Healthcare and social welfare is undergoing major changes, and digitalisation plays a significant role in solving the challenges facing the healthcare and social welfare sector. The situation is similar both in Finland and throughout Europe. The development of digital solutions requires wholly new competence from professionals in the sector, and a brand new international degree programme rises up to this challenge.  

The Master of Managing Digital Transformation in the Health Sector degree programme has been designed in collaboration between four European higher education institutions. Laurea University of Applied Sciences, ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa from Portugal, Gustave Eiffel University from France and the Greek Aristotle University of Thessaloniki are involved in developing the programme. 

Studying in the degree programme will take place online in English, and the first students will start their studies in autumn 2024. The scope of the degree is the same as the other master’s degree programmes completed at Laurea. 

Application period runs through 4 March – 22 March 2024 and 15 April – 15 May 2024. Learn more about the master's degree programme.

Unique multidisciplinary opportunity for students 

The degree programme is the first of its kind, combining three areas in a unique way: social services and health care, digitalisation and business operations. The Principal Lecturer, Head of Degree Programme Ruusa Ligthart and Principal Lecturer, Project Manager Outi Ahonen are responsible for launching the degree programme at Laurea. They emphasise the opportunities that this exact multidisciplinary approach can bring:  

– The challenges associated with the change in the healthcare and social welfare sector in Finland and globally are very complex. These challenges cannot be solved by professionals in one field alone but, instead, there is a need for new, versatile competence, they summarise.  

– This is exactly the kind of multidisciplinary competence that the degree programme we are launching will produce, and there is a clear societal need for this competence both in Finland and internationally.

In addition to the multidisciplinary perspective, the degree programme also offers students an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the digitalisation of the healthcare and social welfare sector as a whole from a European perspective. While EU countries have a lot in common in terms of laws and regulations, at the same time, approaches to healthcare and social welfare also differ across Europe. Indeed, in the degree programme, the students get to know about their differences and similarities and learn about the best practices of different models. 

Each higher education institution has its strengths 

Each of the four higher education institutions involved in the degree programme brings its specific strengths to the joint education. Each institution is responsible for certain studies, but a multidisciplinary and international group of teachers is compiled for the study units.  

The planning of the new degree programme was launched at the beginning of 2023, in the Master of Managing Digital Transformation in the Health Sector (ManagiDiTH) project. The project funded by the European Commission is coordinated by ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon. At the beginning of the project, research has been carried out in each of the four countries on what kinds of skills are needed in the healthcare and social welfare sector and in which areas competence should be increased.  

– The results of these studies show that the challenges faced by different countries are similar, and it is precisely these challenges that we are starting to solve in the degree programme, explains Principal Lecturer, Project Manager Outi Ahonen.  

The contents of the degree programme have been created to meet labour market demands. Principal Lecturer, Head of Degree Programme Ruusa Ligthart describes the work as follows: 

– It has been rewarding to build the content of this degree programme together with the European partners. This unique degree programme offers students a multidisciplinary and international environment for their studies in healthcare and social welfare, Ligthart emphasises.  

– I encourage people from different backgrounds to find out more about the degree programme, as the healthcare and social welfare sector will need new competence in the future, which we aim to offer with this degree programme.

Learn more about the programme and apply now

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