Pharmacy
A pharmacist is a healthcare team member specifically concerned with drugs and medicines. Pharmacy at UCC provides the confidence, skills, and knowledge to make a difference in the pharmaceutical arena.
| Award Name | Degree - Honours Bachelor (Level 8 NFQ) |
|---|---|
| NFQ Classification | Major |
| Awarding Body | National University of Ireland |
| NFQ Level | Level 8 NFQ |
| Award Name | NFQ Classification | Awarding Body | NFQ Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Degree - Honours Bachelor (Level 8 NFQ) | Major | National University of Ireland | Level 8 NFQ |
Duration
5 Years
Specific Subjects or course requirements
Leaving Certificate entry requirements
At least six subjects must be presented. Minimum grade H4 in two subjects and minimum grade O6/H7 in four other subjects. English and Irish are requirements for all programmes unless the applicant is exempt from Irish.
Applicants will need to meet the following minimum entry requirements in the same sitting:
English O6/H7
Irish O6/H7
Maths O6/H7
Other Language O6/H7
Chemistry H4
Physics or Biology H4
Student vetting: All students on this programme will come into contact with the public and assume positions of trust through educational and training opportunities. To ensure the protection of the public, and to justify public trust and confidence, UCC is committed to ensuring that only suitable candidates are allowed to undertake this programme and, as part of the vetting process, students will satisfy the UCC vetting procedure.
All students who have resided outside Ireland for a period of 6 months or more must furnish a Police Clearance Certificate from their country or countries of residence. This Certificate should state that the student has no convictions recorded against him or her while residing there.
Fitness to Practise: This programme is subject to UCC's Fitness to Practise Policy.
Leaving Certificate Vocational Progamme LCVP
UCC awards the following points to the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme Link Modules:
Distinction 66 points
Merit 46 points
Pass 28 points
While Link Modules are counted for point scoring purposes they may not be counted as one of the six subjects to satisfy minimum entry requirements.
Careers / Further progression
Skills and Careers Information
This course is an excellent broad-based degree that can take you in a number of career directions, including:
- community pharmacist
- hospital pharmacist
- industrial pharmacist
- regulatory work.
- university lecturer
- wholesaling
There are also opportunities for research in areas such as drug delivery, drug design, drug action, and the practice of pharmacy. Pharmacists can manage businesses for other people or set up their own businesses.
Further information
Approximate Available Places 8
Find out about the mature entry requirements at https://www.ucc.ie/en/study/undergrad/entryreqs/matureapplicants/
Approximate Available Places Overall 67
EU State Student Contribution + Capitation: €3,138 (Years 1-4); €7,500 (Year 5).
Entry 2024
Early online application (discounted): Fee €30 Closing Date: 20 January 2024 at 5pm
Normal online application: Fee €45 Closing Date: 1 February 2024 at 5pm
Late online application - restrictions apply (see page 3 2024 CAO Handbook): Fee: €60 Closing Date: 1 May 2024 at 5pm
Change of Mind - restrictions apply (see page 3 2024 CAO Handbook): Fee: Nil Closing Date: 1 July 2024 at 5pm
Exceptional online late application (see page 34 of the 2024 CAO Handbook): Fee €60 Closing Date: 22 July 2024 at 5pm
Be sure to complete any action well in advance of closing dates. You should avoid making an application close to a closing date. No extensions to closing dates will be allowed and all application fees are non-refundable.
LATE APPLICATIONS
Late Applications are those which are received after 5pm on 1 February 2024. The closing date for late applications is 5pm on 1 May 2024, subject to the restrictions listed on page 3 of the 2024 CAO Handbook. The online facility for late applications opens on the 5 March 2024 at 12:00 noon - a fee of €60 applies.
Exceptional Late Applications (Exception to the timetable)
The exceptional closing date of 22 July at 5pm applies only to applicants who are registered as an undergraduate student on 1 May 2024 in any year in any one of the participating HEIs (subject to the exclusions listed below). In order to avail of the Exceptional Late Application facility you must have entered the HEI through the CAO system. This is an exceptional late closing date and all steps must be completed by 5pm on 22 July. No changes may be made after this date.
If you did not enter your current course through the CAO system, you must first contact the Admissions Office of the HEI to which you wish to apply and they will inform you if you may submit an application direct to the institution.
Exclusions:
You may submit a late application only for entry to courses other than your existing course. If you wish to repeat the year in the same course you must arrange this within your HEI.
