Hello,
I have just joined this forum after reading many of the helpful discussions.

I work in the NHS and have a professional/clinical background. Over the last 10 years and increasingly in the last three, I have successfully taken on more management responsibilities of services and teams and have been involved in service development. I would like to take the step into gaining more specialist knowledge of operational management and strategic leadership in healthcare in the public or private sector. The content of a number of MBA programmes have caught my interest.

I am considering the Manchester Global MBA or the Imperial EMBA. I want to continue working while studying, however, a number of programmes (Warwick and Cranfield, for example) require quite a lot of time out of London (where I am based).

While my employer is broadly supportive, I will have to find the time and the fees.

Can anyone make recommendations based on my interest in health care and my particular circumstances in terms of modes of study? I am not inclined to pursue an online programme (OU, for example) because I would really like to have the opportunity to work closely with others in project groups. This might be a contradiction in terms of my inability to travel away from London, but the Imperial EMBA can be completed by attending an alternate weekday or one weekend a month.

Thanks very much! Any advice will be gratefully received.

Hi, and welcome to the Find MBA discussion board.

Both of the programs you mentioned, the Global MBA at Manchester and the Imperial EMBA, are pretty good programs. In terms of the professional capacities of their respective cohorts, the Imperial program would probably be more suited to where you are at, experience-wise.

Other than those, why not check out LBS' EMBA (meets consecutive Fridays and Saturday of alternate weeks) and the Cass EMBA, where there's a weekend option that meets once a month for 2 years.

You might also look into executive education courses, which can be helpful for surgical skill development and to learn about new topics. I think this is especially important in a field like healthcare. You might also find that your employer might have more of an appetite to cover executive education short executive education courses, versus an expensive degree program that lasts years.

This course at Ashridge, called Healthcare in Flux: Developing Resilient Change Leaders, looks interesting:
http://www.nextexecutive.com/courses/3027

Oxford/Said occasionally has health-oriented courses - They just finished a really interesting leadership development program about delivering healthcare to remote parts of Africa. You can see their listings here:

http://www.nextexecutive.com/schools/oxford-said

Hello Ralph,

Thank you very much for your helpfully detailed reply and for the additional leads you suggested. Can I do better than "pretty good" or are these programmes well regarded? I have looked into Cass and LBS and feel that they are more finance oriented than I would like, though this MIT be a misconception.

You make a very good point about my employer's possible willingness to support more tailored programmes, and I will look into the Asmhridge course.

How do you rate the Henley programme? What about Lancaster?

Thanks again for your help. As you know it is a big investment of time and money so I want to be as thorough as I can be.

Regards,

Think again about LBS being finance-oriented. Ask the admissions team to put you in touch with a healthcare alumnus. LBS is a huge school, and it's strong at everything.

The question is which skills you want to develop. These are very different programmes.

Thanks, Duncan.

You are right to suggest that I reconsider LBS. Most of my thinking about LBS are related to my finances. While my employer is not opposed to my undertaking an MBA, I will have to self-fund, and frankly the fees at LBS put it out of reach.

In the last few days, I have been considering the Henley EMBA, which has been highly recommended by a colleague.

I would be grateful for your views on the various merits or strengths of Manchester, Imperial and Henley. Because of my professional background, I have some of of the soft-skills, but I want to work in a programme with an emphasis on live business applications that will have some relevance to my current area of work while providing enough scope for other possible developments in related areas. I also would like to work in groups and learn from the skills and experiences of other people on the programme.

Again, your thoughts will be much appreciated.

Regards, BM

Manchester is a great course but you'll learn more from something with more face to face time. Henley, Imperial and Ashridge are all strong choices. Henley will expect you to have access to data from your organisation: make sure you have access. You can't go wrong with any of those three.

Thanks, Duncan.

I also heard today that Imperial has more of a reputation in the scientific/research fields and that as a business school, it was less well regarded. Clearly, you do not agree. What do you think gives it an edge?

I have also heard that Imperial is very strong on developing entrepeneurial ability. Interestingly, the two alumni that I spoke with moved to develop start-ups. Perhaps the NHS could use more of that.

PS assured advice and also excellent tip re: Henley!

No, actually I would agree that "Imperial has more of a reputation in the scientific/research fields and that as a business school, it was less well regarded". However, since you are ruling out higher quality, more costly alternatives it should be one of the options you consider.

Considering that you're worried about time out of London, why don't you see if any universities around you feature an executive education program? This won't have the weight of an MBA or eMBA, but will definitely help you acquire the leadership skills you mentioned.