Adrian Georghe, a recent MSc in Health Economics and Health Policy graduate, discusses his time on the full-time course at University of Birmingham.
Duration: 4:22mins
Speakers
S1 Adrian Georghe, MSc in Health Economics and Health Policy graduate
Transcript
S1 My name’s Adrian Georghe, I’m from Romania and I graduated from the MSc Health Economics and Health Policy in 2010. After having graduated I started a PhD in health economics and I’m based in primary care clinical sciences now.
What were you doing prior to studying at Birmingham?
S1 Well I graduated from Management and Pharmacy and I literally came to the MSc two days after having graduated from Pharmacy, so it’s a bit of a short story.
What was your main motivation for applying to Birmingham?
S1 What I really liked about the programme was the specific health policy component which I was interested in and also I thought an advantage of the programme was a good mix of students like me with no experience and health professionals. I thought this mix would give the programme a good outcome.
What did you enjoy most about the programme?
S1 I think what I really liked was that within the teaching sessions there was a lot of time left for discussions and debates, which definitely used the students/health professionals mix that I was talking about to the maximum. Also the staff of the health economics unit is very friendly and helpful. Also a plus is that we received feedback, intermediate feedback, for essays and assignments just halfway through, just to make sure that we were on the right track. I think that was helpful.
What challenges did you face whilst on the programme?
S1 I think time management was one of them. The MSc is delivered in block week sessions, so you have a full week of teaching and then you have two or three weeks where you have no academic activities at all, you have time to prepare for essays and assignments. Now this may seem like a long time, three weeks, without having to come to uni formally but it’s actually not a lot of time at all if you want to do the job properly. So time management is really really important. Also I found it a bit challenging coming from a different country to come to grips with the UK institutions and frameworks. The MSc is particularly focused on the UK healthcare system so this was a bit challenging at the beginning but the health economics unit provided some induction sessions on the UK NHS which made things a bit easier.
Was it difficult to balance the course with other commitments?
S1 In my case it was quite all right, I actually had time to be a member of s sports team at the uni so I think I managed to organise my time fairly well, but this again depends on every individual.
How has this programme changed your career prospects?
S1 Well, health economics is a growing field and there will definitely be a need for health economists in the future. Now, having come from a clinical background, pharmacy, I would say that this programme is likely to make me more employable because it widens the perspective towards the larger issues in the healthcare system.
What advice would you give to students thinking of applying?
S1 Well I would say try and gather as much information about the programme as you can. The staff from the health economics unit are helpful in responses so you’ll get all the information you need as long as you ask. If you want something new and exciting in terms of healthcare issues, I think that’s the programme for you.
End of recording