Assessment Of Students’ Perception Of The Mba Healthcare Management Program At Strathmore University

ABSTRACT

There is a need for healthcare workers to acquire managerial and leadership skills for their training to be relevant to the needs of the country and the community they serve. The main challenge is lack of leadership and managerial skills. With this gap in mind, Strathmore Business School (SBS) launched an MBA in Healthcare Management in 2013 to train health care workers and managers in leadership and managerial skills. The main objective of the study was to assess the experience of the present cohorts of students and past graduates of the MBA in Healthcare Management course at SBS. A mixed methodology provided a detailed analysis of the research problem. A questionnaire was administered to 177 students drawn from the present cohorts (2017, 2016, and 2015) and past graduates. Results indicated that Fifty six (56%) of the students responded. The overall scores were high for relevance, quality and employability. Productive sector linkages got mid-range scores. There was a downward linear trend noted for quality and an upward trend for security. 60% of the respondents were noted to be promoters. Students responded well to international faculty, modular program and case based learning. Points of improvement are in infrastructure (parking, library and cafeteria) and productive-sector linkages. In terms of promoting entrepreneurialism and practical skills, SBS has followed the majority of institutions by employing industry professionals as adjunct faculty and engaging guest speakers to provide business and entrepreneurial advice. New forms and levels of partnerships need to be considered in research, consultancy, staff exchanges and joint curriculum development with the productive sector.