Checklist for the start of your studies
Before the first day of your education, you need to take some important steps.
1.Your offer
You have been admitted. If you want to keep your place (seat), you do not have to reply to your offer.
If you do not want to keep your place you should decline your offer by logging in to 'My pages' on universityadmissions.se, and follow the instructions. You should click "I wish to decline this offer" next to the course or programme you want to decline.
If you see "Reserve" next to your course or programme in the Notification of selection results, this means that you've been placed on a waiting list for that course/programme.
2.Activate your user account and MFA
As a new student, you need to activate your user account (your UMU-id) approximately two weeks prior to the start of the semester.
With your user account you can:
- register for courses
- access the internet in computer labs and the university's wireless network
- submit assignments and verify your study results
- access your student e-mail
If you are a new student, you will automatically receive a user account when you are admitted, but you will need to activate it for it to function properly. You will not be able to activate it until approximately two weeks prior to the start of the semester.
Exchange student or tuition fee paying student
If you are an exchange student or tuition fee paying student, you will receive an email with instructions on how to activate your account.
Install MFA for a more secure login
To increase security and reduce the risk of unauthorised access to your information or account, students must enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) to log in to various systems, such as Canvas and the Student Web.
I want to activate my user account and install MFA
Help! It´s not working
If you are having problems activating your account or logging in, please contact our Servicedesk. You will find answers to common questions, and can submit enquiries.
3.Course registration
The course starts off with registration and introduction. You need to be registered on the course in the study documentation system in order to be able to follow the course and to get your results registered during the course. If you are unable to attend during the registration and introduction, you need to contact the study administrator Angelica Johansson in advance, or else you risk losing your place (seat) at the course/programme.
It’s not possible to self-register online for this course.
In order to get registered you need to attend the mandatory roll call at 13:00 pm September 30.
4.Course start
2026-09-30
13:00
The schedule is preliminary until four weeks before the course starts
Course structure
The course starts on Wednesday 30th September 2026 at 13 pm in Room
Alicante, Floor 3, Building 5B, NUS hospital area, see link above. You must contact the course administrator beforehand if you are not able to attend the first session.
A preliminary course schedule is attached. The course runs from Wednesday 30th September until Friday 30th October 2026. Teaching is concentrated to the period between 30th September – 22st October.
Teaching and examination takes place in person on campus.
Apart from the first session there are three compulsory sessions, which are the three components of the examination: a literature seminar on Friday 9th October, presentation of group work on Friday 23rd October and a written exam on Wednesday 28th October.
All changes to the schedule will be communicated through the Canvas course site, which you get access to after the first session.
Essential course materials are listed below. This includes textbook chapters, scientific articles, and internet resources. For textbooks that are not available as e-books there are several physical copies (including a reference copy) at the Medical library or the University library. Other materials may be distributed during the course.
The course is jointly organised by the Department of Epidemiology and Global Health and the Department of Economics. Health Economic Theory is a core module for two programmes: the MSc in Public Health with a Specialization in Health Economics, and the MSc in Economics with a profile in Health Economics.
Essential course materials are given below. Other materials will be distributed during the course.
Course Literature
Teacher Anni-Maria Pulkki-Brännström
- Ch 1 ‘Key concepts’, Ch 8 ‘Healthcare markets and efficiency’ and Ch 11 ‘Private health insurance’, in L. Guiness and V. Wiseman (2011) Introduction to health economics. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
- Fan, VY and WD Savedoff (2014) The health financing transition: A conceptual framework and empirical evidence. Social Science & Medicine 105:112-121.
- Wagstaff A et al. (2018) Progress on catastrophic health spending in 133 countries: a retrospective observational study. Lancet Global Health 6:e169–79.
- Ch 12 ‘Public-sector health care financing’ in S. Glied and P.C. Smith (eds)(2011): The Oxford Handbook of Health Economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- pp 1-5 and 14-25 in: C. Cashin, ed. Assessing Health Provider Payment Systems: A Practical Guide for Countries Working Toward Universal Health Coverage. Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage, 2015. Available from: https://www.jointlearningnetwork.org/resources/assessing-health-provider-payment-systems-a-practical-guide-for-countries-w/
- Ch 14 ‘Pay for Quality: using financial incentives to improve quality of care’ by H. Eckhardt, P. Smith and W. Quentin (2019) in: Busse, Klazinga, Panteli and Quentin (eds.): Improving healthcare quality in Europe. Characteristics, effectiveness and implementation of different strategies. European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Health Policy Series 53. Available from: https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/i/improving-healthcare-quality-in-europe-characteristics-effectiveness-and-implementation-of-different-strategies-study
- Paul, E., G.W. Brown, D. Renmans and V. Ridde (2025) Performance-based financing is not on the path towards universal health coverage and equity. BMC Global and Public Health 3:10.
- Anell, A. (2011) Choice and privatisation in Swedish primary care. Health Economics, Policy and Law 6:549-569.
- First 33 minutes of: Yip, W. (July 2017) Aligning provider payment incentives to leverage service delivery change. iHEA Boston Congress Special Organized Session: Social Experiments on Financing and Payment Options. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6fmGOqZiHs
Teacher David Granlund
- Chapters 2-4 and 12 in: Bhattacharya, J., Hyde, T. and Tu, P., 2014. Health Economics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (A reference copy is available in the Medical Library.)
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* Kemptner, D., Jürges, H. and Reinhold, S., 2011. Changes in compulsory schooling and the causal effect of education on health: Evidence from Germany. Journal of health economics, 30(2), pp.340-354.
* This is the compulsory reading for the seminar that is part of the examination for the course.
- Jayachandran, S. and Kuziemko, I., 2011. Why do mothers breastfeed girls less than boys? Evidence and implications for child health in India. The Quarterly journal of economics, 126(3), pp.1485-1538.
- Strauss, J. and Thomas, D., 1998. Health, nutrition, and economic development. Journal of economic literature, 36(2), pp.766-817.
Group work
Essential course materials for the group work at the end of the course
*Chapter 9 (Infectious diseases), 11 (Mental health) or 24 (Long-term care) in S. Glied and P.C. Smith (eds)(2011): The Oxford Handbook of Health Economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* This is the compulsory reading for the group work that is part of the examination for the course. Each group takes one of the chapters
Learning platform
In this course, we use the learning platform Canvas. There you will find for example course schedule, instructions for exercises during the course and messages from the teachers. In order to get access to the learning platform, you sign in using your Umu-id. You will get access to the Canvas site (Health Economic Theory) after the first day of the course. If you are not able to attend on the first day it's important that you let us know.
Registration and Umu-id
It’s not possible to self-register online for this course.
In order to get registered you need to attend the mandatory roll call at 13:00 pm September 30.
In order to access the central IT systems at Umeå University, you need a user account, an Umu-id. You will receive a user account after you have been admitted to studies at Umeå University, and you will need to activate it before you can use it to sign in. https://www.umu.se/en/student/help-and-support/it-services/umu-id/
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