- The master’s degree in social security is taught by the University of Alcalá in Spain.
- It consists of two stages and while the first is virtual, the second is face-to-face.
- Each year several ISSSTE workers are selected and thanks to a grant from Conacyt all travel costs are covered.
The only constant within the field of health is that training never ends. There is always new knowledge to be acquired and updates must be regular. The goal is not only to offer a better service to patients but also to encourage personal development. Among the available options there are some with curricular value such as pursue a master’s degree in social security.
Postgraduate studies outside of Mexico
Something quite interesting is that there is a collaboration agreement between the National Council for Science and Technology (Conacyt), the Ibero-American Social Security Organization (OISS) and the University of Alcalá, Spain. The objective is to offer economic support to the personnel of the Institute of Security and Social Services of State Workers (Issste) so that they complete this educational stage abroad.
The course taught by the OISS, jointly with the University of Alcalá, uninterruptedly since 1997, is aimed at the specific training of people who, from the public or private sector, hold responsibilities in the social security management.
The training program is taken in a hybrid way in two stages:
- The five-month long distance phase takes place entirely via the internet on a state-of-the-art platform, with the permanent support of tutors.
- And the face-to-face phase of the course, which will take place at the University of Alcalá, Spain, from July 11 to 29. The scholarship holders completed the first stage online during 2020 and 2021. Although due to the pandemic they had not been able to complete the second.
Those chosen to study the Master in Social Security
On July 9, the deputy coordinator in the Health Regulations Directorate, Laura Minerva Hernández Herrera; the Deputy Delegate for Benefits in Querétaro, José Carlos Cartagena Pérez; the Administrative Deputy Director of the Issste Comitán Hospital Clinic, Alma Irazú Valdez Gastélum; the director of the Issste Tampico General Hospital, Luis Miguel Rodríguez González, and the administrative professional in the Internal Audit Area and Complaints Area, Yahir Antonio Torres Durán, traveled to Spain to complete the face-to-face phase.
The scholarship holders who attend the face-to-face phase were selected from 37 public servants who applied to take the Master in Direction and Management of Social Security Systems.
José Carlos Cartagena Pérez, Luis Miguel Rodríguez González and Alma Irazú Valdez Gastélum agreed that they will finally finish the training course, which did not represent any cost to them. While the knowledge acquired will be applied to improve the service they provide at Issste.
“The master’s degree greatly expands the panorama of how the situation is in the health system, not only in Mexico, but internationally. The OISS does a lot of comparative studies and sees what options can be applied in our environment”.
The face-to-face phase will be dedicated to extensive presentations by the teaching staff, expert conferences, visits to operational centers for social security management in Spain, round tables where students must present and defend their final master’s thesis in court.
Once the course is over, the scholarship holders must make a payment to the Issste through a project or article where the knowledge acquired is applied to generate proposals for improvements in the area where they work, or that meets the needs of the institute.
The OISS is an international organization of a technical and specialized nature whose purpose is to promote the economic and social well-being of Ibero-American countries and of all those that are linked by the Spanish and Portuguese languages through coordination, exchange and use of their experiences. mutual in social security, and in general in the field of social protection.