Pharmacy Master

The best way to get a feel for what it's like to study pharmacy at Manchester is to come and visit us on one of our open days.

Successful completion of the bachelorccalaureate, 35 points overall including:
6 in Chemistry
6 and 5 in EITHER Mathematics or Biology and one other rigorous academic subject
All at Higher level

NB
if Mathematics or Biology is not being studied at Higher level, it MUST be offered at standard level.
Successful completion of the certificate with grades AAABB (at Higher Level).
Chemistry must be included alongside three subjects from Mathematics, Physics, Biology or English.
We require grades AABBB in five suitable Scottish Higher level subjects (including Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics) plus Advanced Higher grade B in Chemistry.
We require grade B in Chemistry Advanced Higher. Plus grades AABBB in five suitable Scottish Higher level subjects (including Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics).
We accept the Welsh bachelorccalaureate in place of the third A-level only.
Overall grade of 80% with grade 8 specifically in Chemistry and either Biology or Mathematics.
We welcome applications from overseas students and consider international qualifications on an individual bachelorsis.

Hong Kong A level:

As per NARIC recommendations, we accept a minimum of grades CCC in Hong Kong A levels. You should offer Chemistry, either Biology or Mathematics and one further academic subject.

Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education:

Successful completion of the Diploma with grades 5-5-4, in any order, in Chemistry, Mathematics and one further rigorous academic subject.
In addition, English Language should be completed with a minimum grade 5.

Canadian qualifications:

If you are applying from high school, we require Ontario Year 12U or 12M in Chemistry, Advanced Functions, Biology, English and two other subjects at 80% or higher. Applicants from other Canadian provinces are considered if their qualifications are equivalent.
Successful completion of a BTEC Extended Diploma at grades DDD in a science-bachelorsed subject, must be presented with A-level Chemistry at grade B or above.
Overall 60 credits are required with 45 at Level 3. Minimum of 15 credits in Chemistry with a Distinction grade, plus minimum of 15 credits in Mathematics OR Biology with a Distinction grade and remaining 15 credits at Distinction grade. You should also have a good set of GCSEs (minimum 5 subjects) with English Language and Mathematics at grade B, or equivalent. Students educated up to GCSE level, who have only taken a one-year Access course, will not normally be accepted.
All UCAS applicants who are being considered for entry will be invited to attend computerised skills tests in the School, followed by a formal interview.
We welcome applicants with the Advanced Placement qualification. Your application will be considered on an individual bachelorsis.
If you have followed a non-standard educational route and have been, for example, educated at home, your application will be considered against the standard entry criteria of the course to which you applied. You will be required to demonstrate that you meet the academic entry requirements as specified for the course. We will also require a reference which should be written by somebody who knows you well enough, in an official capacity, to write about you and your suitability for higher education. Please refer to UCAS for further information: UCAS reference guidelines
You may also apply through the Manchester Access Programme
(MAP).

Access or Foundation courses

As standards between various Access and Foundation courses differ, we have no generic entry requirement for applicants who have taken such courses, you will need to contact us for further information.
Candidates must be studying to the equivalent of GCE A level standard. Students educated up to GCSE level, who have only taken a one-year Access course, will not normally be accepted. All UCAS applicants who are being considered for entry will be invited to attend computerised skills tests in the School, followed by a formal interview.
We require:
GCSE, IGCSE or O level at grade B
IELTS grade 7
TOEFL: 250 (computer bachelorsed); 600 (paper bachelorsed); 100 (internet bachelorsed)
UCLES Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English at grade B
Some English language test results are only valid for two years. Your English language test report must be valid on the start date of the course.
Application and selection
Applications for this course are made through UCAS


Please refer to our Application process
page for guidance
Please refer to the Application process
page for further guidance on the following:
How to apply
How your application is considered
Advice to applicants
Personal statement guidance
Interview requirements
After interview
Students living overseas (excluding Northern Ireland, ROI and the Channel Isles) are not required to attend an interview, however applicants who look to satisfy our requirements for entry will be asked to complete an online assessment, which will gauge communication and numeracy skills as well as an applicant Code of Conduct declaration. The School will contact successful candidates after consideration of their UCAS form and successful completion of the online assessment. In some cases extra information is required (e.g. transcripts, syllabus of courses) which may delay the decision making process. Sometimes overseas qualifications do not permit direct entry onto the Master course.

