Undergraduate students taking the Pharmacy (MPharm) course at Nottingham are taught on a wide variety of modules in fundamental areas of the chemical, pharmaceutical and biological sciences in addition to their training in the practice of Pharmacy. Chemistry-based modules (organic and physical chemistry) are designed with the intention of providing students with a thorough grounding in fundamental areas of the chemical sciences most closely allied to their own discipline.

The view from the academic staff (and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain) in this regard is that students should gain not just an appreciation of chemical structures and their development as drugs, but also an awareness of how molecular structures fundamentally influence pharmaceutical and biological properties of molecules. At Nottingham, as elsewhere, concepts of chemical reactivity and functional group transformations from a mechanistic viewpoint are firmly instilled in the minds of the student and examined through both written and practical assessments.

Despite the best intentions and efforts of the chemistry teaching staff, there exists a perception that Pharmacy students are sceptical of the relevance and / or importance of much of the organic chemistry they are taught, and staff repeatedly feel the need to justify the teaching they undertake in this area. The reasons for this will no doubt be quite complex and vary from one individual to another. This project aims to assess perceptions and address any negative feelings about chemistry amongst the student group by the following means:

• A student-directed questionnaire examining perceptions of the relevance and importance of each component of the MPharm course to the pharmacist-in-training, with a special emphasis on pharmaceutical and biological chemistry. The questionnaire will be directed at second year (MPharmII) students who will have a reasonable grounding in chemistry at this stage but will still have time left on the course to see the effects of recommendations resulting from this study. Importantly the questionnaire will be distributed anonymously. It is hoped that approach will produce a more impartial and objective response. A pilot study on a small group (5-6) of second year students will be carried out.
• The drawing up of a list of recommendations for staff and students based on the survey results with the intention of addressing any student concerns in this area.

Whilst student opinion will be sought and will influence teaching in this field, it must also be remembered that it is the academic staff in conjunction with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society) who will primarily influence what is taught. It is hoped that recommendations resulting from this test of student opinion will have a positive influence on both students and staff in this area of the MPharm course.