MSc in Health Service Improvement and Evaluation
About the course
The MSc in Health Service Improvement and Evaluation (HSIE) is a one-year, full-time course that 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 MSc HSIE 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, 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:
- Health systems and HSIE foundations.
- The methods toolbox - gathering and assessing evidence.
- Investigating context: safety, quality and health system performance
- Designing interventions and planning implementation
- Programme implementation and evaluation
- Core skills in health systems research and practice
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.
Attendance
The course is full-time and requires attendance in Oxford. Full-time students are subject to the University's Residence requirements.
Resources to support your study
As a graduate student, you will have access to the University's wide range of world-class resources including libraries, museums, galleries, digital resources and IT services.
The Bodleian Libraries is the largest library system in the UK. It includes the main Bodleian Library and libraries across Oxford, including major research libraries and faculty, department and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 13 million printed items, provide access to e-journals, and contain outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera.
The University's IT Services is available to all students to support with core university IT systems and tools, as well as many other services and facilities. IT Services also offers a range of IT learning courses for students, to support with learning and research.
Supervision
The allocation of graduate supervision is the responsibility of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. A supervisor may be found outside the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine.
You will be allocated an academic advisor to support you through the course.
For the team project, a tutor is assigned to each team to provide support for the project work and for individual students to work constructively within their team.
For the dissertation, the supervisor(s) and academic advisor will provide support.
Assessment
The MSc is assessed in three parts:
Portfolio 1
The foundational content from modules 1, 2 and 6 are examined through submission of two pieces of written work, assessed at the start of the second term.
Portfolio 2
A team project runs over modules 3, 4 and 5 to explore a specific context, design a theory-based intervention to address a challenge, plan the implementation and design an evaluation. This project is assessed with an oral team presentation at the end of the second term, and three individual written submissions due at the start of the third term.
Dissertation
The dissertation requires the application of knowledge and skills from all six modules to develop a mock funding proposal, due mid-August of the same academic year
Graduate destinations
The skills and practical experience gained in this MSc will enable students to excel in sectors ranging from ministries of health, policy-making, national health systems, clinical improvement and academia, to multi-lateral, bilateral and non-governmental organisations.
Changes to this course and your supervision
The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made if a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency occurs. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.
Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.
For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.
Entry requirements for entry in 2025-26
Proven and potential academic excellence
The requirements described below are specific to this course and apply only in the year of entry that is shown. You can use our interactive tool to help you evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive.
We know that factors such as socio-economic circumstances and school performance can make it difficult for students to demonstrate their full potential. This course is taking part in an initiative to use contextual data to help us to better understand your achievements in the context of your individual background. For further details, please refer to the information about improving access to graduate study in the How to apply section of this page.
Please be aware that any studentships that are linked to this course may have different or additional requirements and you should read any studentship information carefully before applying. Contextual data may also be used in the assessment of studentships.
Degree-level qualifications
As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:
- a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours.
The above qualification should be achieved in a subject related to :
- anthropology
- biological sciences
- bioinformatics
- economics
- engineering
- epidemiology
- geography
- health professions (including medicine, nursing, and allied health professions)
- pharmacology
- public health
- psychology
- political sciences
- social sciences
- statistics.
If you do not have a formal qualification in one of the above areas, you should demonstrate substantial relevant experience in your statement of purpose.
For applicants with a bachelor's degree from the USA, the minimum overall GPA that is normally required to meet the undergraduate-level requirement is 3.5 out of 4.0.
If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.
GRE General Test scores
No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.
Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience
- One year or more of relevant experience in the work environment (including unpaid, formal employment and/or internships), especially in global health, clinical or service delivery contexts or monitoring and evaluation.
- Experience in the health service sector is desirable but not required, either through study or work experience (including unpaid, formal employment, internships).
