King's College London is to establish a national teaching support centre for subjects allied to medicine, including pharmacy, one of 24 such support centres planned by the Higher Education Funding Council under its learning and teaching support network programme.
The aims of the centre will be to provide a resource base, including a library and website, develop best practice in teaching and learning in the relevant subjects and maintain networks between teaching institutions and professional bodies. As well as pharmacy, practitioners covered will include art therapists, biomedical scientists, chiropodists and podiatrists, dietitians, health visitors, nurses and midwives, occupational therapists, orthoptists, osteopaths, physiotherapists, prosthetists and orthotists, psychologists, radiographers, social workers, and speech and language therapists.
Funding of £240,000 a year from the HEFC for three to five years will allow the appointment of a centre manager, a learning technology officer and an administrator. Pharmacy will be represented on the centre's steering group by Dr Larry Goodyer (director of pharmacy practice research, department of pharmacy, King's).