The University of Bath, Cardiff University, De Montfort University and King’s College London were the highest-scoring universities, after all of their students sitting the exam for the first time passed, according to papers published ahead of the regulator’s council meeting last week (September 8).

The University of Central Lancashire came bottom of the class, with an 86% first-time pass rate, followed by Kingston University, with 88%.

Students who sat this June’s new-look registration exam achieved the highest pass rate in four years at 95% – a more than 20 percentage point increase on the same sitting in 2015, when the pass rate was 74%.

The GPhC said this could be due to "strong" anecdotal evidence that some training providers had "invested more heavily" in support for trainees this year, and that some organisations had offered training courses and mock exams that attracted "significant numbers" of trainees.

The possibility that this year's cohort was a "strong one" should also not be discounted, it said.

Persistent trends

The GPhC noted “persistent…underlying trends identified in previous years”, such as higher pass rates among Scottish and Welsh students, and hospital or industry trainees.

One-hundred per cent of Welsh trainees who sat the exam for the first time passed, compared to 99% of Scottish trainees and 96% of English trainees.

All 13 academia or industry trainees sitting the exam for the first time passed the assessment, compared with 99% of hospital candidates and 95% of those training in community pharmacy.

See first-time pass rates by university