | €2,200 | €3,500 |
| Year 2 | Date | EU | Non-EU |
| 1st payment | 12 September 2026 | €2,475 | €4,000 |
| 2nd payment | 31 January 2027 | €2,475 | €4,000 |
Please note
- Fee includes all resources, access to our award-winning online learning portal and access to extensive RCSI-only databases.
- Fee includes an NUI fee.
- Fee is payable via the above schedule, where relevant.
- If you have outstanding fees you will not be entitled to receive your grades or be eligible to progress and or graduate (VLE and Library privileges will be withdrawn in these cases).
- RCSI accepts no obligation to refund any fee, or part thereof, in respect of a student who chooses to withdraw from a programme.
- If you choose to withdraw from a programme you are liable for full fees owed for the seat on that programme.
- All NUI parchments are issued in Latin; you will be required to pay an additional fee of €50 to NUI if you wish to have a parchment published in English.
- Fees are subject to review annually.
- If you are being sponsored or funded by your employer you should upload a funding confirmation letter in the document upload section on the application portal.
How to apply
Applications for the MSc in Healthcare Management are now open for autumn 2025. There is only one intake each year, starting in September. Please begin your application by completing the form below.
Please ensure to attach the following supporting documents with your application:
- Clear copy of a valid passport.
- Copies of your academic transcripts/degree
- Copy of your CV
- English proficiency test (If required)
Already begun your application? Complete it via our application portal now.
Continue your application