English language proficiency
This course requires proficiency in English at the University's higher level. If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. The minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level are detailed in the table below.
| Test | Minimum overall score | Minimum score per component |
|---|---|---|
| IELTS Academic (Institution code: 0713) | 7.5 | 7.0 |
TOEFL iBT, including the 'Home Edition' (Institution code: 0490) | 110 | Listening: 22 Reading: 24 Speaking: 25 Writing: 24 |
| C1 Advanced* | 191 | 185 |
| C2 Proficiency† | 191 | 185 |
*Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)
†Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)
Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. Our Application Guide provides further information about the English language test requirement.
Declaring extenuating circumstances
If your ability to meet the entry requirements has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (eg you were awarded an unclassified/ungraded degree) or any other exceptional personal circumstance (eg other illness or bereavement), please refer to the guidance on extenuating circumstances in the Application Guide for information about how to declare this so that your application can be considered appropriately.
References
You will need to register three referees who can give an informed view of your academic ability and suitability for the course. The How to apply section of this page provides details of the types of reference that are required in support of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.
Supporting documents
You will be required to supply supporting documents with your application. The How to apply section of this page provides details of the supporting documents that are required as part of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.
Performance at interview
Interviews are normally held as part of the admissions process.
The interview panel will comprise three senior academics and the interview will last no longer than 30 minutes. All shortlisted applicants are interviewed via a video link such as Teams or Zoom.
Offer conditions for successful applications
If you receive an offer of a place at Oxford, your offer will outline any conditions that you need to satisfy and any actions you need to take, together with any associated deadlines. These may include academic conditions, such as achieving a specific final grade in your current degree course. These conditions will usually depend on your individual academic circumstances and may vary between applicants. Our 'After you apply' pages provide more information about offers and conditions.
In addition to any academic conditions which are set, you will also be required to meet the following requirements:
Financial Declaration
If you are offered a place, you will be required to complete a Financial Declaration in order to meet your financial condition of admission.
Disclosure of criminal convictions
In accordance with the University’s obligations towards students and staff, we will ask you to declare any relevant, unspent criminal convictions before you can take up a place at Oxford.
Permission to use data obtained through your employment
If you are embarking on study with the support of your employer and intend to use data obtained through your employment, evidence should be provided of permission to use your employers’ data in your proposed research project.
Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS)
Some postgraduate research students in science, engineering and technology subjects will need an Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) certificate prior to applying for a Student visa (under the Student Route). For some courses, the requirement to apply for an ATAS certificate may depend on your research area.
Other factors governing whether places can be offered
The following factors will also govern whether candidates can be offered places:
- the ability of the University to provide the appropriate supervision for your studies, as outlined under the 'Supervision' heading in the About section of this page;
- the ability of the University to provide appropriate support for your studies (eg through the provision of facilities, resources, teaching and/or research opportunities); and
- minimum and maximum limits to the numbers of students who may be admitted to the University's taught and research programmes.
Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine
The Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine (NDM) is a large multidisciplinary department, made up of 24 institutes, centres and units. Some of these are based at the University of Oxford’s Old Road Campus, the heart of Oxford’s biomedical research and clinical capabilities, with others situated at the Churchill and John Radcliffe Hospitals in Oxford.
The underpinning motivation behind all research carried out by NDM is the pursuit of academic excellence and the positive impact of research on the health and wellbeing of the global community. The department has units across the world, including in Kenya, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam and Indonesia.
NDM is just as renowned for its work in basic sciences as more clinical or applied work. Much of the £130 million per annum grant income is spent on understanding the most basic principles of biology and disease pathogenesis.
NDM has a community of over 50 graduate research students each year. The Careers Service at Oxford University reports that six months after leaving Oxford, postgraduate research students at NDM are on average earning £31,000 with 83.8% in employment and a further 11% in further study (eg Graduate Entry Medicine).
Funding
For entry in the 2025-26 academic year, the collegiate University expects to offer over 1,000 full or partial graduate scholarships across a wide range of graduate courses.
