Master's Degree in Health Communication

Basic Information

What knowledge will I acquire with this Master?

With this Master you will learn everything you need to develop communication, advertising and information strategies in organizations related to health, such as pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, hospitals, health research institutes, communication and advertising agencies, specialized magazines, institutions and public bodies, associations and Non-Governmental Organizations.

The Master is designed so that graduates in Communication and Information Sciences acquire skills to work in communication offices and directorates, as well as in specialized agencies.

This program has a practical vocation, in which the participants will have the opportunity to share in the classroom with Dircoms, professionals and managers of the main companies and institutions related to the health field.

Is this degree official according to the regulations required by the European Higher Education Area?

Yes, (final verification report is attached). The implementation of the degree will be done progressively, starting the first year in the academic year 2022-23.

Final verification report turned out FAVORABLE

Is it necessary to pass an access test?

It is not necessary.

What is the minimum number of credits for which I can enroll?

You can see it in the rules of permanence in this link

Recommended income profile

Access to the Master will be facilitated to graduates or graduates in Communication and Information Sciences, primarily graduates or graduates in Journalism and Advertising and Public Relations, as well as related areas.

In addition, other university degrees may participate, such as graduates or graduates in Health Sciences, who have accredited sufficient experience and responsibilities in the field of Communication, provided that they take two complementary training subjects prior to the start of the Master's Degree, namely: Processes and principles of Social Communication and Fundamentals of Strategic Communication.

The Master is aimed at Spanish and Latin American professionals, which means that both students and teachers have an international vision and a global approach in the approach of this new professional and research profile.

Objectives

The main objective of the Master's Degree in Health Communication is the training of qualified professionals in the management of communication and information in the health sector.

For this, it is necessary to emphasize the multidisciplinary nature of the professions involved in the interaction between brands, entities, organizations and health institutions with their strategic audiences, which requires mastering the skills, tools, aptitudes and attitudes of different fields, communication modalities and channels.

This degree also seeks to acquire specialized analytical and professional knowledge and skills in health communication oriented towards academic and professional specialization, as well as promoting initiation into research tasks.

Likewise, this program aims to cover the need for specialists in health communication, derived from the proliferation of communication media and stakeholders interested in this field (communication media, public institutions and organizations, private companies, professionals), as well as the greater weight and presence of health communication and information in traditional media and the need for companies to have internal and external communication teams.

Competences

BASIC SKILLS

CB6	Possess and understand knowledge that provides a foundation or opportunity to be original in the development and/or application of ideas, often in a research context.
CB7	That students know how to apply the knowledge acquired and their ability to solve problems in new or little-known environments within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to their area of study
CB8	That students are able to integrate knowledge and face the complexity of formulating judgments based on information that, being incomplete or limited, includes reflections on the social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments.
CB9	That students know how to communicate their conclusions and the knowledge and ultimate reasons that support them to specialized and non-specialized audiences in a clear and unambiguous way.
CB10	That students have the learning skills that allow them to continue studying in a way that will be largely self-directed or autonomous.

GENERAL COMPETENCIES

CG01: Analytical-critical and interpretative capacity acquired from the reflection and study of health communication.

CG02: Ability to solve problems, proposing strategies and evaluating the impact of the proposed solutions, using health communication

CG03: Ability to take responsibility for work projects that involve different areas of Health Communication, Strategic Communication and Advertising, using both basic resources (audiovisual language, technologies and their application in creativity) and auxiliary resources (documentation).

CG04: Ability to discern, from a social vision, the limits of communication actions, taking into consideration the ethical-legal provisions, and the socio-cultural conditioning factors.

CG05: Ability to adapt the available technology to the possibilities and needs of effective strategic communication, through the critical and reflective attitude learned.

CG06: Develop new creative approaches in the development of both the creative strategy and the advertising message.

CG07: Recognition of the possibilities and limitations posed by the management of limited resources typical of any business framework, through an approach to the professional reality that internships in companies and institutions will allow.

CG08: Ability to direct and manage the communication of companies related to the health sector, as well as to design business models specific to their profession, distribute resources and plan economic and human management models.

CG09: Ability to understand the peculiarities of the national health system and the prospects and particularities of the sector.

