MSc/PGDip/PGCert Health Informatics (UCL/UoM Joint Award) / Course details

This course focuses on how information and information technology are used in the organisation and delivery of healthcare.

Our MSc in Health Informatics (jointly awarded by The University of Manchester and UCL) offers an innovative and exciting training in a uniquely challenging and important field.

Our blended learning MSc will equip you with the skills to work in this exciting field by providing:

• a unique combination of personal learning, theoretical challenge and practical application;
•  blended approach which combines face-to-face contact and distance learning, harnessing the advantages of both across two campus;
• flexible study allowing you to complete the programme full-time in one year, or flexibly over up to five years;
• engagement with leading thinkers in the field across the UK and internationally;
• participation in a thriving network of academics, clinicians and informatics professionals.

Our programme is suitable for health professionals currently in work or graduate students.

The University of Manchester and UCL are uniquely placed to provide the health informatics training required for a modern health service.

You will have access to the largest UK health informatics faculty, including researchers who develop and apply solutions in a range of healthcare settings and direct national programmes in research education/training.

In 2020 we have written a new textbook Developing Medical Apps and Health Interventions and have published core competencies for clinical informaticians across the UK with the Faculty of Clinical Informatics.  

Both institutions sit in two of the largest regional health economies in the UK, hosting the greatest concentration of digital-led NHS programmes. Eight professors and 13 senior academics contribute to the programme, alongside NHS and industry professionals.

PhD with integrated master's

If you're planning to undertake a PhD after your master's, our Integrated PhD programme will enable you to combine your postgraduate taught course with a related PhD project in biology, medicine or health.

You can also visit this page for examples of projects related to integrated master's courses.

The programme aims to:

• provide you with the skills to manage healthcare systems;
• provide you with an understanding of the healthcare system, from treatment of individuals to the wider population;
• emphasise the importance of informatics in patient driven healthcare;
• embed key health informatics principles, concepts and skills in students' working practices;
• combine leadership and transferable skills with technical skills training.

The programme is delivered via blended learning, which combines online learning and short three day sessions on campus either at UCL or The University of Manchester.

Each taught module is delivered largely online over eight or nine weeks with a short block of intensive face-to-face teaching. The online element includes video lectures, podcasts, written material as well as interactive exercises and discussions. The face-to-face teaching includes lectures, seminars, problem-based workshops and experiential learning.

Though designed to suit students in full- time work, it is also offered to students who register as full-time and complete all elements of the programme in a single academic year.

The programme will encourage intellectual curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. It will teach transferable skills for lifelong learning and cultivate reflective practice. The content reflects the changing needs of healthcare.

We see learning and teaching as collaborative 'knowledge construction', which recognises the contribution of all stakeholders (academic staff, service users and carers, and students).

This is demonstrated in the programme through contributions made by these stakeholders, providing case-studies, examples, invited seminars and participation in group work.

We will promote translational thinking so that informatics knowledge, know-how, skills and understanding are applied to new health challenges to ensure that informatics is embedded as an enabler of change.

The structure of the programme ensures that you will share this knowledge with each other and learn to work in teams.

Programme delivery

This programme is mostly delivered online with 3 day problem-based face-to-face workshops on campus hosted either at The University of Manchester or UCL.

You will use a number of assessed and non-assessed activities to develop key skills and expand your knowledge base. There is a mix of assessment: written assignments, exam, group work and other activities such as moderated discussion boards.

The University of Manchester offers extensive library and online services to help you get the most out of your studies.