Malaysia is rapidly advancing in various areas of pharmacy, including pharmaceutical biology, pharmaceutical technology, pharmaceutical chemistry and clinical pharmacy to name a few. The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences conduct excellent curriculum to meet the rapidly changing demand of the country and the world. The early part of the B.Pham (Hons) curriculum focuses students on the fundamental knowledge in pharmacy as the foundation for later years. The curriculum is unique in that it starts off with integrated courses where four main disciplines in pharmacy are being taught for each body system studied. Students appreciate this mode of learning as it enhances their understanding. This will serve as a strong foundation later as they practice as pharmacists. Students in the programme experience various attachments to enhance their knowledge and skills in pharmacy. The UCSI pharmacy programme trains students with creative and critical thinking, in addition to the research skills needed for their career advancement.
The courses in the programme are arranged into four main disciplines within the Faculty as listed.
UCSI University’s Pharmacy curriculum emphasises training of professional, competent and competitive pharmacy graduates by focusing on academic ability, research skills and soft skills, while also highlighting communication, team work, critical thinking, innovative thinking, entrepreneurship and leadership.
Professional Recognition
The Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) programme is recognised by Malaysian Pharmacy Board (MPB).
The duration of the programme is 4 years.
In each year there are two long-semesters consisting of 14 weeks of instruction with 2 weeks of examinations, and one short-semester consisting of 7 weeks of instruction with 1 week of examinations. The long-semesters start in January and May, while the short-semester starts in September.
In the months of November & December students undergo industrial training under the Co-Operative Placement Scheme to learn and to familiarize themselves with real life working environment.
In addition, students also undertake a research and development project in their final year.
The number of contact hours per course per week depends on the credit and teaching methodology of each course. Each credit is approximately equivalent to 1 hour of class, or 2 hours of labs per week.
Academically qualified candidates would be required to attend an interview for admission. The outcome of the interview will determine a candidate’s successful admission into the programme.
UCSI University School of Pharmacy assesses its students based on the main objective of training competent pharmacists. The ethics, communication, knowledge, analytical and critical thinking skills are incorporated into its assessments. The assessment methods include various assignments, practical & visitation reports, oral presentations, research project viva, patient counseling, tutorials, problem based sessions and finally the examinations.
Malaysia has a vision to increase the number of pharmacists for the country in recent years. In achieving this, it will enable the country to advance into its ability for dispensing separation. Dispensing separation is the provision where pharmacists are allowed the sole responsibilities in dispensing medicines with prescriptions from doctors. This system would benefit the public greatly with pharmacists screening and identifying drug-related problems in addition to provide important information on their drug therapy. It is believed that dispensing separation would expand the roles of pharmacists in the country.
With the increased awareness of the public in pharmacy, it is well acknowledged that there are three main career options of community pharmacy, industrial pharmacy and hospital & clinical pharmacy.
With the new developments in recent year all over the world, the public has been actively seeking the consultation of pharmacists in herbal medicines, traditional medicines and the other alternative medicine. Pharmacists in the ever changing world of drug therapy and advanced therapeutics would need to keep up to date with these developments. This is the reason for the emphasis of the UCSI University Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons.) curriculum on the importance of life long learning for the profession.
Source: UCSI University