ETIH Innovation Awards Winners: Learna wins Best Workforce and Industry Collaboration Platform

Learna | Diploma MSc was recognized for combining university partnerships, flexible postgraduate medical education, global access, and measurable career and retention outcomes.

Learna wins Best Workforce and Industry Collaboration Platform at ETIH Innovation Awards 2026

Learna | Diploma MSc has won Best Workforce and Industry Collaboration Platform at the inaugural ETIH Innovation Awards 2026, with judges recognizing its model for delivering accredited postgraduate medical education to working healthcare professionals around the world.

The platform works with the University of South Wales and the University of Buckingham to offer more than 50 fully online Postgraduate Certificates, Diplomas, MScs, and MBAs. Its students include doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals balancing postgraduate study with clinical shifts, family responsibilities, and time away from formal education.

Learna has more than 10,400 alumni, 2,500 active students, and a global faculty of more than 500 practicing healthcare professionals. Around 70 percent of graduates report higher salaries within three years, while its online completion rate has reached 79 percent.

ETIH Innovation Awards judge Richard Govada Joshua highlighted the combination of "industry collaboration, accredited professional learning, workforce relevance, global accessibility, and measurable career progression." He also pointed to Learna’s university partnerships as a source of academic credibility, alongside a delivery model built around the realities of healthcare work.

Bringing universities and healthcare professionals together

For Courtenay Probert, CEO at Learna, the collaboration with the University of South Wales and the University of Buckingham addresses a problem that neither universities nor an education technology provider could solve as effectively alone.

"Healthcare systems globally are under enormous pressure, and the professionals working within them don't have the luxury of stepping back from clinical life to pursue traditional postgraduate study," Probert explains. "That's the fundamental problem we set out to solve, and it's one that neither Learna nor our university partners could address alone."

The universities provide academic oversight and qualifications recognized by employers and professional bodies. Learna contributes the online infrastructure, student support, and experience of designing study around clinical schedules.

As Probert puts it, the model combines "academic credibility" with an understanding of how to support someone managing "a 42-hour working week or a night shift pattern."

The partnership has also extended postgraduate provision beyond traditional campus boundaries. Learna’s largest cohort to date enrolled 1,453 students from 106 countries in September 2025, while bursary and scholarship partnerships have widened access in regions where postgraduate medical education is limited.

"The result is something neither partner could easily build on our own," Probert notes. "Our model extends academic reach far beyond the campus, into communities and countries where postgraduate provision simply doesn't exist."

ETIH Innovation Awards judge Richard Govada Joshua described Learna as a "mature, scalable, and globally relevant workforce development model for healthcare professionals." He also highlighted the direct link between flexible study, professional advancement, and wider healthcare capacity.

Emma Thompson, Director of Content and Editor at ETIH, says: "Learna demonstrated how university and industry collaboration can respond to a specific workforce challenge with evidence behind it. The model gives healthcare professionals access to accredited study without requiring them to step away from clinical work, while the student support and career outcome data showed that the partnership was delivering more than course access alone."

Supporting students before problems become attrition

Learna’s entry showed that flexible delivery is only one part of successful online postgraduate education. Many students are returning to academic study after several years away, often while working in high-pressure clinical environments and studying from another country or time zone.

"The honest answer is that we've learned the academic content is almost never the biggest barrier," Probert reflects. "What stops people is anxiety about returning to study after years away, about whether they can manage it alongside clinical responsibilities, about feeling isolated doing it online from a different time zone to their tutor."

That insight led Learna to introduce Get Set for Success, a pre-enrollment program that assesses readiness and introduces students to their faculty, module content, and study expectations before teaching begins. Students who raise concerns receive a personal telephone call from the engagement team.

Probert identifies the period between enrollment and the first module as particularly important: "If someone feels unsupported or unprepared in that period, you've often already lost them."

The intervention formed part of a wider support model that reduced attrition from 35 percent in March 2023 to 22 percent by March 2025. Overall student satisfaction reached 87 percent in 2025, while the Student Services team recorded a 97 percent satisfaction score.

ETIH Innovation Awards judge Jack Dowling highlighted Learna’s “strongest single career-outcome metric,” with 70 percent of graduates increasing their salary within three years. He also pointed to its 79 percent online completion rate and the Get Set for Success induction, which uses personal phone calls before study begins and contributed to attrition falling from 35 percent to 22 percent.

Probert cautions against attributing the improvement to a single intervention.

"If I had to name one, it would be Get Set for Success, but I'd be doing our team a disservice if I suggested it works in isolation," she comments.

Learna has also invested in a four-day Study Skills program for students adjusting to postgraduate-level academic expectations and critical thinking. Its support model includes average first-response times of two to three hours during 2025, compared with a stated sector benchmark of seven to 14 days at comparable institutions.

For students working across countries and time zones, that speed can affect whether online education feels connected or isolating.

"That's a fundamentally different signal to a student who is studying alone, often far from home, that someone is actually there," Probert adds. "Our student service team genuinely cares, and that passion drives student success."

Scott Thompson, Director at Paxton Media, which includes ETIH and RTIH, says: "Learna showed how a strong university-industry partnership can translate into practical workforce impact. The platform has been built around the realities of healthcare professionals’ lives, with flexible study, academic credibility, and student support working together to improve access, retention, and career progression."

Flexible study with measurable workforce outcomes

Learna’s asynchronous model allows students to access teaching around shifts and other commitments, but the academic delivery remains tutor-led. Its faculty includes more than 500 practicing healthcare professionals working in the subjects they teach.

"That means students aren't learning from academics who are distant from clinical reality; they're learning from peers who understand what it means to work a night shift and then try to find time to read a journal article," Probert explains.

The model also allows students in different regions to participate without being tied to a fixed timetable or campus. Fees are the same regardless of domestic or international status, and programs include established Postgraduate Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma exit points.

Student Catherine Potter, who completed an MSc in Women’s Health while working 42 hours a week, says: "I couldn’t have done it otherwise. It allowed me to focus, explore interesting subjects, and develop critical thinking."

The professional outcomes also featured heavily in the judges’ assessment. Richard Govada Joshua highlighted Learna’s 10,400-plus alumni, 2,500 active students, and evidence that around 70 percent of graduates increased their salaries. He said the platform showed "meaningful workforce impact, not just course delivery."

Learna’s partnerships have also continued to grow. The University of South Wales supported more than 900 postgraduate students through the model in 2025, approximately 70 percent of whom came from international backgrounds. Student numbers linked to the University of Buckingham rose from around 300 in 2023 to nearly 700 in 2025, with satisfaction remaining above 80 percent across four academic years.

For Probert, the award recognizes both the scale of that work and the thinking behind it: "Winning at the ETIH Innovation Awards means a great deal, particularly because this is recognition from a community that understands the complexity of what we're trying to do. Enrolling 1,453 students from 106 countries in a single cohort is something we're genuinely proud of; external recognition of the thinking behind our model is gratifying."

Learna now plans to strengthen its outcomes tracking, widen access through scholarships and bursaries in underserved regions, and continue adapting its program portfolio as healthcare workforce needs change.

"The award is a moment to reflect, but the work is what matters, and there's plenty more of it ahead," Probert concludes.

To learn more about Learna | Diploma MSc, its postgraduate medical programs, and its university partnerships, further information is available through the Learna website.