A “new pharmacy degree at Bangor University has been given the go-ahead”, the Welsh university announced this week (July 8).
The four-year Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) undergraduate degree course is set to take on 35 students from September 2025, the university told C+D yesterday (July 11).
Read more:Pharmacy courses highly sought-after during clearing, says university
“We hope to grow to a projected steady state size of 90-100 [students] over the first four cohorts”, head of the pharmacy programme Professor Stephen Doughty said.
He added that the course is projected to cost students £9,250 per year “for September 2025 entry” – the “usual tuition [fee] in Wales”.
Read more: NHSE backs £1.5m scheme to ‘expand’ London MPharm placements
“The main offer level will likely be ABB at A-level with equivalencies for other qualifications,” he told C+D.
But there will be “some considerations on a case-by-case basis”, he said.
Read more: MPharm: New pharmacy school to open at University of Leicester this year
The North Wales university added that it is working “towards accreditation of this programme” with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and that the “programme will be provisionally accredited until the accreditation process is complete”.
“Opportunities to practise using the medium of the Welsh language will be core to the programme,” it said.
Prospective students can apply now.
“Local and national need”
Doughty told C+D that the course is “being developed specifically for the new GPhC initial education and training of pharmacists (IETP) 2021 standards”.
Under the new standards, the 2025/26 cohort will become independent prescribers and all future cohorts must complete a multi-sector training placement.
The university is set to “provide significant experiential teaching through partners including the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB), community pharmacies, GP practices and Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW),” it said.
Read more: Plymouth University set to offer Bath MPharm degree from September
Doughty said that the MPharm will “be exciting and relevant to the future roles of the modern pharmacist”.
He added that it “will meet both a local and national need and will ensure that North Wales has a strong base for pharmacy education and research”.
“This will ensure that patients and potential students’ needs are being met for the future,” he added.
Education expansion
It comes as the University of Hertfordshire this week revealed that pharmacy courses were the second most sought-after by students in the clearing process for the 2022/23 academic year.
Meanwhile in April, University College London, King's College London and Kingston University announced that they would “work together to standardise and expand pharmacy undergraduate placements across the capital”.
And in January, the University of Leicester revealed that it would open a new pharmacy school to help “tackle the UK’s pharmacist shortage”.
Read more: Multiples will only offer 300 trainee placements for 2025/26
In the same month, Plymouth University said it was set to offer the University of Bath’s MPharm pharmacy course from September 2024.
But last month, Oriel data revealed that the number of trainee placements set to be offered by large multiples for the 2025/26 cohort had tanked.
The news came after C+D exclusively revealed Well Pharmacy’s plans to offer “less than 30” places for English pharmacy trainees in the cohort in March.
