On the contrary, universities often do have a business model which makes it easier to interact on cross border opportunities. One of which is the Institute of Health Policy & Management (iBMG), Erasmus University Rotterdam, which is closely linked with the Erasmus Medical Centre. iBMG is involved in national and international research in the fields of health policy and management and covers a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from health economics to social medical sciences, health law goverance, and management. It offers a wide range of English spoken education programmes, among which 4 full time Master of Science programmes, an MBA, and a PhD programme. Altogether it hosts over 400 graduate students.

TFHC Partner since 2014 Prof. Joris van de Klundert (Chair Department Management & Organisation of Health Services at iBMG) elaborates: “The international attention to the Dutch health care system, policy and management provides strategic opportunities for universities. Also, as universities increasingly position their education and research internationally and  research funding is also increasingly international.”

Equipped with a global view iBMG came into contact with the Task Force Health Care (TFHC) by joining one of their trade missions. Prof. Van de Klundert: “TFHC trade missions are a perfect way to maintain and strengthen our current international partnerships. In just one week you will meet a high number of relevant professionals and organisations. Furthermore, they are also suitable to explore new markets. For example, we recently (Nov. 2016) travelled to Colombia under the guidance of the TFHC. We met potential academic and governmental partners and are now starting up in Latin America. As a direct result of the mission, we have now a pilot project for capacity building in integrated rural care in Colombia.”

On the other side of the globe, in China, iBMG has several projects running. Due to Chinese healthcare policy reforms the growing prosperity among the middle class increases the demand for care and recent reforms of the health insurance system provided improved access. However, the large differences between urban and rural areas still form a striking and painful contrast. As a result, the World Bank and the British Department for International Development (DFID) provided a contribution of $ 60M for improving rural health care in the so-called China Rural Health Care Program (CRHC). In 2013, iBMG was approached by the World Bank to execute an independent international evaluation in the field of the implementation of clinical pathways, the integration of first and second-line, and the manner in which performance-based evaluation is implemented. iBMG’s participation embodied a pilot of 24 million people.

Prof. Van de Klundert: “Our two-year contribution to this project has been rated as very successful and as a result, we are launching a spin-off project upcoming summer, which does not only include evaluation but will also include our involvement in the design of the interventions and the research. We are very delighted with this result. In general, as a progressive organisation we can serve an important role in the international exchange of Dutch knowledge and expertise. And I sincerely hope that we, together with other Dutch organisations, find new ways to share the wonderful elements of the Dutch healthcare system worldwide.”