If you apply by the December deadline shown on this page and receive a course offer, your application will then be considered for Oxford scholarships. For the majority of Oxford scholarships, your application will automatically be assessed against the eligibility criteria, without needing to make a separate application. There are further Oxford scholarships available which have additional eligibility criteria and where you are required to submit a separate application. Most scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit and/or potential.
To ensure that you are considered for Oxford scholarships that require a separate application, for which you may be eligible, use our fees, funding and scholarship search tool to identify these opportunities and find out how to apply. Alongside Oxford scholarships, you should also consider other opportunities for which you may be eligible including a range of external funding, loan schemes for postgraduate study and any other scholarships which may also still be available after the December deadline as listed on our fees, funding and scholarship search tool.
Details of college-specific funding opportunities can also be found on individual college websites:
Please refer to the College preference section of this page to identify which of the colleges listed above accept students for this course.
For the majority of college scholarships, it doesn’t matter which college, if any, you state a preference for in your application. If another college is able to offer you a scholarship, your application can be moved to that college if you accept the scholarship. Some college scholarships may require you to state a preference for that college when you apply, so check the eligibility requirements carefully.
Further information about funding opportunities for this course can be found on the Medical Science Division website.
Costs
Annual fees for entry in 2025-26
Fee status | Annual Course fees |
| Home | £22,190 |
| Overseas | £48,640 |
Information about course fees
Course fees are payable each year, for the duration of your fee liability (your fee liability is the length of time for which you are required to pay course fees). For courses lasting longer than one year, please be aware that fees will usually increase annually. For details, please see our guidance on changes to fees and charges.
Course fees cover your teaching as well as other academic services and facilities provided to support your studies. Unless specified in the additional information section below, course fees do not cover your accommodation, residential costs or other living costs. They also don’t cover any additional costs and charges that are outlined in the additional information below.
Continuation charges
Following the period of fee liability, you may also be required to pay a University continuation charge and a college continuation charge. The University and college continuation charges are shown on the Continuation charges page.
Where can I find further information about fees?
The Fees and Funding section of this website provides further information about course fees, including information about fee status and eligibility and your length of fee liability.
Additional information
There are no compulsory elements of this course that entail additional costs beyond fees and living costs. However, please note that, depending on your choice of research topic and the research required to complete it, you may incur additional expenses, such as travel expenses, research expenses, and field trips. You will need to meet these additional costs, although you may be able to apply for small grants from your department and/or college to help you cover some of these expenses.
Living costs
In addition to your course fees and any additional course-specific costs, you will need to ensure that you have adequate funds to support your living costs for the duration of your course.
Living costs for full-time study
For the 2025-26 academic year, the range of likely living costs for a single, full-time student is between £1,425 and £2,035 for each month spent in Oxford. We provide the cost per month so you can multiply up by the number of months you expect to live in Oxford. Depending on your circumstances, you may also need to budget for the costs of a student visa and immigration health surcharge and/or living costs for family members or other dependants that you plan to bring with you to Oxford (assuming that dependant visa eligibility criteria are met).
Further information about living costs
The current economic climate and high national rate of inflation make it very hard to estimate potential changes to the cost of living over the next few years. For study in Oxford beyond the 2025-26 academic year, it is suggested that you budget for potential increases in living expenses of around 4% each year – although this rate may vary depending on the national economic situation. For further information, please consult our more detailed information about living costs, which includes a breakdown of likely living costs in Oxford for items such as food, accommodation and study costs.
College preference
Students enrolled on this course will belong to both a department/faculty and a college. Please note that ‘college’ and ‘colleges’ refers to all 43 of the University’s colleges, including those designated as societies and permanent private halls (PPHs).
If you apply for a place on this course you will have the option to express a preference for one of the colleges listed below, or you can ask us to find a college for you. Before deciding, we suggest that you read our brief introduction to the college system at Oxford and our advice about expressing a college preference.
