The Various Degrees Awarded In Pharmacy Schools

Pharmacy degree

The basic requirement to register as a pharmacist in Nigeria is an undergraduate degree. However, there are presently two types of an undergraduate degree in Nigeria. They are B. Pharm and Pharm. D. The meaning of B. Pharm is a bachelor of pharmacy. It is very common to come across the word B. Pharm undergraduate regular. A student who undergo a full-time programme receive this award. There is no part-time in the pharmacy of which it would have been undergraduate part-time.

Another very common degree in pharmacy is B.Sc. Pharm. It means Bachelor of Science in pharmacy. Students in some schools of pharmacy that goes by the name school of pharmaceutical sciences receive this award. It is the same in terms of the level with B. Pharm. The pioneers determine the choice of name and title.
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On the other hand, Pharm. D means the doctor of pharmacy. An undergraduate regular doctoral degree is the name of this award. The holders are doctors and can use the title of doctor. They are also free to use the prefix with their names anytime.

Postgraduate

There are four types of degree awarded in pharmacy schools at postgraduate level. Let us begin with the one with the least work load.

Postgraduate Diploma (Pg.D)

The degree is awarded to students who have been successful in the programme. The programme is shorter, less workload, no thesis. The entry requirement is an undergraduate university degree. They also accept students from some science courses including pharmacists. There is no undergraduate degree grade requirement.

Postgraduate Masters

This is the next stage in pharmacy education. So many pharmacists come directly to this stage with their good result. Simulate reality, clinical or patient situations during the study. The course cuts across medicines including physiology and anatomy of the human body, effects of medicines and how they are designed, clinical communication, problem-solving skills and decision making.
Some masters are more specific. Master of Pharmacy in Pharmaceutics (M.Pharm Pharmaceutics) study the research in drug delivery, drug formulation, and new dosage form to be used in the market, modern technology in pharmaceutics, studies on target drug delivery system and quality control.
Master of Pharmacy In pharmacology (M.pharm. pharmacology) include the science of pharmacology, synthesis, development, formulation and production of medicines together with the study of related laws, ethics and health sciences in other to optimise medicines usage for patients.
Master of pharmacy in clinical pharmacy (M.Pharm clinical pharm) fortify students in evidence-based research and provision of top-notch clinical pharmacy practice.
Master of Science in pharmacy is same with M. Pharm and is awarded by most schools that use the name of the school as the school of pharmaceutical science. It is a science-based programme for pharmacist and other science students from chemistry etc. The curriculum includes knowledge on modern techniques and instrumental analysis, quality assurance and quality control of drug products.
The curriculum combine taught (lectures) and research. However, the research is not original. The duration varies from school to school. The entry requirement is a good grade in an undergraduate course. For those with low undergraduate grades, they are advised to go for a Pg.D.

Master of philosophy

This is very different from the previous masters. It is higher and the entry requirement is a degree in masters of pharmacy or its equivalent. It is called the master of philosophy in pharmacy (M.Phil Pharm). It is a research-based programme that gives students integrated broad-based research training needed to exploit current advances in multi-disciplinary areas of pharmacy. Students undertake research to advance their careers in teaching and research academia, pharma industry or go for a PhD degree. Key research areas include clinical pharmacy and practice, drug discovery, drug action, drug delivery and targeting.
M.Phil. involves thesis only. It is regarded as senior or second master’s degree standing between a taught masters and a PhD. It takes about two years duration. The research can be a replication of research that has been published. It also allows citation of secondary sources. That makes it legitimate to quote a publication that is quoting someone else. It requires defending the thesis.

Doctor of Philosophy

This is the highest academic qualification in any field of study. The entry requirement is a degree in masters. The masters could be that of pharmacy or philosophy. There are various reasons people boycott the M. Phil. for PhD.
The programme has no taught programme. Just research and the research must be original. This degree leads to the award of the title of professor or researcher or scientist. The holders can use the title doctor abbreviated to dr. or Dr Phil or nominal letters PhD.
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Those that failed in PhD receive the M.Phil degree as a way of compensation.
Philosophy means love of wisdom in Greek. This is different from the course of philosophy. It encourages students to engage in thought experiments, reason about problems, and how to solve them in complicated ways.

Summary

From this little description, it is clear that the programme for pharmacy follows;

• Postgraduate diploma
• Master of Pharmacy
• Master of philosophy
• Doctor of philosophy

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