Society seeks talks on increasing number of pharmacy
undergraduate places
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is to seek talks
with the United Kingdom higher education funding councils about finding
an efficient way to expand the provision of pharmacy degree places without
the risk of destabilisation.
The Society has suggested such discussions in a
letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England following a
meeting of the Council's Education Committee on 8 January. The letter
says that pharmacy as a degree subject has experienced — and continues
to experience — expansion, both in existing schools and departments and
now within universities new to the discipline.
The letter notes that many in the profession welcome
this expansion because of current recruitment difficulties and some prospect
of a growing labour market for pharmacists. But it warns that a scramble
of universities to expand in or into pharmacy could have a destabilising
effect. Destabilisation might arise because of limited scope for pharmacy
clinical teaching within the undergraduate programme and because preregistration
training places are finite in numbers. The National Health Service can
only help so much with clinical teaching, especially given that no clear
and adequate funding stream exists for such teaching.
Because of the destabilisation risk, the letter
says, the Society would welcome discussions with HEFCE, probably as a
prelude to further discussion involving the Scottish and Welsh higher
education funding councils, the Department of Education Northern Ireland
and the National Health Service.
The Society's letter was written at the request
of the Education Committee in response to a consultation paper on supply
and demand in higher education, stemming from the Prime Minister's announced
target of 50 per cent participation of young people in higher education.
While welcoming the prospect of more United Kingdom citizens benefiting
from higher education provision, the letter warns that expansion must
not be achieved at the expense of the current quality of provision or
of the standards demanded for achievement of awards. It says that, after
decades of decline of units of funding across most or all disciplines,
there is no significant scope for efficiency gains.
The letter also expresses alarm at a possible change
in funding method that could undermine the principle of similar rates
of funding for similar activities. It says that the Society opposes this
adamantly, pointing out that the principle is not only one of equity but
also one of providing a sound base for planning by higher education institutions,
including planning for expansion.
Degree approval The Education Committee
approved for a further period of five years the degree of master of pharmacy
of the University of Sunderland.
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