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Postgraduate Taught

MSc Clinical Pharmacy

Please note: The below is for 2025 entries. Click here for 2024 entries.
UCAS code 1234
Duration Full time (1 year)
Part time (2 years)
Part time (3 years)
Entry year 2025
Campus St Luke's Campus
Discipline Healthcare and Medicine
Contact
Typical offer

View full entry requirements

2.2 Honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant discipline. Registered pharmacists currently working within a clinical pharmacy setting. Please upload a completed Clinical Pharmacy expression of interest form to your application

Contextual offers

Overview

  • This programme is designed to support pharmacists to develop the knowledge, clinical skills and behaviours required to provide patient-centred care as part of multidisciplinary healthcare teams
  • Benefit from outstanding facilities including Clinical Skills Resource Centre
  • Flexible study options and opportunity to personalise learning to your career and professional interests
  • Learn with other healthcare professionals through multidisciplinary optional modules
  • Suitable for registered pharmacists in the UK or internationally, keen to develop their clinical pharmacy skills as well as their multidisciplinary team working.

Apply online

View 2024 Entry

Apply for individual modules 2024/25

Apply for Practice Certificate in Independent Prescribing

Fast Track (current Exeter students)

Open days and visiting us

Get a prospectus

Contact

Programme Director: Kate Emblin

Web: Enquire online

Phone: +44 (0)1392 72 72 72

NHS logo

Top 10 icon

Top 10 in the UK for our world-leading and internationally excellent Clinical Medicine research

Based on 4* + 3* research in REF 2021

Medal with star on icon

Our Public Health research is 11th in the UK for research power

Submitted to UoA2 Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care. REF 2021

Medical building icon

Major capital investment in new buildings and state-of-the-art facilities

Hospital Notes icon

Communication and clinical skills training within our Clinical Skills Resource Centre

Top 10 icon

Top 10 in the UK for our world-leading and internationally excellent Clinical Medicine research

Based on 4* + 3* research in REF 2021

Medal with star on icon

Our Public Health research is 11th in the UK for research power

Submitted to UoA2 Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care. REF 2021

Medical building icon

Major capital investment in new buildings and state-of-the-art facilities

Hospital Notes icon

Communication and clinical skills training within our Clinical Skills Resource Centre

Entry requirements

Normally a minimum 2.2 Honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant discipline.  A personal statement, detailing your reasons for seeking to undertake this subject, will be required. Relevant clinical or professional experience may be taken into consideration as evidence of equivalency.

Home students must be registered pharmacists with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) or Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland, and work within a clinical pharmacy setting. There is no requirement for minimum time since registered, however, we advise that you feel established in your current role.

Please note that students applying for the Independent Prescribing module must be registered with the GPhC or Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland and must meet the required eligibility criteria. More information.

Please download and complete the Clinical Pharmacy expression of interest form. You will need to upload this, and proof of your registration, alongside your online application form when you apply.

Entry requirements for international students

Please visit our entry requirements section and  international equivalency pages to enable you to see if your existing academic qualifications meet our entry requirements.

International students will be experienced pharmacists who wish to undertake further study in the UK in order to gain a perspective on UK-pharmacy practice. Please note that completing this course does not allow you to register as a pharmacist in the UK. Before applying, kindly note that there are significant differences in pharmacist roles and responsibilities, and drug licensing, dosage and usage between countries. Our programme focuses on UK-based clinical pharmacy practice rather than pharmaceutical science. Applicants will need to have access to a pharmacy environment for practice-based learning, either through employment or work experience, and will need to attend face-to-face teaching on the St Luke’s campus of the University of Exeter.

International students are normally subject to visa regulations which prevent part-time study. It is recommended that international students apply for the level of the final award you intend to complete i.e. PGCert, PGDip or Masters, due to the associated cost and requirements for a Tier 4 student Visa.

Entry requirements for international students

Please visit our entry requirements section for equivalencies from your country and further information on English language requirements.

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Entry requirements for international students

English language requirements

International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course. The required test scores for this course fall under Profile B2. Please visit our English language requirements page to view the required test scores and equivalencies from your country.

Course content

Our Masters in Clinical Pharmacy is designed to support pharmacists develop the knowledge, clinical skills and behaviours required to provide patient-centred care as part of multidisciplinary healthcare teams. Increase your professional expertise and status and enhance your career prospects with Patient case-based activities that reflect the challenges of current clinical practice. 