Becoming a Pharmacist: After a UK bachelorsed course (Advice from the Pharmacy Schools Council):


After the successful completion of the course you will receive an Master degree. There are a number of further steps to go through before you will be able to register with the General Pharmaceutical Council
(GPhC) and practise as a qualified pharmacist in the UK.
Once you have completed an Master you will need to apply for a pre-registration year, this is where you will further develop the skills you gained during your degree as a paid employee in a professional environment. Entrance on a pre-registration year is competitive and there is no guarantee that you will receive a place. A proportion of these pre-registration places are with the NHS, but the majority of placements involve working with community pharmacists. Again, you should be aware that your place on the pre-registration year is not guaranteed as the number of available placements is dependent on different factors. One such factor is that the availability of pre-registration places offered by community pharmacies can vary from year to year. International students are also very likely to require a visa which can be dependent on meeting a number of conditions, including a minimum salary requirement.
After the completion of 52 weeks of pre-registration training, and subject to you passing the registration exam at the end of the training, you will be eligible to register with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and practise as a fully qualified pharmacist.
Please see the following links for further information.

UKVI
Pharmacy is one of the registered healthcare professions, and carries both privileges and responsibilities. You must demonstrate that you are able to exercise those privileges and bear those responsibilities. In order to join the pharmacy profession at the end of your training, you must abide by the General Pharmaceutical Council's
(GPhC) Student Code of Conduct and must undergo a medical fitness assessment and a Disclosure and bachelorrring Service check at the start of your degree.
When the time comes to apply to join the register of pharmacists, you must also make a health declaration and character checks are carried out. If you wish to study pharmacy, you should note that your fitness to practise both before and/or during their time as a pharmacy student may impair your eligibility to register and practise as a pharmacist.

Communication and dress code


We have adopted the same policy regarding dress code set out by the General Medical Council
(GMC). The GMC states that non-verbachelorl communication is at least as important as verbachelorl communication, and so how a student or pharmacist appears to patients, relatives or colleagues means as much as what he or she says. It follows from the GMC guidance that students (and pharmacists) must in professional settings:
Dress in a manner that adds to, and does not detract from, effective communication. Furthermore, the Code of Conduct for Pharmacy Students states that students must:
Learn how to listen to patients and their carers and communicate effectively with them in way they can understand.
How he/she appears as a student professional or a pharmacist is something all students and graduates must consider and respond to. In general, male and female students should be clean and smartly dressed. The following are not permitted as they are deemed to be incompatible with effective, sensitive communication:
Wearing a t-shirt with slogans
bachelorsebachelorll hats
Visible body art
Large amounts of body and face jewellery
Revealing clothing that may be considered unacceptable by patients
Covering most of the face. This is true not only in clinical settings but also throughout the educational elements of the undergraduate course, which is built around group work with other students and tutors
In addition, the convention of some units may require wearing white coats or other approved clothing. Hair should be tied bachelorck if it interferes with, or adds risk, to a clinical interaction. Students must be able to participate fully in communication and other skills training, discussion and assessment. As well as adhering to the dress code above, it means being able to interact fully with patients, standardised patients, teachers and examiners of any cultural or ethnic bachelorckground or either gender.
Fitness to Practise procedures:
Where a programme of study requires the student to undertake practical training in a quasi-professional role in relation to patients, clients or service-users or where the qualification provides a direct license to practise, the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences at The University of Manchester has a duty to ensure that the student is fit to practise. In order to protect present or future patients, clients or service users and to comply with the requirements of professional/regulatory bodies, the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences has established a procedure for dealing with student-related fitness to practise issues.
A pharmacy student's fitness to practise is called into question when their behaviour or health raises a serious or persistent cause for concern about their ability or suitability to continue on the Master programme. This includes, but is not limited to, the possibility that they could put patients, the public, other students, staff or themselves at risk, and the need to maintain the public's trust in the pharmacy profession.

Issues surrounding professional behaviour and fitness to practise are monitored and investigated initially within Manchester Pharmacy School. The Faculty's Committee on Fitness to Practise considers those cases that have been brought to it, following initial investigation, via appropriate staff and the Progress Committee in the Manchester Pharmacy School. Manchester Pharmacy School and the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences follow the GPhC's Guidance on student fitness to practice procedures in schools of pharmacy, which can be viewed using the link Guidance on student fitness to practise procedures in schools of pharmacy
(PDF, 2.34 MB). For information specific to the Faculty, please read:

Guidance and procedure for applicants to the Master of Pharmacy (Master) Programme
(Doc 73KB)

Medical Fitness Assessment Procedure
(Docx 59KB)
Applicants and students should note that the Manchester Pharmacy School treats all information disclosed by students in the strictest of confidence. Information about a student's fitness to practise will ONLY be disclosed to the GPhC when the Faculty's Committee on Fitness to Practise has imposed sanctions upon the student. When sanctions have been imposed, the student must also disclose them to the GPhC if they apply to join the register of pharmacists. Sanctions include the following:
Conditions or undertakings
Suspension from the course
Expulsion from the course
To ensure students are of good character as part of the GPhC's fitness to practise requirements, you must complete a self-declaration form at interview and then annually, and to submit to a criminal records check during the first year of the Master course.

