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Masters in Healthcare Architecture

Mania_

Hello,

I'm interested in having a master's degree in Healthcare Architecture. Does anyone have any idea about universities with such specialization? The basic "problem" is that they have to be in Europe. 

Thanks in advance!

 
Jul 27, 13 2:51 am
citizen

This sounds like a level of hyper-specialization that might haunt graduates when hospital- and healthcare facility development go on the decline.

Jul 27, 13 12:35 pm  · 
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gruen
I don't think they will ever decline...in the US at least...
Jul 27, 13 2:38 pm  · 
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observant

This trend to offer currently timely, and in vogue, niche graduate degrees is redundant and alarming, especially in times like these.  It's almost like they want to fleece people who are unemployed, underemployed, or just sort of stuck into a guarantee of sorts.  People who do hospital work, and have done it for a long time, don't have such a niche degree.  They learned it on the job and by accumulating experience in the health care sector.

Jul 27, 13 5:08 pm  · 
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chatter of clouds

if there is any speciaized typological planning and design worth studying at the postgad level it is that of hospitals and healthcare buildings. especially hospitals with full-on surgery wards, diagnostic section, maternity ward...etc. a hospital design was one of the first projects  tackled under the supervision of one of the senior designers/project managers at my first office. there is so much to learn and i'm sure, although i went through with the whole design concept stage, there was still a lot to be studied and learnt. the mechanical systems that are peculair to the hospitals and how they dictate the spaces, for example. finishing specifications in relation to required sanitation....etc 

Jul 27, 13 7:44 pm  · 
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ARCHCareersGuide.com

Clemson University

http://www.clemson.edu/caah/architecture/graduate-students/master-of-arch-plus-health.html

 

Also research Texas A&M, GA Tech and UIC.

Jul 29, 13 4:37 pm  · 
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MixmasterFestus

+1 on degree redundancy, "Healthcare Architecture" seems quite specialized.  I'm not sure what the European architectural market is like, but I've felt for some time that the US healthcare market may reach saturation at some point (you can only take so much of a percentage of GDP before you reach a breaking point).

If you're passionate about the subject (as opposed to looking for a 'marketable' specialization), there may be other ways to go about this that wouldn't make you seem overly specialized.

Do you already have the degree you need to become licensed?  If not, perhaps additional classes and a thesis topic may be better for a generalist degree.  

If you do have your 'professional' degree, have you considered a degree (or work experience) in some kind of allied art (MHA, nursing, public health, even basic science) that could expose you to the relationship between environment and health/healing without pigeonholing you so thoroughly?  If you did go the degree route and had some flexibility, you may even be able to take classes that tie back into the design requirements.

Highly technical fields usually change pretty quickly, and it's more important to get basic fundamentals rather than learning a bunch of very specific skills that become obsolete upon graduation.

Jul 29, 13 8:35 pm  · 
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Mania_

Mixmaster Festus, yes I do have the degree to get my licence. The thing is that I already work in an office that specializes on Healthcare Architecture, and after a conversation with other colleagues they suggested instead of having a general master (as I planed to), better to specialize on the field of healthcare. I cannot guess what is gonna happen in the future, but at least now the company is going pretty well, with a numerous of projects.

Nevertheless, I would like to hear different opinions about such a targeted specialization. 

Thanks a lot! 

Aug 3, 13 2:25 pm  · 
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MixmasterFestus

1) How long have you been out of school?  

- I've been warned by several people against hyper-specializing too early in one's career.

2) Would your company pay for your degree, or are you doing that on your own?  If your company sees enough potential to invest in your future, it could be a really cool opportunity.  Otherwise, ask yourself if you really want to take a year or two off work to specialize in healthcare for the rest of your career.  It's not a given, but it will certainly provide a particular direction.

3)  Are you getting the degree just to have a degree, or is there another reason (teaching qualifications, etc) Can you achieve a similar result through getting certificates instead?  One perspective I've heard is that it's better to gain experience by getting paid to do something (healthcare architecture, for example) rather than paying someone to learn it (and losing a year or two of wages in the process).

Aug 5, 13 3:51 am  · 
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