Our dedicated practical teaching facilities, including formulation and clinical practice laboratories and patient counselling suites, have been specifically designed for you to get the most out of our modern MPharm curriculum.
Throughout your pharmacy degree your teaching and learning will take place in the Medical School and Robert Aitken building where you will be taught by academics with the most up to date knowledge in the pharmacy field, from practicing pharmacists or a researcher on the brink of a ground breaking cure.
Learning and teaching
Teaching on our MPharm course is delivered according to the module speciality. We recognise that students will be coming to university with differences in previous experience, our teaching will similarly adopt a variety of styles. Enquiry-based approaches will develop your individual skills to recognise and validate problems, whilst thinking independently using critical and analytical skills.
Collaborative learning tasks will support your development in communication and team working, which are crucial for the role of a future pharmacist. Scientific and professional practice topics are integrated through lectures, seminars, small group tutorials, lab work modelled and real clinical practice and bedside demonstrations. There is also the opportunity to learn through role-plays and video feedback on patient-healthcare professional interactions.
The Home of MPharm Pharmacy at Birmingham
Elements of multi-professional learning alongside other healthcare students (medicine, nursing, dentistry and physiotherapy) are included during the course.
Your performance will be assessed through written exams, Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs), essays, short tests, multiple choice question tests, reflective portfolios, research reports oral presentations and one-to-one professional mentor observation. At the beginning of each module, you’ll be given information on how and when you’ll be assessed for that particular area of study. You’ll receive feedback on each assessment within four weeks, so that you can learn from and build on what you have done. You’ll be given feedback on any exams that you take; if you should fail an exam we will ensure that particularly detailed feedback is made available to enable you to learn for the future.
Facilities
We have made a multi-million-pound investment in facilities specific to the School of Pharmacy including:
- Formulation laboratories
- Dispensing suites
- Patient counselling suites
In addition to these, you will benefit from a vast array of facilities in the Medical School, such as:
- Lecture theatres
- Dedicated small group teaching rooms
- Doug Ellis Learning Hub (large open study space with free loan of laptops available)
- Barnes Medical Library
- Specialist anatomy teaching rooms
- The MedCafe (food and drink outlet)
- Wolfson Common Room
You will also have access to online facilities to support your learning. These include Wiki podcasts and Canvas, our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE); an excellent tool for supporting our academic courses, allowing you to share thoughts on assignments with other students via the discussion group facilities, giving access to learning materials 24 hours a day and allowing you to submit your work electronically. During your final years, you will also have access to SCRIPT, an innovative eLearning programme on prescribing and therapeutics. This will support your learning around these topics and enable you to understand decisions from a prescribers’ point of view.