Can You Study Pharmacy And Pharmacy Technician Programme Online In Nigeria

Online pharmacy school

Over the years, I have received a lot of questions concerning online pharmacy degree courses. Questions like which online pharmacy school is approved and is there any online pharmacy school where I can get a bachelor or doctor of pharmacy degree. My answers have always been the same. But to put it separately in a blog post I want to clarify so many topics here.

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As technology keeps evolving and accessible to many people, so many aspects of our lives change with it. Education though is not changing much with technology is about to. From the traditional chalk and duster teaching in a hall with students and a teacher to the use of visuals and graphics, the system is trying to adopt a change of approach. However, the greatest change from the norm is the adoption of online degree programmes.

What Is Online Degree

Online degree course is a situation whereby a school uses state of the art synchronous and asynchronous technologies where students learn from the comfort of their home using their computer. This includes lectures, tests and examinations. Test is conducted through a virtual proctoring service. Successful completion of the course, the student is sent a hard copy of the certificate through courier service. Some schools completely omit the word online from the certificate. In that way, anywhere you submit it, they will not have an idea you did an online course.

There are so many disciplines with online courses within Nigeria. Majority of them are masters and postgraduate courses. But outside Nigeria, online courses are now like a norm even for first degrees.

Pharmacy Degree Online Course

Looking at the above definition of online course, it is practically impossible for now to have a complete online pharmacy degree course. There are so many schools that claim they run an online pharmacy degree course even in Nigeria. But that is just a convenient way of saying it to attract applicants.

What happens is that lectures are held online. Lectures span some periods. After the lectures, students are expected to come to a designated campus or health care facility for laboratory work, casework, presentation and clinical rotations in the curriculum. Some schools accept locum as part of clinical rotation and can organise one close to your location. But it must be a physical health facility. The period of lecture and practical is tailored to be flexible for the students.

The above also apply to pharmacy technician degrees too. There are several online pharmacy technician degrees outside Nigeria. However, practical work that needs to be done must be carried out in a designated campus. And in both pharmacy and pharmacy technician degrees, the requirements to gain admission remain the same for both online and offline degree.

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The two online programmes I have seen make use of a very flexible time. One year a four months period for lectures and three weeks for practical in their designated laboratory and other works. The other uses the weekdays for lectures and the weekends for those practical work in their own designated campus.

Advantages

Online courses come with some advantages. Most online course are;

1. Cheaper

2. Flexible

3. Better time management

Things To Consider

Before you apply for any pharmacy online course, look out for the following;

1. Since online pharmacy degree course is not completely online, you should live a little bit close to the designated laboratory or physical health facility

2. Approved by the local regulatory body

3. They must have a physical school where a pharmacy school is approved

4. Support