Flexible study options, including individual modules, Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma or full MSc. The Practice Certificate in Independent and/or Supplementary Prescribing can be included as a module or taken as a standalone qualification (eligibility criteria apply). 

Compulsory modules include ‘Applied Therapeutics’ and ‘Skills for Patient-centred care’. 

Learn with other health professionals through multidisciplinary optional modules to personalise your learning, covering topics in minor illness, care of the older adult and long-term condition care.  

Course structure

This MSc course can be studied on a full time basis over 1 year or over 2 or 3 years (part time), which may suit applicants who are already working full time. The programme is also divided into units of study called ‘modules’ which are assigned a number of ‘credits’. To gain a Masters qualification, you will need to complete 180 credits at level 7. The credit rating of a module is proportional to the total workload, with one credit being nominally equivalent to 10 hours of work, a 15 credit module being equivalent to 150 hours of work and a full Masters degree being equivalent to approximately 1,800 hours of work.

It is also possible to exit with a PGCert after completing 60 credits of taught modules or a PGDip after completing 120 credits of taught modules. The list of modules below shows which are compulsory.

Contact Days

View draft timetable for Clinical Pharmacy 2023-24

View draft timetable for Clinical Pharmacy 2024-25

(Please note: dates are subject to confirmation with timetabling).

The last contact day and assessment deadline for the programme will be earlier than the actual end date of your registration with the University, to allow a period of time at the end of your active studies for further support and mitigation, if needed.

The modules we outline here provide examples of what you can expect to learn on this degree course based on recent academic teaching. The precise modules available to you in future years may vary depending on staff availability and research interests, new topics of study, timetabling and student demand.

To qualify for the Master's (MSc) you must complete the two compulsory 15 credit modules (Applied Therapeutics and Skills for Patient-Centred Care), optional modules of 90 credits in total (6 x 15 credit modules), and complete an Independent Research Project (60 credits). 

Each 15-credit module has two workshop days that are delivered at St Luke’s Campus, Exeter.

Our PGT programmes are designed as standalone courses but the College also aims to provide flexibility where possible. We recognise that you may sometimes wish to take a module from elsewhere in the College, or the wider University, to fit in with their specific research or professional interests.  A taught Master’s degree is made up of 180 credits, usually 120 credits of taught modules and 60 credits of dissertation.  Normally at least 90 credits of taught modules (but an absolute minimum of 60 credits), plus the dissertation, will need be taken from within the named award in order to graduate with that award. That means that 30 credits could be made up from one or more appropriate modules from another Masters level programme(s) in place of your scheduled ones, depending on the module prerequisites, the contact days of the modules, and your funding source.  There may be an additional fee associated with certain postgraduate modules. It is also important to note that the timing of your new module’s contact days and assessments might conflict with your existing programme of studies.  If after considering these factors you would like to explore this option further, please discuss this with the MSc’s Programme Director.  The CMH PGT Support team can then advise about the application process, which would then go for approval from the Programme Director of your current programme and the Module Lead and Programme Director of the programme(s) in which your new module(s) sits.

Compulsory modules

The following tables describe the programme and constituent modules. Constituent modules may be updated, deleted or replaced as a consequence of the annual programme review of this programme. Details of the modules currently offered may be obtained from the College web site:

a:If you are a part-time student, you will normally take this module in your first year.

b: To comply with GPhC accreditation specifications, a separate application process is required for entry onto module HPDM147

c:  the project chosen in the Dissertation needs to be related to Clinical Pharmacy

d: You must be working alongside your study in order to take this module, as it requires practice-based assessment.

CodeModule Credits
HPDM051 Applied Therapeutics (see note a)15
HPDM148 Independent Research (see note c)60

Optional modules

 

 
CodeModule Credits
HPDM059 Leading Change in Health Services 15
HPDM065 Care of the Older Adult 15
HPDM080 Leadership in Healthcare 15
HPDM081 Management in Healthcare 15
HPDM103 Teaching Practitioner 15
HPDM105 Education Essentials 15
HPDM142 Principles of Supervision, Mentoring and Coaching 15
HPDM118 Structuring and Solving Public Health Problems 15
HPDM133 Advanced Clinical Assessment and Decision-Making Skills (see note d)30
HPDM147 Practice Certificate in Independent and Supplementary Prescribing (see note b)45
HPDM148 Independent Research (see note c)60
HPDM168 Minor Illness in Primary Care 30
HPDM156 Long-Term Condition Care (Respiratory, Endocrine and Renal) 15
HPDM157 Long-Term Condition Care (Cardiovascular) 15
HPDM175 Clinical Reasoning and Critical Thinking in Healthcare 15

To qualify for the PG Diploma you must complete the two compulsory 15 credit modules (Applied Therapeutics and Skills for Patient-Centred Care) and further optional modules of 90 credits in total (6 x 15 credit modules). This is completed part time over 2 years.

