Management

– expressed in the CWTS score – is again onthe rise in the report period, i.e. up to 1.25;well over the world average! In addition,fifteen PHD-theses were published and sixinaugural lectures were delivered.Moreover, a wide range of workshops,symposia and conferences, both nationaland international were held on the initiativeof our Institute. To name a few: the SummerSchool on Health Law, the InternationalConference on Health Care Rationing andthe Health Care and Trade congress.Furthermore it is worth mentioning thatin 2010 the annual ESB Economists top-40again listed four economists employed byiBMG. Finally, among the awards and prizesreceived by iBMG staff are: the Prof. H.W.Lambers Prize, three ISPOR Awards, theNVZD thesis award, and a HarknessFellowship.The next years we will continue to givepriority to publishing our research findingsin internationally renowned peer reviewjournals, but not without overlookingthe societal importance of adequateinformation provision to the Netherlandshealth care sector. It is evident that iBMG’sresearch responds to society’s demand, forexample judged from the fact that morethan fifty percent of the research is financedvia the second en third flows of funds –independent public organisations such asZonMw and private bodies such as healthinsurers and pharmaceutical companies. Itshould not be left unmentioned, however,that funding, notably via the second flow offunds, appears to have come under pressurefrom political and social developments incombination with the economic slump.In the field of education, too, the results areimpressive. In the report period the studentbody continue to grow by some 10% yearlyand the proportion of international studentsin the Health Economics, Policy & Law (HEPL)master programme rose to some 30% of thetotal number of HEPL-students. This successstory is partly due to the health care sector’sgrowing need of graduates with knowledgeand experience in the fields of policymaking,organisation and management inhealth care. For the rest, these successes mayalso be ascribed to the quality of ourprogrammes.A point of attention is the success rateof our educational programmes, which webelieve could be improved. Preparationsfor improvement have started in 2010.These improvement measures are part ofa comprehensive restructuring programmewith which we aim to equip our educationalsystem more adequately for the teaching of agrowing number of students with a very largediversity in, for example, preparatory trainingand nationality. Finally, in collaboration withthe Erasmus School of Law the master inHealth Law was launched in 2009.Apart from the initial education, a wide rangeof targeted post-initial programmes andcourses is offered to managers and policymakersin the health care sector who arenot medical professionals, i.e. via the iBMGaffiliated Erasmus Centre for ManagementDevelopment in health care (Erasmus CMDz).In addition, the Academy for MedicalSpecialists – a collaboration between iBMGand the Order of Medical Specialists andVvAA, an insurance and service organisationfor (para)medics – offered a post-academicprogramme for medical-specialist managersand policy-makers.Furthermore, as mentioned above, theDiploma Course on International Health& Policy Evaluation was started in thereport period.6