Pharmacy (MPharm) at University College Cork

A pharmacist is a healthcare team member specifically concerned with drugs and medicines. Pharmacy at UCC provides the confidence, skills and knowledge to make a difference in the pharmaceutical arena.

The four main areas of study on this five-year course are pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry; formulation design; drug action in the body and the practice of pharmacy. The course incorporates both basic sciences learning and the practice of pharmacy, as well as a number of unpaid/paid placements as outlined above.

The School of Pharmacy has state-of-the-art facilities designed to teach pharmacy to a world-class standard. These include laboratories, teaching and tutorial rooms, and a model pharmacy. Innovative technology is used in over-the-counter (OTC) "responding to symptoms" tutorials. This technology uses interactive patient scenarios across many types of diseases.

Exciting new changes to Pharmacy Education

Since September 2015 students who enter the UCC Pharmacy programme will graduate with a level 9 MPharm degree. Once you have successfully completed your first four years (BPharm) you will then progress to the fifth year (MPharm). This new and exciting change in Pharmacy education in Ireland has come about because the Irish professional Pharmacy body (the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, PSI) now requires graduates to have completed a Masters degree before entering the PSI Register and practising as a Pharmacist.

So what does this mean for you?

The pharmacy degree is designed to integrate both the subjects you will study and the placements you will undertake so that you can really understand and apply your knowledge of science and healthcare to drug treatments for patients. Placements will be an integral part of the programme over the five years. There will be a one day placement in first year, two weeks in second year, an optional two months at the end of third year (summer period), four months in fourth year and eight months in the final year. Placements can be carried out in community, hospital or industry as well as within regulatory organisations but the final eight month placement in your fifth year must be carried out in a patient-facing setting.

Key facts

• Purpose-built pharmacy building which houses a model pharmacy, spacious teaching laboratories and a processing suite and clean-room facility
• Research-led teaching by all staff
• Wide ranging opportunities for structured PhD programmes
• Strong contacts with the pharmaceutical industry, local hospitals and community pharmacies which provides inter-professional learning opportunities and placements.

Pharmacists are the "scientists on the high street" – they can provide medical information and services to all of the community who come to visit them. Pharmacy is a unique degree that trains you to not only to design and make safe drugs and medicines, but also to ensure that a patient receives the right dose and medication for their illness. This degree gives QP status, which means a graduate can work as a qualified person in the pharmaceutical industry. Once qualified, pharmacy graduates can work anywhere in the EU.

Skills and Careers Information

This course is an excellent broad-based degree that can take you in a number of career directions, including:

• community pharmacist
• hospital pharmacist
• industrial pharmacist
• university lecturer
• wholesaling
• regulatory work.

There are also opportunities for research in areas such as drug delivery, drug design, drug action and the practice of pharmacy. Pharmacists can manage businesses for other people or set up their own business.