A record 1,438 pharmacy graduates have been successful in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's registration examination this year (see p142). The number is an increase of 18 per cent on last year's total of 1,217.
This year's high total will be followed next year by the lowest ever number because of the change from a three-year to a four-year pharmacy degree course in England and Wales. Apart from a few resit candidates, the only United Kingdom entrants for next year's examination will be some 250 of this year's graduates from the two Scottish schools of pharmacy.
In addition to preregistration trainees from the Scottish schools, some overseas graduates will sit the examination to satisfy a requirement of the the Society's Adjudicating Committee. Although the number of overseas entrants is expected to be significantly higher than in a "normal" year, the total number of entrants for the examination is likely to remain well below 500.