Singapore: National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Science plans to enhance the curriculum of its undergraduate Pharmacy degree programme to educate and train Pharmacy graduates to meet the needs of a changing and increasingly complex healthcare system in Singapore. Students enrolling in the Pharmacy programme in August 2014 will be the first to benefit from the curriculum enhancements.

Currently, the four-year degree programme is the only local Pharmacy degree programme recognised by the Singapore Pharmacy Council which regulates the registration of licensed pharmacists. The enhanced programme will provide students with a more holistic education that integrates the learning of professional skills with clinical training and experiential learning. The new curriculum organises the course content into four longitudinal themes and new modules are also introduced to enhance students' practical professional skills. In addition, all Pharmacy students in the final year will be required to conduct an individual research project and go through a six-month internship.

The internship can contribute towards the mandatory 12-month pre-registration training required by the Singapore Pharmacy Council. In light of this, under the new curriculum, Pharmacy students would only need to complete another six months of training in order to apply for registration as a licensed pharmacist.

These changes are introduced after a two-year review of the curriculum, which started in 2012.

Professor Andrew Wee, Dean of the NUS Faculty of Science said, "Our Pharmacy programme has a good track record of producing graduates who are highly sought-after by the healthcare sector and pharmaceutical industries. The curriculum review is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure that the training of Pharmacy undergraduates remain relevant and is of the highest standards. We are confident that our graduates will continue to make important contributions to the pharmacy profession and the healthcare sector in Singapore."