Interview with Sylvie Chevret, co-creator of the Dual Master’s in Health and Public Policy

Sciences Po and the Université Paris Cité are offering a new Dual Master's programme in Health and Public Policy, which has started in September 2022. The programme aims to train those who, in the future, will design, implement and evaluate public policies in the health sector. To achieve this, the programme draws on the recognised and complementary expertise of each of the two partner institutions.

We met with one of the two creators of this new programme, Sylvie Chevret, professor of public health at the University Paris Cité, who is the architect of this new programme alongside Dider Tabuteau, scientific advisor of the Health policy stream at the School of Public Affairs and Vice-President of the Conseil d'Etat.

How did this dual-degree between Sciences Po and the Université Paris cité come about?

The idea of this dual degree was born out of a shared observation by teachers of both courses of an increased need to pool knowledge and skills between these different environments- medical on the one hand and related to high-level administration on the other. Two recent examples perfectly illustrate this increased need for informed interaction- the management of a health crisis, but also in the face of the new provisions for early access to drugs at the Haute Autorité de Santé. It seemed sensible that a training programme aimed at young students on both sides would enable them to exchange information at an early stage in their studies on the respective particularities of their own field.

What are the major strengths of this new Dual Master?

>A major strength of this new dual Master's degree is the broad, multidisciplinary nature of the programme, not only in terms of disciplines in the strict sense (public health versus public policy), but also in terms of the professional backgrounds of the lecturers involved in the programme (senior civil servants, hospitalists, academics, researchers), as well as the fields of application presented (from epidemiology to clinical research and the provision of drugs, for example). This multidisciplinarity also ensures a high degree of complementarity in the study of the fields concerned by the training, leading to positive interactions between present and future disciplines.

What does the programme consist of?

The programme is spread over two years. In the first year, the teaching is mainly oriented towards the acquisition of knowledge in terms of understanding public health policies and health economics on the one hand, while at the same time opening up to major public health and social issues, and to health evaluation methods, with some illustrative applications. The second year deepens the knowledge of public health, from the regulatory and ethical aspects of biomedical research to the organisation of health data and their use for the financing of hospitalisations, while presenting the organisational mechanisms of health institutions.

What career paths are open to graduates of this programme?

The career paths are wide and varied, whether for students in health or public policy. They include research in public health or medical evaluation, as well as the implementation of health policies or the management of health care institutions. Graduates are open to work in public institutions, university hospitals, research institutes, pharmaceutical laboratories, etc. 

What are the biggest challenges that students graduating from the dual Master's in Health and Public Policy will face in their future careers?

Recent events have shown us the importance of managing health issues in public policy and the need for a broad yet informed interaction between health professionals and politicians. The challenges are numerous, from the hopefully rare management of epidemics related to the emergence of new germs, to the implementation of an ambitious public health policy - a policy of financing health establishments while taking into account their specificity and ensuring the quality of care and its accessibility to all - a policy of encouraging biomedical research, by simplifying the technical and regulatory procedures that weigh it down in our country.

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• The Dual Master in Health and Public Policy (Santé et politiques publiques) with Université Paris Cité