Academics

Is UGHE an accredited institution? 

UGHE is a fully accredited Global University in Rwanda. Graduates from the MGHD program are competitive candidates for future employers and educational opportunities.  

Campus Location – All students will live on UGHE’s beautiful residential campus in Butaro. The campus is located approximately 2.5 hours from Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city, and 1.5 hours from Musanze, in the Northern Province.  

Facilities include: Administrative complex, science lab, simulation center, library, fully-equipped classrooms, recreation facilities, dining hall, housing units. 

What is the Structure of the MGHD program? 

UGHE currently offers a Master of Science in Global Health Delivery (MGHD) with the following options: 1) Gender, Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2) One Health 3) Health Management, and 4) Global Surgery, a one-year full-time program from August 2024 to August 2025.

MGHD Options 

One Health  

Developing the skills to formulate solutions to complex ‘wicked’ problems requires specialized training and a broad-based, transdisciplinary perspective. The One Health option will provide training critical to continue improving the health of people, animals, and the environment. It will involve cross-disciplinary training to help MGHD candidates understand both the technical and social context in which the answers to One Health problems can be approached. The option in One Health will serve to prepare leaders with a broad base of knowledge as well as cross-cutting skills directed towards improving the health of animals, the environment, and humans through a transdisciplinary,  multi-sectoral, and holistic approach. Click this link for more information. 

Health Management  

Healthcare delivery is complex and context-dependent and requires an interdisciplinary effort focused on value. Regardless of where you work, what programs you are doing, or creating your own entrepreneurial venture, the combination of practical and effective management and leadership skills is essential to generate high-value programs. 

In Health Management, students will learn the key strategy and management practices in global health programs. It is designed to train global health professionals how to apply evidence-based and field-tested managerial functions to manage complex programs and organizations. Students will learn from using data and evidence to identify project areas, using management tools in developing a health program, securing funding, and managing different aspects of the execution of the program, through active learning methodologies. Click this link for more information. 

Gender, Sexual, and Reproductive Health  

Application of a gender lens to health programs and specifically to sexual and reproductive health is a crucial step in ensuring a healthy family, healthy community, and healthy nations. The Gender, Sexual, and Reproductive Health option will provide interdisciplinary training on theories, perspectives, policies, and sexual and reproductive health management practices to provide the next generation of healthcare delivery professionals with a broader understanding of the topic. Armed with experience and technical abilities, graduates will be uniquely prepared to solve large, trans-border global gender and sexual and reproductive health problems.  Click this link for more information. 

Global Surgery 

While surgery has not always been considered a global health priority, surgical conditions form a significant burden of disease with surgical interventions playing a major role in helping to prevent death and chronic disability from road traffic injuries, burns, obstetric conditions, and many non-communicable conditions such as heart disease. Expanding access to surgical care in sub-Saharan Africa while safeguarding patients from catastrophic expenditures is a complex, multifactorial challenge. The master’s program will serve to prepare specialized leaders with a broad base of knowledge and skills directed towards improving the health of populations through effective surgical care delivery in Rwanda, the continent, and beyond. Click this link for more information. 

What are the fieldwork/Practicum opportunities? 

During the Practicum, students will work in groups to carry out a research or quality improvement project for a partner organization. Each group will be mentored by a UGHE faculty member and a preceptor from the partner organization (which may be outside of Rwanda). In collaboration with stakeholders from the organization, students will propose and design a project that will address a challenge the partner organization is facing. Students will then travel to the site of their partner organization to implement the project. After 12-weeks onsite, students will return to campus and produce tangible academic deliverables as well as products for wider dissemination, including recommendations for system improvement, training programs, future research, program evaluation, and policy memos. View the MGHD course catalog. 

Who are the MGHD faculty members? 

MGHD faculty members come from diverse academic and professional backgrounds and share a passion for and expertise in global health delivery and equity. “In addition to its full time faculty, UGHE engages visiting faculty from different institutions including Harvard Medical School, Partners In Health, Tufts University, Vassar College, Rwanda’s Biomedical Center, and Rwanda’s Ministry of Health.”