Teaching Health Policy at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs: An Interdisciplinary Approach

• Author: Nino Ghonghadze
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.126
• Published date: 01 March 2015
• Date: 01 March 2015

Teaching Health Policy at the Georgian Institute of

Public Affairs: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Nino Ghonghadze

This article gives a brief description of and ref‌lection on the establishment of a Health Policy

concentration at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs. The growing interest of students toward

the concentration suggests that combining health policy and health management issues into one

course was a successful approach.

KEY WORDS: health policy, health administration, master’s degree

The Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) is the f‌irst educational

institution in Georgia to offer students master degree programs in public

administration and public policy. The institute was established in 1994 as a joint

project of the Georgian Government and the U.S. National Academy of Public

Administration (NAPA), through funding from the U.S. Department of State.

The Master Degree Program in Public Policy offers fourth-semester students a

number of elective concentrations in areas such as economic policy and cultural

policy. In 2009, GIPA’s School of Government designed a new, health policy

concentration. This concentration consists of one intensive course involving

almost twice as much work for students as regular courses (60 in-class hours for

degree students and 80 in-class hours for non-degree students). The course is led

by two instructors with appropriate academic credentials who also hold high

positions at the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, and the National

Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia.

Two approaches were considered when developing the concentration course.

One approach was that the two f‌ields, health policy and health management,

should be strictly separated and topics from both not be blended in the course.

The argument for this approach was that the health policy concentration should

be strictly analytical, designed for individuals who are interested in working as

analysts on health policy issues; to develop policy, formulate policy alternatives,

and provide recommendations on how to solve problems. Future jobs for such

students would be found in public agencies responsible for developing and

implementing health policy, and other organizations dealing with health policy

World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2015

83

1948-4682 #2015 Policy Studies Organization

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