From 2017, medical students at Aarhus University will be able to take business-oriented courses as part of their degree programme. This will benefit the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.

2016.08.08 | Henriette Stevnhøj

From 2017, medical students at Aarhus University will be able to take business-oriented courses as part of their degree programme. (Archive photo: Lars Kruse/AU)

Medical doctors are in great demand in Denmark. Both in the healthcare sector and in the rapidly growing industrial labour market. This has led Health to create a business-oriented talent track for medical students as a supplement to the current curriculum. The intention is to give particularly interested and talented students the opportunity to learn about the pharmaceutical and biotech industry during their studies.

The talent track will become a reality from summer 2017. In addition to integrating a number of business-orientated supplementary subjects on the Bachelor’s and Master's degree programmes, students will also have the opportunity to take courses in innovation and entrepreneurship, business model insight and project management. They will additionally have the opportunity to complete a task together with a company.

"The aim is to strengthen the degree programme so that our graduates match the requirements that the employers are looking for. Our Master’s programme is very clinically-orientated. Without compromising on a high level of health science content, the business-orientated dimension is a way of giving the students a new perspective on possible careers for a medical doctor," says Allan Flyvbjerg, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

First in Denmark

The business-orientation aspect of the medical degree programme will also influence the revision of the academic regulations to be launched at the end of the year. An additional intention is to introduce a higher degree of flexibility in the degree programme and more freedom of choice for the students. For example, in the form of an elective semester. This will be examined during the process of drawing-up the new regulations.

"Our goal is to train doctors who are even better at collaborating with the many other important professional groups within the healthcare sector, but also in the industry. An elective semester could be utilised to conduct research, travel abroad or look towards the industrial sector," says Allan Flyvbjerg.

The inspiration for the talent track has come from similar programmes at the Karolinska Institute and Lund University, but inspiration has also been found internally from study programmes at Science and Technology. The business-orientated track is the first of its kind among the medical degree programmes in Denmark.

There has been considerable attention directed towards the industry's need for graduates from the health sciences in recent months. At a conference in May with representatives from the Danish Medical Association, industry and the universities, it was stated that the industry expects to be able to employee 6,000 new graduates in the coming years until 2020. Many of these will be medical doctors.
 

About the honours programme:

Honours programmes on the Bachelor’s degree programme:

·         Innovation and entrepreneurship

·         Business models and project management

·         From idea to better patient care pathways in the healthcare sector

·         From idea to product to production and company

Honours programmes on the Master’s degree programme:

·         A development project in the field of medical technology, drug development, rehabilitation or health economics that is described in collaboration with a company, researchers and students.

·         A case competition together with a company that presents an issue where the students compete with one another to find the best possible solution.

·         Three courses on commercialisation, process management and ethics and management.

Further information

Dean of the Faculty of Health Allan Flyvbjerg
Health, Aarhus University
(+45) 5177 9548
dean.health@au.dk

Read Allan Flyvbjerg's editorial on the need for more doctors, written together with the chair of the Danish Association of Junior Hospital Doctors, Camilla Rathcke and the Director General of the Danish Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry (Lif), Ida Sofie Jensen. The article was also published in Danish in the Danish daily newspaper Politiken on 16 June 2016.

Read the article about Allan Flyvbjerg's appointment to the Danish government's growth team for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.