Building an international health management graduate curriculum: analyzing faculty survey results

The development of an international graduate program requires thorough analysis, awareness of the risks involved, and the constraints unique to a particular institution. An assessment of three critical questions must be answered. First, what are the host university investment requirements? Second, what is the degree of enhancement of educational outcomes for the host university? Third, what is the contribution to the international reputations of the host university? This paper presents the result of a survey about these three questions of international educators attending the Third International Conference on Healthcare Systems meeting in Charleston, West Virginia. The results of this survey suggest that there is much to be gained in the educational outcomes and international reputation for both the host campus and the international campus yet the investment is significant. Perhaps of greatest importance is funding, and if possible, external funding is advised. This will attract both high quality students and faculty to participate and/or enroll, thus strengthening the program. There appears to be no optimal strategy or single model that can maximize the educational outcomes and international reputation while minimizing the degree of investment simultaneously. Further research is needed on what is successful and what is not, in terms of investment of time and effort. Hopefully, such research will contribute to higher quality international health management graduate programs that achieve the stated business and educational goals of all parties to reduce the risk of investing both time and money in a new educational venture.