Health Service Improvement and Evaluation (Taught)

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.

The MSc in Health Service Improvement and Evaluation (HSIE) will prepare you to be a global changemaker, with the theory and practical skills to implement health service improvements and evaluations in today's complex healthcare environment.

The course aims to give students the conceptual tools and skills to understand complex health systems and improve quality of care in different contexts.

After completion of the course, it is anticipated that you will be able to:

• Identify and analyse health system challenges (the context) and areas for improvement / intervention

• Apply strategies to design improvements and interventions addressing different health service challenges, drawing on literature and relevant theories and frameworks

• Conceptualise, justify and design plans for the evaluation of interventions in health services

• Apply learning to create a health service improvement and evaluation project plan

• Communicate plans and outputs clearly through oral and written communication, both individually and in teams, drawing on relevant literature, theories and frameworks.

Course structure
The course is divided into six compulsory modules.

Modules 1 to 5 are taught sequentially over the first two terms, and build on each other to develop knowledge and skills to intervene to improve quality of healthcare and evaluate complex interventions in different contexts. Module 6 focuses on employability and builds skills alongside modules 1-5. It continues into third term, along with a dissertation in the form of a mock funding proposal.

The department's teaching style encourages active learning, with discussion and collaboration between peers, lecturers and tutors. Class time is balanced between theoretical teaching sessions, and time dedicated to investigation and application of that knowledge – either in facilitated activities during class, or through projects (individually and in teams).

Over the course, you will become more independent in your learning towards completing your dissertation project.

Students will be given the option of graduating with a Post Graduate Diploma (PGDip) as an exit award, if they are unable to submit their dissertation, fail the dissertation after a resit, or do not wish to resubmit the dissertation component, provided they have passed all other assessments in line with regulations.