What is pharmacy?
Pharmacists are experts in medicines and drug therapy. Our MPharm degree links your future professional role with in-depth knowledge from a broad range of chemical, biological and professional disciplines. You will study all aspects of pharmacy from disease-causing microorganisms, synthesis and manufacture of drugs, and actions of drugs in the body to professional aspects such as dispensing and ethics.
How will I study?
Much of your learning will be case-based to ensure that the scientific and professional elements are integrated from day one. You will study in lectures, practical classes, small workshop and tutorial groups and on placement. You will also study alongside students in other healthcare disciplines; for example with trainee doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and dieticians.
The School benefits from a number of clinical teachers; pharmacy professionals who spend part of their time teaching and part of their time working in a hospital or community pharmacy. Our academic staff are at the leading edge of scientific and healthcare developments and we were ranked as the UK's top school of pharmacy in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. All of our academic staff act as a personal tutor for undergraduate students, so you will have support and encouragement from some of the country's top academics.
Professional recognition
Our four year Masters in Pharmacy (MPharm) course has full accreditation from the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). We are currently working towards accreditation for our five year course.
See www.pharmacyregulation.org for more information on the accreditation of UK Pharmacy programmes.
Studying abroad
We offer students the chance to apply to spend a semester or a year studying at our campus near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For more information about studying abroad, please see Malaysia Campus website
Career prospects and employability
To become a UK-registered pharmacist after the four-year MPharm, you must successfully complete a one-year pre-registration training period after graduation. We will provide support to help you secure this. The vast majority of our students have places arranged well before graduation. For more information about registration, please see
Career opportunities for pharmacists are plentiful and varied. While most pharmacists are based in hospital or community pharmacies, others work in areas such as clinical trials, quality assurance and formulation in the
pharmaceutical industry, or in academic pharmacy, or in scientific positions within the NHS. Recent professional career developments include working with GPs and providing prescribing advice.
The average starting salary for 2010/11 full-time graduates of the School of Pharmacy was £19,481.*
* Average starting salary from known destinations of first-degree leavers who studied full-time.
Application and interview
For more details about the application process and about the Pharmacy Student Code of Conduct and fitness to practise procedures, please see www.nottingham.ac.uk/pharmacy
Open days
Short-listed applicants will have the opportunity to visit the School when they attend their interview or details of University-wide open days, please see www.nottingham.ac.uk/opendays