BSc Hons Pharmacology and Physiology

3 Years On Campus Bachelors Program

University of Greenwich

Program Overview

The MPharm at Greenwich is a four-year professional pharmacy degree that equips you to become a registered pharmacist, blending basic/applied science with clinical practice, patient care, and prescribing skills. It’s ideal if you want to work directly with medicines, patients, or healthcare systems — hospital or community pharmacy, or even roles in industry, regulation, or public health.

Curriculum structure

Here’s how the learning progresses through the years, what you’ll study, and how modules build on each other:

Year 1
You start with the foundation: core themes like Biological Science and Therapeutics, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Professional Practice & Prescribing. Modules like Biological Science & Therapeutics 1, Pharmaceutics & Chemistry (medicinal products, drug delivery basics), and Pharmacy Practice 1 introduce you to patient safety, law & ethics, and how medicines work in the body. These set up your understanding of drug design, how the body handles drugs, and what it means to practice pharmacy safely.

Year 2
In year two you deepen your biological & therapeutic understanding (e.g. body systems: heart, renal, endocrine), and expand pharmaceutical sciences (formulation, chemistry, drug delivery). The Professional Practice & Prescribing 2 module, along with more practice in community & hospital settings, adds clinical perspective. You’ll see how medicines are made, tested & regulated, how diseases affect different systems, and you get sharper in gathering knowledge relevant to patient care.

Year 3
This is more advanced: you’ll cover complex therapeutics (e.g. brain, infection, cancer), learn pharmacokinetics, and do modules to prepare you for prescribing and patient-centered care. Research methods are introduced, building toward a significant project. Clinical decision making, care of long-term conditions, and advanced professional practice become more central.

Year 4
Final year focuses on developing prescribing skills, scope of practice, advanced professional practice, and preparation for registration. There’s also a research project component and increased placements (hospital / community / GP / industry) to ensure you have real applied experience. You’ll consolidate everything you’ve learned so you can step confidently into your foundation training year and into practice.

Focus areas

“Biological science & therapeutics; pharmaceutical science and drug delivery; professional practice & prescribing; patient care and safety; clinical therapeutics”

Learning outcomes

“Be able to understand drug action & interactions; safely design, prepare & deliver medicines; practise pharmacy in community, hospital & other healthcare settings; make prescribing decisions; demonstrate professionalism, ethics & patient-centred care; conduct independent project & evidence-based assessment”

Professional alignment (accreditation)

Accredited by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) — this is essential because it’s what allows graduates to proceed to foundation training and register as pharmacists in Great Britain.

Reputation (employability / rankings)

Greenwich has earned a Gold in the UK Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023, which signals strong student experience and outcomes.
The programme emphasises placements in both hospital and community pharmacy settings from early years, giving students actual exposure to practice.
Because it's GPhC-accredited, completing this degree + foundation training means registration as pharmacist, which practically guarantees eligibility for professional pharmacist roles.

Experiential Learning (Research, Projects, Internships etc.)

You won’t just learn theory — at Greenwich, the MPharm is built around real situations, real settings, and real tools. From early years, you’ll be out on placement in hospitals and community pharmacies, putting into practice what you learn in labs and lectures. Labs are well-equipped, teaching staff include practising pharmacists and scientists, and the curriculum uses patient scenarios, prescribing modules, and strong professional practice components to get you ready for real pharmacy work.

Here are the hands-on, tangible things you’ll benefit from:

Practice placements in community and hospital pharmacy settings, increasing in length and responsibility as you progress: Year 1 (day & a half in community), Year 2 (three days hospital + one week community), Year 3 (one week hospital + one week community), Year 4 (a self-arranged two-week placement in community, hospital, GP surgery or industry).
Lab-based teaching: The programme includes pharmaceutical sciences labs (formulation, drug delivery, chemistry etc.) and biological science/therapeutics laboratories so you learn drug design, how medicines are made, how they behave in the body.
Clinical and professional practice modules, including “Professional Practice & Prescribing”, that simulate patient-care settings and help you develop skills like medicine dispensing, counselling, safety, ethics.
Independent and group work: many modules involve seminars, workshops, body-system based scenarios, small-group learning, with feedback and supervision from academics and practitioners.
Use of subject librarians, academic skills support, and online / digital tools for study, plus safety and professional tools (e.g. lab coats, DBS checks, safety glasses etc.) to make you ready for workplace safety standards.

Progression & Future Opportunities

Graduates of the MPharm from Greenwich leave ready for roles that have real responsibility, often in patient care, medicines management, and clinical settings. Some of the typical job roles include community pharmacist, hospital pharmacist, industry pharmacist, primary care pharmacist, and even roles in academia or regulatory affairs. Because the course is GPhC-accredited and includes prescribing and professional practice, you won’t just have a degree — you’ll meet requirements to move toward registration and foundation training.

Here’s more detail on how Greenwich supports these outcomes and what you can expect:

University of Greenwich’s employability services help undergrads with CVs, interview prep, placement opportunities, and linking up with foundation training providers.
The degree is accredited by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), which means once you complete the MPharm + the required foundation training year, you can register as a pharmacist in Great Britain.
Graduates often go into roles in hospital and community pharmacy, primary care, or industries related to medicines or health care. Some also go into specialist fields (e.g. oncology, mental health, children’s pharmacy) depending on further training.
Foundation Training Year is a critical step after MPharm; Greenwich sets you up for this. Without it, you can’t register as pharmacist.
The course received a Gold rating in the UK Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023, which reflects very well on outcomes, student experience and teaching quality — a good signal to employers.