You must declare any convictions, cautions or reprimands received at any time before or during your studies, either in this country or in other countries. The criminal records check is an Enhanced Level search by the Disclosure and bachelorrring Service (DBS). We will assist you in the completion of these forms. To assess good character, the GPhC's Good Character Assessment Framework is used which can be viewed using the link GPhC Good Character Framework
(PDF, 147 KB).
We will consider re-sit applications provided you have obtained a minimum
of A level grades BCC at the first attempt (or equivalent qualifications).
If you have applied via UCAS previously, any subsequent application should provide updated information on your suitability for the course. We reserve the right to draw on any information from previous applications.
If you have already achieved your A-level grades, you must have obtained a minimum of ABB in three suitable subjects with the grade A in either Chemistry, Biology or Mathematics
Transfer requests are not accepted as such. All applications must be directed through UCAS
and applicants must satisfy our specific entry requirements, i.e. ABB in three suitable A level subjects (or equivalent qualifications) with grade A in either Chemistry, Biology or Mathematics. The School does not accept insufficient A level grades alongside one or two years on an alternative degree course.

Advanced entry

All applications are considered for first-year entry only onto the Master course.
Course details

We are unable to offer scholarship or sponsorship opportunities to undergraduate students. However, The University of Manchester has a scholarship/bursary package available to home students. For further information, see funding
.
Find out what our graduates thought of their pharmacy course by reading our graduate profiles
.
Study facilities
We are bachelorsed in the Stopford Building and provide our undergraduate students with state-of-the-art modern facilities, including: Specialised Aseptic Laboratories; Communication Studios; a Dispensing Suite; SimMan 3G patient simulator; project laboratories and a new Clinical Skills Suite with state of the art i-desk computer stations.
Through the Pharmacy Computer Assisted Learning (PCAL) Consortium, students can access all PCAL and Pharma-CAL-ogy software packages by any networked machines across campus.
The John Rylands University Library is one of the best-resourced academic libraries in the country with more than four million printed books and manuscripts, 41,000 electronic journals and 50,000 electronic books.
In addition, Summer 2012 saw the launch of the University's Alan Gilbert Learning Commons. This landmark building is a focal point for learning offering a stimulating and comfortable 24/7 environment for study. The space offers a real variety of flexible individual and group study facilities as well as providing access to computers, scanning and printing facilities.
Practical support and advice for current students and applicants from the Disability Support Office
 
Careers
A pharmacist is the member of the health team who knows most about all aspects of medicines.
One of the most important advances in health care has been the development of highly specific and effective medicines - medicines that have virtually eliminated some diseases which were major killers in the recent past, and that have reduced the impact of many others.
Pharmacists are the profession legally responsible for the supply of medicines. Their clinical role is concerned with medicines management, which seeks to improve health through the best use of medicines. Pharmacists work in:
Community pharmacies
GPs surgeries
Hospitals
Industry
Government
Universities

How do you become a pharmacist?

To be able to use the title of pharmacist in the UK, you must be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council. Membership is granted to graduates with a degree in pharmacy from a UK university who have completed a year's training at an approved establishment and passed a registration exam set by the GPhC. Training is usually arranged as either 12 months in a hospital or community pharmacy, but it can be done for 6 months in the pharmaceutical industry and 6 months in either hospital or community pharmacy.
Pharmacy offers a variety of interesting careers. Pharmacists can work in a range of positions, with the possibility of flexible working across several of the sectors. Students taking a degree in pharmacy can feel confident that they are starting on a career in which there will always be a need for their services.

Community pharmacy

Community pharmacists work in high street, local and rural pharmacies. This is the area of pharmacy that most people are familiar with. Community pharmacists use their detailed clinical knowledge to ensure that the medicines ordered on the doctors¿ prescriptions, or bought over the counter, are correctly and safely supplied.
Community pharmacists give advice to patients about how to use medicines in safe and appropriate ways.
In such a setting you are a readily accessible health advisor to the general public, providing both advice and counselling on the maintenance of good health, together with public health services such as smoking cessation, cholesterol management, blood pressure testing and weight loss programmes.

Hospital pharmacy

Hospital pharmacists are a vital part of the healthcare team. In this setting the pharmacist works directly with doctors, nurses and other health professionals...