MSc Zdravlje, Starenje i Društvo

‘Health, Ageing and Society’ is the new name for the Master’s Vitality and Ageing. We are ready for change – are you?! The name reflects the broad contents of the study and it better reflects what the programme stands for. Approximately 150 students have graduated since the start of the programme in 2016. Will you be next?! In the coming months, we will be updating our website. We have already added some new videos and the new yearbook (2022-‘23). Also, copies of the three main course books will be available soon. We hope you enjoy reading and watching, and hope to see you at one of our information activities!

Future challenges of today’s healthcare systems

This inspiring master’s program is filled to the brim with ideas for the future, co-creation, and health management. Through an interdisciplinary vision, you are given insight into the best ways to age gracefully and stay healthy. In addition, the curriculum sheds light on what people can do once this is no longer an option. Working closely together with a small group of (international) students, you will focus on future-proof healthcare and a healthy society. Tomorrow's senior citizens will demand a different kind of healthcare, one that centres on autonomy and making their own decisions. Your creativity and resourcefulness will help to find new policy opportunities.

With this master’s degree, you will not just be helping the elderly. You will also work together with senior citizens, discussing and exploring possible solutions for the near future and beyond. In close consultation with senior citizens, we will examine whether these plans can deliver the goals that they need.

Why our students chose our Master’s

Programme

The Health, Ageing and Society master’s degree programme will prepare you for an important role in the innovation of our healthcare system’s future. Medical care offers more and more options. However, ageing gracefully requires much more than healthcare alone. Quality of life, autonomy, independence, an active social life, and happiness are closely interrelated. Therefore, it is important to have a close network of dedicated professionals and volunteers (medical, care, social) who actively reach out to family, friends, informal caregivers, and/or neighbours.

These challenges are investigated using various methods, including literature search, qualitative and quantitative research, as well as comparison of the experience gained in organizations and companies or during meetings with senior citizens. Further details on the programme are available on our website.

Set-up of the Health, Ageing and Society master’s programme

A proud master

For three consecutive years, the Vitality & Ageing (former name of Health, Ageing and Society) master’s programme has been awarded top rankings and high praise in the NSE, the Dutch National Students Survey.

You can rely on reviews of former students, but the programme offers much more than that with its future-oriented, interdisciplinary, and personal approach. We study together, work together, and find opportunities for the future. Our programme combines various perspectives, ranging from biological to psychological and from social to economic aspects. It offers an integral vision of happiness, good health and vitality, recovery, and what to do when all of these options are exhausted. It presents a great challenge in healthcare and healthcare management.

A mix of cultures, languages, and people

Our students are diverse in culture and background. You will attend interactive seminars, studying in an interdisciplinary and international environment. Together, you will find solutions to the challenges of the future, experiencing the value of this collective approach. An international approach is encouraged as a matter of course. Examples include guest lectures by international experts, the annual study visits to the Max Planck Institute in Cologne and to the European Parliament in Brussels, and research into the healthcare systems of your international peers. Finally, many students choose to do their research internship abroad.

With and for all ages

The Health, Ageing and Society master’s program offers a valuable expansion of knowledge and insight for students as well as experienced professionals from the broad field of healthcare. There is a wide mix of ages and levels of experience, offering the added value of a fresh approach combined with dedicated experience in the field. In addition, senior citizens are involved in the curriculum in various ways; as members of the advisory council, as participants in the lectures, and taking part in innovation projects together with the students.

International perspective

When it comes to elderly care, our country leads the way. Our master’s program offers international students a unique opportunity to learn more about the Dutch views, systems, and challenges, and to compare them with healthcare systems in other countries. Do the systems match up or are they different? Finding the answer to this question will lead to surprising new questions, remarkable perspectives, new insights and solutions.

The power of intensive guidance and small groups

Our students appreciate the master’s program for its personalized study methods and its small-group, international set-up. Students with various bachelor backgrounds set out to study and work in small groups to do their assignments under intensive guidance.

