Aston University’s pharmacy school unveiled its £3.3 million pharmacy training laboratory at a ceremony this week (September 24), it revealed yesterday (September 25)

Its “state-of-the-art” facility includes a main lab that can accommodate 83 students, an asepsis suite and a technician prep room, the university announced.

Aston said that the lab was designed with accessibility in mind, with height-adjustable benches, fume hoods and safety cabinets “suitable for students in wheelchairs”, alongside measures to promote inclusivity for students with hearing and sight impairments.

Read more: League table: Which pharmacy schools aced the June 2024 registration exam?

The university said that MSc, MPharm and overseas pharmacy assessment programme (OSPAP) students could use the asepsis suite to “prepare drugs such as chemotherapy drugs and cytotoxic drugs”.

Aston said the facilities were funded by the Office for Students (OfS), England’s independent regulator of higher education.

Aston pharmacy school head Dr Joe Bush said that students now had access to “cutting-edge laboratory equipment in comfortable, inclusive, sector-leading facilities”.

 

Sheffield enters pharmacy schooling

 

Meanwhile, the University of Sheffield announced earlier this month (September 6) that it would open its new pharmacy school to students in September 2025.

Sheffield said that it would be offering a four-year MPharm degree, which the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has “provisionally accredited until the accreditation process is complete” it said.

Sheffield said that qualified pharmacy technicians could also “gain a pharmacy degree” through its “masters of pharmacy with a Preparatory Year programme”, offered by its department for life-long learning.

Read more: NHSE to fund 530 community pharmacy technician apprenticeships

Sheffield’s MPharm degree would offer students the chance to take up a “social accountability placement” in the voluntary sector, that would help students develop an understanding of “the broader health needs of the community”.

Sheffield’s head of pharmacy Professor Susan Matthews said graduates of the new course would be “experts in medicines, but also compassionate healthcare professionals who can make a real difference in people’s lives”. 

“Sheffield Pharmacy graduates will be of their community and for their community,” she said.

Read more: Concerns over lack of pharmacy academics to teach influx of students

Chair of the Yorkshire and Humber chief pharmacists network Osman Chohan said at the launch that the new pharmacy school was “a really exciting prospect” for the region.

“The prospect of a steady stream of highly skilled, highly trained pharmacists to support the local population is really exciting,” he said.

 

School’s cool

 

Earlier this month, the GPhC revealed that Cardiff University was Great Britain’s most successful pharmacy school for summer 2024, after 93% of its 82 first-time candidates passed the June registration assessment.

In July, Bangor University announced that its “exciting and relevant” new pharmacy degree had been given the go-ahead, with the four-year MPharm set to take on 35 students from September 2025.

And in January the University of Leicester announced that it too would open a new pharmacy school to help “tackle the UK’s pharmacist shortage”, welcoming its first pharmacy students in autumn 2024, following provisional accreditation by the GPhC.