Bachelor of Pharmacy

With the support of Queen Mary Hospital, not only do HKU undergraduates enjoy early clinical exposure but also benefit from the inter-professional collaboration of pharmacists and clinicians through on-site education in wards and outpatient clinics. Furthermore, Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong also provides an additional training site exclusive to our HKU students.

Diversified “fit-for-purpose” teaching pedagogies have been adopted to manifest the specific features of the curriculum, enhanced by the introduction of The Pharmacy Experiential Education Programme (PEEP) and the Enrichment Modules. Besides, as an area of strength in the Medical Faculty, the problem-based learning (PBL) approach in teaching is applied to encourage critical thinking and self-directed learning skills, encouraging interdisciplinary inquiry from students and fostering their lifelong learning skills.

Through gaining hands-on experience in this subspecialty, students have the opportunity to witness and spot the increasing demand of the local industry for professional pharmacy services. A wide spectrum of topics related to the practicality of industrial pharmacy is taught by the industry’s experts with extensive work experience.

A key characteristic of the programme is to enhance students’ proficiency in providing primary healthcare services, particularly patient education. Students have various opportunities to acquire patient counselling and communication skills step-by-step while the level of mastery will gradually increase with the magnitude of complexity in a range of situations.

The programme equips future pharmacists in Hong Kong with the knowledge of Chinese Medicine as well as Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM), including herbal medicines, nutraceuticals, healthcare products and cosmetics commonly used by local patients in conjunction with Western medicines.

The Enrichment Modules will encourage pharmacy students to seek tailored placement at either academic institutions or non-profit community service organisations. The programme aims to encourage social-minded students to translate knowledge into practice, contribute to society, and broaden their horizons beyond pharmacy while establishing their interpersonal networks across different sectors and professions. This enrichment experience can enhance students’ understanding towards the local community and raise their awareness of social issues, inspiring them to proactively contribute to society in their future careers. It also allows students to build cross-sectorial networks to promote social innovations and build positive social capital in Hong Kong. The students’ enrichment experience reflects the culmination of their personal and professional development throughout the BPharm study and its fruits.

Our BPharm students also have the opportunity to participate in an international exchange programme. Our department has established strong links with the pharmacy departments of University of Rouen (France), Sojo University (Japan), King’s College London (UK), University College London (UK), University of Illinois Chicago (USA) and University of Sydney (Australia).

The Pharmacy Experiential Education Programme (PEEP) under the Bachelor of Pharmacy curriculum is well-structured with experiential learning experience. Students in their second and third years of study shall complete on-site placements in different pharmacy practice settings outside the classrooms under the supervision of pharmacist preceptors throughout regular semesters and in the summer. Building on the knowledge taught in the introductory pharmacy courses in Year 1, our experiential education enriches the pharmacy curriculum with perspectives of contemporary pharmacy practice in the local setting and enables students to apply and expand upon the knowledge and skills acquired from the didactic coursework in the pharmacy curriculum.

Our experiential education represents a cumulative learning experience that prepares students for more advanced practice experience in the clerkship and Enrichment Modules during their final year of study. In addition to competencies as pharmacists, PEEP is also intended to offer students longitudinal exposure to the practice settings where they can develop personal and professional attributes such as professionalism, ethics, problem-solving skills, teamwork, and commitment to lifelong learning.

The programme ensures that students are adequately prepared to provide expert service at the community level through placement openings provided by several largest community pharmacy chain stores in Hong Kong. As part of the curriculum, each pharmacy student will have the chance to gain work experience in various pharmacy settings during the term time. Students will rotate among different roles, from the hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy to any term position within the pharmaceutical industry for at least one week in each setting during their final year of study. In addition, students will have the opportunity to carry out a research project in a specialised area of their choice, ranging from pharmaceutics, pharmacology, pharmacy practice to clinical pharmacy, under the supervision of our academic staff. This research experience will be critical for the future career of pharmacy students in both the academic and pharmacy workplace.

The programme offers students invaluable opportunities for interprofessional learning throughout the four-year curriculum, including a patient care project (PCP) and interprofessional education as well as a collaborative practice (IPECP) with students from the Medicine, Nursing and Chinese Medicine programmes. These interprofessional learning activities will utilise the expertise of students from diverse backgrounds and foster teamwork, cooperation, and communication between different healthcare professionals in the future.