CG10: Ability to assume leadership in projects that require human resources and of any other nature, managing them efficiently and assuming the principles of social responsibility.

CG11: Ability to understand and interpret the environment and adapt to change to communicate effectively in the field of health.

CG12: Possess rational and critical knowledge of the psychosocial environment to interact with society through different communicative modalities.

CG13: Know and use Information and Communication Technologies applied to the health field.

SPECIFIC COMPETENCES

CE01: Examine the health system, its care levels and its organization.

CE02: Describe the role of the pharmaceutical industry in the health system as a whole.

CE03: Determine the most effective and appropriate communication and information processes in the health field.

CE04: Analyze the different types of strategic communication and differentiate commercial messages from others of a corporate nature.

CE05: Distinguish the different communication processes from Social Psychology.

CE06: Apply the fundamental characteristics of effective communication to messages of a different nature on health issues.

CE07: Apply media training techniques to the training of spokespersons and content creators in health sciences for digital communication media

CE08: Apply and integrate internal communication plans and strategies for companies and institutions in the health sector, as well as evaluate and audit communication and relationship needs for members of organizations in the field

CE09: Identify interest groups to design health communication strategies linked to their respective interests.

CE10: Codify the brand as a symbolic construction dependent on communicative and behavioral elements in health organizations.

CE11: Analyze the functioning of the media system and how health information interacts with it.

CE12: Establish the effects that organizational crises have on the intangible assets of a brand in the health field.

CE13: Make full and reliable use of search, location and analysis resources of legal sources and codes of conduct.

CE14: Design the strategic plan for an advertising campaign on health in conventional media.

CE15: Differentiate the fundamental characteristics of non-conventional commercial communication formulas used in the health sector.

CE16: Analyze the different digital strategies based on content and their applications in health.

CE17: Distinguish the main platforms and applications for digital communication in health.

CE18: Apply the main methodological tools of a quantitative nature oriented to the field of health.

CE19: Fully and solvently use research designs with qualitative methodologies.

CE20: Apply communication concepts and techniques in the professional field of the health sector.

CE21: Prepare, present and defend a practical-professional work or original research project.

Admission and enrollment

Admission:

The requirements for access to the proposed title are according to article 18, of Royal Decree 822/2021, of September 28:

Possession of an official Spanish Graduate or Graduate university degree or equivalent is a condition for accessing a Master's Degree, or, where appropriate, having another University Master's degree, or titles of the same level as the Spanish Bachelor's or Master's degree issued by universities and higher education institutions in an EHEA country that in that country allow access to Master's degrees.
In the same way, people in possession of titles from educational systems that are not part of the EHEA, which are equivalent to a Bachelor's degree, will be able to access a Master's Degree in the Spanish university system, without the need for homologation of the title, but verification by of the university of the level of training that they imply, as long as in the country where said title was issued it allows access to university postgraduate level studies. In no case will access through this route imply the homologation of the previous degree held by the person concerned or its recognition for other purposes than that of carrying out the Master's degree.

Recommended requirements:

The specific qualifications that will facilitate access to the Master are the following:

Graduate or Graduate in Communication Sciences (Priority Graduates or Graduates in Journalism and Advertising and Public Relations or related areas).

Graduates or Bachelors in Health Sciences who have extensive experience, knowledge and/or current responsibilities in the field of Communication may also access the master's degree, provided that they previously complete the training complements for this Master's level.

Based on the foregoing, extensive experience will be understood as having worked in the communication department (or equivalent department) of organizations and institutions in the health sector for more than five (5) years. Knowledge in the field of Communication will be understood as having completed other university master's degrees or postgraduate programs on this subject. Finally, current responsibilities in the field of Communication will be understood as those prospective students who are responsible, coordinators or directors in a communication department or cabinet, or in a health communication medium, at the time of registration for this title.

Selection of applicants:

In the event that the demand exceeds the number of places offered in the Master and it is necessary to make a selection among the candidates who meet the general access requirements, the weighting of these criteria will be as follows:

Training (40%)
Accredited professional experience and current degree of responsibility in the health communication sector (30%)
Academic record (20%)
Motivated letter (10%).