Mary Immaculate College Limerick, Marino Institute of Education, Trinity College Dublin, University of Limerick and Maynooth University have special procedures in place in the case of current or previous students who wish to apply for entry to another course in the same HEI. Such applicants must contact their Admissions Office to determine the application procedure. However, if you are a student in another HEI and you wish to apply to any of these five HEIs, you should apply through CAO.
Refer to page 34 of the 2024 CAO Handbook on how to make an Exceptional Late Application.
Restrictions
As a CAO applicant you may experience one or more of the following restrictions based on your course choices, your category of application, or restrictions imposed by the HEIs that you wish to apply to. Please read the section on 'Restrictions' on page 3 of the 2024 CAO Handbook carefully. This section includes information on:
General Restrictions
1. Making a late application
2. Making changes to your course choices
Restricted Courses
3. Applying for a restricted course
Mature Applicants
4. Mature applicants
Supplementary Admissions Routes
5. Applying for DARE and/or HEAR
Course Outline
A pharmacist is a healthcare team member specifically concerned with drugs and medicines. Pharmacy at UCC provides the confidence, skills, and knowledge to make a difference in the pharmaceutical arena.
The four main areas of study in this five-year course are pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry; formulation design; drug action in the body and the practice of pharmacy. The course incorporates both basic sciences learning and the practice of pharmacy, as well as a number of unpaid/paid placements.
The School of Pharmacy at UCC has state-of-the-art facilities designed to teach pharmacy to a world-class standard. These include laboratories, teaching and tutorial rooms, and a model pharmacy. Innovative technology is used in over-the-counter (OTC) ‘responding to symptoms’ tutorials. This technology uses interactive patient scenarios across many types of diseases.
Pharmacy at UCC
Once you have successfully completed your first four years (BPharm) you will then progress to the fifth year (MPharm). This facilitates the Irish professional pharmacy regulator, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI), which requires graduates to hold a Master's degree before entering the PSI Register and practicing as a Pharmacist.
Our pharmacy degree is designed to integrate both the subjects you will study and the placements you will undertake so that you can really understand and apply your knowledge of science and healthcare to drug treatments for patients.
Placements are an integral part of the programme over the five years. Placements can be carried out in community, hospital, or industry settings, as well as within regulatory organisations, but the final eight-month placement in Year 5 must be carried out in a patient-facing setting.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the BPharm/MPharm programme, you will be able to:
- Register with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI);
- Evaluate interventions to improve prescribing in practice and within the health care team;
- Practise Pharmacy competently in the primary care/secondary setting with due regard to the competencies set out in the Core Competency Framework for Pharmacists Document;
- Communicate effectively with patients and healthcare professionals for the purpose of counselling and advising on medicines and their safe usage and supply;
- Interpret and evaluate prescriptions and supply medicines in accordance with current legislation and professional codes of practice;
- Apply the physiochemical properties of drugs underpinning the design, development, and manufacturing of emerging medicines;
- Outline the physiological, biochemical, molecular and genetic basis of disease, drug therapy, and drug delivery;
- Recognise common disease states and respond appropriately to presented symptoms;
- Conduct a literature review, design a research protocol, collect and interpret data and write a dissertation.
Year 1 (60 credits)
AN1075 Principles of Human Structure for Pharmacy Students (5 credits)
BC1443 Biochemistry (10 credits)
PF1009 Introduction to Pharmaceutical Chemistry (10 credits)
PF1010 Physiochemical Basis of Pharmaceuticals (5 credits)
PF1011 Pharmacy Practice I (5 credits)
PF1012 Introduction to Pharmaceutics: Formulation Science (10 credits)
PL1400 Introduction to Physiology for Pharmacy I (5 credits)
PL1401 Introduction to Physiology for Pharmacy II (5 credits)
PT1445 Foundation Pharmacology (5 credits)
Academic Programme Catalogue
See the Academic Programme Catalogue (https://ucc-ie-public.courseleaf.com/programmes/) for the complete and up-to-date content for this course. Note that the modules for all courses are subject to change from year-to-year. For complete descriptions of individual modules, see the Book of Modules (https://ucc-ie-public.courseleaf.com/modules/)
Noreen Moynihan
pharmacy@ucc.ie
+353 (0)21 490 1662
http://www.ucc.ie/en/pharmacy/