Otago University's School of Pharmacy in the Division of Health Sciences will be offering a Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science degree from 2022. This is the only degree of its type in New Zealand (NZ).

Pharmaceutical science encompasses a broad range of scientific disciplines critical to the discovery and development of new drugs and therapies.

This area of study will appeal to people who have an interest in science and technology and a passion for medicines that prevent and treat disease in plants, animals, and humans.

“This will be a lab-based degree, so our students will be getting practical experience in the discovery, design, synthesis, formulation and delivery of pharmaceuticals. We are offering small class sizes, with world-renowned scientists and industry experts and the degree structure is flexible enough for students to be able to fine-tune their study to their own interests by adding papers from other departments,” Associate Professor McDowell says.

Also unique to this degree, the curriculum intertwines Māori medicine to help understand medicines beyond western practices.

This degree already has an agreement for a cohort of international students from Chengdu University of Traditional Medicine, China. These students will be able to complete one and half years of study in their own country, and then years two and three with Otago.