If you are a current Oxford student and you would like to remain at your current Oxford college, you should check whether it is listed below. If it is, you should indicate this preference when you apply. If not, you should contact your college office to ask whether they would be willing to make an exception. Further information about staying at your current college can be found in our Application Guide.
The following colleges accept students on the MSc in Health Service Improvement and Evaluation:
Before you apply
Our guide to getting started provides general advice on how to prepare for and start your application. You can use our interactive tool to help you evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive.
If it is important for you to have your application considered under a particular deadline – eg under the December deadline in order to be considered for Oxford scholarships – we recommend that you aim to complete and submit your application at least two weeks in advance. Check the deadlines on this page and the information about deadlines and when to apply in our Application Guide.
Application fee waivers
An application fee of £75 is payable for each application to this course. Application fee waivers are available for the following applicants who meet the eligibility criteria:
- applicants from low-income countries;
- refugees and displaced persons;
- UK applicants from low-income backgrounds; and
- applicants who applied for our Graduate Access Programmes in the past two years and met the eligibility criteria.
You are encouraged to check whether you're eligible for an application fee waiver before you apply.
Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?
Improving access to graduate study
This course is taking part in initiatives to improve the selection procedure for graduate applications, to ensure that all candidates are evaluated fairly.
Socio-economic data (where it has been provided in the application form) will be used as part of an initiative to contextualise applications at the different stages of the selection process.
Completing your application
You should refer to the information below when completing the application form, paying attention to the specific requirements for the supporting documents.
For this course, the application form will include questions that collect information that would usually be included in a CV/résumé. You should not upload a separate document. If a separate CV/résumé is uploaded, it will be removed from your application.
If any document does not meet the specification, including the stipulated word count, your application may be considered incomplete and not assessed by the academic department. Expand each section to show further details.
Referees:
Three overall, from both academic and professional work
Whilst you must register three referees, the department may start the assessment of your application if two of the three references are submitted by the course deadline and your application is otherwise complete. Please note that you may still be required to ensure your third referee supplies a reference for consideration.
Your references will be assessed for:
- your intellectual ability
- your academic achievement
- your motivation and interest in the course and subject area; and
- your ability to work effectively both in a group and independently.
Official transcript(s)
Your transcripts should give detailed information of the individual grades received in your university-level qualifications to date. You should only upload official documents issued by your institution and any transcript not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation.
More information about the transcript requirement is available in the Application Guide.
Statement of purpose:
A maximum of 500 words
Your statement should be written in English and explain your motivation for applying for this course at Oxford at this time, your relevant experience and education, your interest in the field of health service improvement and evaluation, the specific aspects of the course that interest you, and what you will bring to the course cohort.
Your statement will be assessed for Why you are applying to this course, what specific aspects of the course interest you, how your past studies and work are relevant to the course, what you will bring to the course cohort, and how this MSc will be important for your future career.
It will also be assessed for your ability to present a coherent case in proficient English.Written work:
A maximum of 1,500 words
A piece of academic writing, typed and written in English, is required. This can take the form of an excerpt from a published paper (that you have first authored), an academic essay, or a writing sample from a recent qualification.
The word count does not include bibliography, brief footnotes, captions, titles or legends that are applied to images, tables or charts.
Extracts from the requisite length from longer work are also permittee if prefaced by a note that puts them in context.
The written work should be related to the subject you propose to study.
Your statement will be assessed for:
- your ability to construct and defend an argument
- your aptitude for analysis and expression
- your ability to present a reasoned case in proficient academic English.
Start or continue your application
You can start or return to an application using the relevant link below. As you complete the form, please refer to the requirements above and consult our Application Guide for advice.
After you've submitted your application
Your application (including the supporting documents outlined above) will be assessed against the entry requirements detailed on this course page. Whether or not you have secured funding will not be taken into consideration when your application is assessed. You can find out more about our shortlisting and selection process in our detailed guide to what happens next.
Find out how to manage your application after submission, using our Applicant Self-Service tool.