In the case of foreign students whose mother tongue is not Spanish, the vehicular language of the Master, a level certificate will be required on their knowledge of the Spanish language (Level B.2, according to the Common European Framework of Reference), and They may establish specific access tests if the direction of the Master considers it appropriate.

The body responsible for the admission process is the Director of the degree.

Offer of places: 30 seats. If the minimum number of students envisaged is not reached in a course, the University may choose not to open the teaching group.

See admission and enrollment

Training itinerary

Master's Teaching Guides

ACCESS TO ALL UNIVERSITY TEACHING GUIDES

Training Itinerary

Those students who wish to access the Master's Degree and who are not graduates or graduates in Communication Sciences, more specifically Advertising and Public Relations and/or Journalism, must take two subjects of Leveling Training Complements, which are explained below:

634918	Processes and principles of Social Communication	training complement	Before the start of the Master	3
634919	Fundamentals of Strategic Communication	training complement	Before the start of the Master	3

Material resources

External Internships

The External Practices subject is a curricular subject whose main objective is to promote a comprehensive training of the student through the practical application of the knowledge acquired during the Master's degree, which facilitates direct contact with the professional activity and the opportunity to join the professional world with a minimum of experience. All practices are designed so that the students who participate in them acquire professional experience in real situations and conditions, applying the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are acquired in the training processes throughout the degree. The internships represent a decisive opportunity for the personal development and professional future of the students.

Internships are activities carried out by the student in companies, institutions and organizations; that is, in centers outside the university premises, which aim to enrich and complement their university education, while providing them with a deeper knowledge about the skills they will need in the future.

The External Practices subject will consist of two phases.

First. Completion of the internship period that offers professional experience related to any of the profiles that are expressed in the Verification Report of the degree.

Second. Preparation of memory.

Documentation:

Degree Training Project

For more information: External Internship Unit

Social Security contributions for interns starting January 1, 2024

Mobility programs

University Master's degrees, due to their duration and characteristics, in general do not specifically contemplate the mobility of their students. However, the Rey Juan Carlos University has different mobility programs for both students and University workers (PDI and PAS) and has procedures for collecting and analyzing information on these mobility programs.

URJC Mobility

Regulation

STUDENTS

TEACHING COORDINATION

Regulations for Teaching Coordination Positions

COEXISTENCE REGIME

Coexistence Regulations of the Rey Juan Carlos University for the Development of Law 3/2022, of February 24, on University Coexistence, approved by Agreement of March 30, 2023, of the Governing Council of the University

SCHOOL INSURANCE

School Insurance

ASSOCIATIONS

Regulation student associations

EVALUATION

Regulation on the Assessment of Learning Outcomes (in force from 1 September 2024)

Quality guarantee

RUCT link

BOCM Link

Internal quality assurance system

Manual of the Internal Quality Assurance System

Composition of the commission

Results report

Once the monitoring of the Master's Degree has been carried out, the most relevant quantitative information on the results obtained in the monitoring of said Degree is displayed, differentiated by academic year.

Report by course:

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General information collection plan

Within the quality assurance system of the Rey Juan Carlos University, the following surveys are planned:

- Student profile

- Teacher evaluation

- Degree of satisfaction:

Of the students
of the graduates
From the Faculty
Administration and Services Staff

- Labor insertion

- External internships:

Satisfaction of interns
External tutor satisfaction
Employer satisfaction

Survey results:

Indicators 2021/22

Improvement actions

The Quality Assurance System of the Rey Juan Carlos University establishes that the degree's Quality Assurance Commission will annually analyze the information derived from the degree's indicators and prepare a report that will include improvement plans if the results so indicate.

Renewal of accreditation

The renewal of the accreditation represents the culmination of the implementation process of the official Bachelor's and Master's degrees registered in the Register of Universities, Centers and Degrees (RUCT). The renewal of the accreditation of official bachelor's and master's degrees is organized in three phases: self-assessment report, external visit and final assessment.

In the first phase, the university describes and assesses the status of the degree with respect to the established criteria and guidelines. The result is the Self-Assessment Report (IA) that is presented. The second and third phases are carried out by a group of evaluators external to the evaluated title.”