Master Health, Ageing and Society

Reasons to choose the Health, Ageing and Society master’s programme

There are plenty of reasons why you can choose to follow our master's programme:

• Our master’s programme thrives and grows, nurtured by diversity, and we welcome motivated students and professionals from (nearly) all disciplines and schools of thought.
• Apply for our master’s programme and enjoy a close, international, and interdisciplinary environment that allows you to broaden your horizon.
• The interdisciplinary approach, this new way of thinking can be applied to many other areas.
• You will gain insight into individual and social aspects of ageing gracefully.
• You love to find solutions to challenges. You are eager to create innovations and implement them the way an entrepreneur would. We will encourage you to exploit the knowledge gained.
• Our master’s programme offers opportunities for personal as well as professional development.
• We focus our attention on senior citizens, so experience or affinity with eldercare is an asset although not a prerequisite.
• You want to pursue a second master’s degree to expand and broaden your knowledge.
• The most important reason: You have ideas on how to improve healthcare in our society in the future and you want to play a role in achieving this. You are an entrepreneur at heart and innovation is your middle name.

If this appeals to you, you are welcome to apply!

One or two years of study?

If you choose the one-year, full-time programme, you will spend three days a week on campus for face-to-face lectures, in Leiden, and one day a week taking online lectures. One day a week is reserved for independent study.

Alternatively, you can spread the course subjects and study load over two years. This creates the opportunity to study the degree part-time, leaving time for a job or another course. Every Friday, there are on-campus seminars and lectures that you are expected to attend. The other days of the week are spent studying independently and watching recorded lectures. For students in the part-time programme who live abroad, there is an option of online attendance to the on-campus activities on Fridays.

Informative activities

We have set up a broad range of informative activities online for students considering starting the Master&rsquo's in Health, Ageing and Society:

• Chat with a student in the Health, Ageing and Society Master’s programme
• Look at our frequently asked questions and answers
• Click here for our other informative activities online

The quality of the care for our senior citizens could be improved. With an eye for the biological, social and management aspects, this Master’s programme provides important insights for improvements. The Master’s in Health, Ageing and Society starts you thinking, puts you to work and gives direction to your career.

The Master’s is characterised by three major values:

Interdisciplinary

• Students and professionals enter from different health-related studies. There is a list of degrees we consider, but we are certainly also open to degrees that are not quite health-related; diverse insights enrich our imaginations.
• The courses are given on topics and perspectives on the unprecedented growth in the number of older citizens in our Western societies. Viewed from biological, social and management aspects.
• Our Master’s seeks coordinators and lecturers from the medical, social and public administration faculties.

Intergenerational

Senior citizens play an important role in the Master’s programme:

• Senior citizens play an important role on our advisory board. They advise on substantive issues.
• Older people actively participate in education and innovative projects.

International

• The language of instruction for the Master’s is English.
• International study material is used.
• The Master’s is very suitable for international students; in the part-time programme, it is possible to follow the master’s remotely.
• Dutch students are encouraged to seek internships abroad.

If you would like to know more, have a look at the structure of our programme.

Academic fields

Leiden has faculties in the fields of:

• Archaeology
• Governance and Global Affairs
• Humanities
• Medicine
• Law
• Science
• Social and Behavioural Sciences

Student support

International student advisers

The international student advisers are a good place to go when you need assistance during your stay in the Netherlands. Students in both locations of Leiden University have access to these specialised advisers. In many cases they will be able to provide the information you need, or will refer you to the relevant services. You can consult the advisers on a variety of matters, ranging from financial concerns, settling down issues, academic issues and health insurance to dealing with external housing agents or finding a family doctor.

Student counsellors

We have a number of specialised student counsellors available. They can help in legal and financial matters, but can also assist you in developing study-related skills. The skills package that is offered involves individual counselling and workshops designed to support you in your academic performance. Topics covered include thesis writing, time management, stress management and planning. Additionally, our counsellors are available to help resolve study and personal problems, should this be needed.

Departmental study advisers and coordinators

Each department has its own study advisers/coordinators who can answer questions about matters that are related to the study programme of your choice. You can consult the study adviser/coordinator on issues such as timetables, exam grades, choice of subjects and application for graduation.