Student blogs

Allow me to proudly post about my class of HEPM 2021-2023. We share the joy during our intensive course which is truly memorable so far and I am lucky to have this amazing talents from various background.

I am excited of sharing and recording the general profile of my classmates with this post for years to come. I also hope you will understand better about our class. 🙂

You may also read about HEPM Class of 2021 and Class of 2022.

Demographic profile of my classmates

Before joining the course, my initial expectation of classmate profile was slight different.. After the first few days of the course, I found out that my prediction was largely wrong. The class is truly internationals and diversification is pretty impressive. I was surprised with the strong interest from students of all over the world which clearly highlighting the reputations/brand of Karolinska Institutet. After all, studying abroad is challenging but I believe it is really worth it.

Relating to the background, majority fell under 15 category of professions and mostly are related to healthcare sector except a few exceptions. Over 95% can speak at least 2 languages (including English) and almost 50% can speak 3 languages or more. One particular classmate speak 6 languages (simply awesome!!!).

Age of under 25 is 48%, many of those have been super active and close familiarity to academic learning setting. The remaining of the class, 52% are over 25 years old who have a few or many years of working experience. It is notable that almost 1/3 of the total is 30+ years old. It is so nice to hear about their sharing experience during the discussion sessions.

In my honest opinion, I felt this is very very good mix of classmates which make the seminars well balanced and give us the decent learning experience. I also find it quite entertaining for getting a chance to study together with classmates of both younger and mature talents. You get to see the best of both world. 🙂

Our goals after the course?

You may want to know which career most of us wish to do after the course. Yet the reality may differ and we may even change our mind after learning some topics during the course. After all, we can not know for sure of our destiny. Anyhow, I have compiled our desired career route immediately after the graduation (correct as of now). 🙂

Meet our class student representative- Robert

Why did you choose this course and what make you apply to KI?

I have a background in political science and developed an interest in health policy during my studies. The curriculum of this course enabled me to deepen my interest in policy whilst discovering economic and management aspects of health care.

Karolinska Institutet promised to provide an interdisciplinary learning environment located in a fascinating country and beautiful city.

Which would be your favourite part of the program?

The two spring modules in health outcomes measurement and economic evaluation have so far been my favourite part of the program. Both topics allow our class to deal with real-world questions and cases. Interacting with my classmates has significantly contributed to this great experience.

The biggest challenge you would like to mention

The biggest challenge for me has been – and still is – adapting to the clinical topics. Due to my background in social sciences, this has been quite new to me. Sitting next to trained medical doctors, who I am happy to call my friends, was very helpful in this sense. Additionally, I had to adapt to my role as class representative, which includes communicating our opinions to the staff.   

Any tips for perceptive students

If you want to get a comprehensive education in health economics, policy and management, I recommend coming to Karolinska Institutet. You will be studying at a top research institution and participate in inspiring discussions with your classmates. For me, as someone who went on to study directly after his bachelor’s degree and didn’t have a medical background, this course was an excellent choice. So, I can only recommend this program.