Online Course BCEPS300: "Introduction to Priority Setting in Health"
BCEPS offers a recurring, award-winning online course on priority setting in health, led by Prof. Kjell Arne Johansson and featuring leading researchers and practitioners in the field. The course is offered to university students and policymakers alike, entirely online and free of charge.
Information about the Course
In February 2025, BCEPS offered this online course for the first time and it is now offered every year. The course, led by Professor Kjell Arne Johansson, won the Award for Excellence in Education, presented by the Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen.
The next course dates are: 4 January 2027- 12 March 2027
Registration for the BCEPS300 course is open now:
- For professionals who want to complete the course for a certificate (no ECTS credits): Registration Form (external link)
- For university students who want to receive ECTS credits: Go to https://fsweb.no/soknadsweb/velgInstitusjon.jsf (external link) and find the course "Priority Setting in Health: An Introduction Course"
Students from all backgrounds are welcome, and students at the University of Bergen and other universities have the opportunity to earn ECTS (academic credits) for completing the course. Everyone who completes the course receives a Certificate of Completion.
The course duration is 10 weeks, with a weekly interactive live session held on Zoom. The course includes video lectures, readings, quizzes, and group exercises. In total, participants should plan for 7-8 hours of coursework per week.
In 2025, the 60+ students came from more than 30 different countries and varied backgrounds in academia, ministries of health, other government agencies, and international organisations.
Course participants learn about the basic methods for priority setting in health, with an emphasis on how to evaluate equity in access to health services and fairness in distributions of health outcomes, and to integrate tools for equity concerns and health maximization.
The course covers theoretical concepts of universal health coverage, ethics, equity and fairness, as well as health maximization, and how they are applied in global and national health care priority setting. It also features hands-on exercises on burden of disease, cost-effectiveness, and use of the FairChoices: DCP Analytics Tool.
A range of instructors from various institutions and countries give live expert lectures during this course, and participants have a chance to engage with them and ask questions. In 2025, the course lecturers were, in order of appearance, Kjell Arne Johansson (course leader), Austen Davis, Ingrid Miljeteig, Trygve Ottersen, Omar Mwalim, Krishna Aryal, Ole F. Norheim, Wafa Aftab, Anand Bhopal, Stein Emil Vollset, Tarun Shankar Choudhary, Oddvar Kaarbøe, Lumbwe Chola, Pakwanja Twea, Prayash Chaudhary, Amani Thomas Mori, Sarah Bolongaita, Stéphane Verguet, and David Watkins.
Participants gained a lot from the course that they can apply in their careers, sharing statements such as:
"Thank you for a great course. It has helped me a lot in understanding priority setting at so many levels"
"Very insightful and interactive"
“The two weeks were full of learning new topics and revising old ones"
"Thanks Kjell Arne and team for a very informative two weeks. Quite eye-opening and definitely all essential!"