The following tables describe the programme and constituent modules. Constituent modules may be updated, deleted or replaced as a consequence of the annual programme review of this programme. Details of the modules currently offered may be obtained from the College web site.

Compulsory modules

PGCert in Clinical Pharmacy (60 credits): part-time  

PGDip in Clinical Pharmacy (120 credits): 2-year part-time

 

a -  If you are a part-time PGDip student, you will normally take this module in your first year.

CodeModule Credits
HPDM051 Applied Therapeutics (See note a)15

Optional modules

b - To comply with GPhC accreditation specifications, a separate application process is required for entry onto module HPDM147

c: You must be working alongside your study in order to take this module, as it requires practice-based assessment.

CodeModule Credits
HPDM156 Long-Term Condition Care (Respiratory, Endocrine and Renal) 15
HPDM065 Care of the Older Adult 15
HPDM157 Long-Term Condition Care (Cardiovascular) 15
HPDM168 Minor Illness in Primary Care 30
HPDM147 Practice Certificate in Independent and Supplementary Prescribing (see note b)45
HPDM133 Advanced Clinical Assessment and Decision-Making Skills (see note c)30
HPDM080 Leadership in Healthcare 15
HPDM081 Management in Healthcare 15
HPDM059 Leading Change in Health Services 15
HPDM105 Education Essentials 15
HPDM103 Teaching Practitioner 15
HPDM142 Principles of Supervision, Mentoring and Coaching 15
HPDM118 Structuring and Solving Public Health Problems 15
HPDM175 Clinical Reasoning and Critical Thinking in Healthcare 15

To qualify for the PG Certificate you must complete the two compulsory 15 credit modules (Applied Therapeutics and Skills for Patient-Centred Care) and a further two optional modules of 15 credits. This is completed part time over 1 year.

The following tables describe the programme and constituent modules. Constituent modules may be updated, deleted or replaced as a consequence of the annual programme review of this programme. Details of the modules currently offered may be obtained from the College web site:

 

PGCert in Clinical Pharmacy (60 credits): part-time  

PGDip in Clinical Pharmacy (120 credits): 2-year part-time

 

Compulsory modules

a If you are a part-time PGDip student, take these modules in your first year.

CodeModule Credits
HPDM051 Applied Therapeutics a15

Optional modules

b - To comply with GPhC accreditation specifications, a separate application process is required for entry onto module HPDM147

c: You must be working alongside your study in order to take this module, as it requires practice-based assessment.

CodeModule Credits
HPDM156 Long-Term Condition Care (Respiratory, Endocrine and Renal) 15
HPDM065 Care of the Older Adult 15
HPDM157 Long-Term Condition Care (Cardiovascular) 15
HPDM168 Minor Illness in Primary Care 30
HPDM147 Practice Certificate in Independent and Supplementary Prescribing (see note b)45
HPDM133 Advanced Clinical Assessment and Decision-Making Skills (see note c)30
HPDM080 Leadership in Healthcare 15
HPDM081 Management in Healthcare 15
HPDM059 Leading Change in Health Services 15
HPDM105 Education Essentials 15
HPDM103 Teaching Practitioner 15
HPDM142 Principles of Supervision, Mentoring and Coaching 15
HPDM118 Structuring and Solving Public Health Problems 15
HPDM175 Clinical Reasoning and Critical Thinking in Healthcare 15

Fees

2025/26 entry

Fees are subject to an annual increment each academic year.

UK fees per year:

  • MSc:  £12,100 full-time 1 year, £6,100pa part-time 2 years, £4,050pa part-time 3 years
  • PgDip:  £4,050pa part-time 2 years
  • PgCert : £4,050 1 year
  • Standalone module fees: UK/EU: £1,150 per 15-credit module

International fees per year:

  • MSc: £28,600 full-time 1 year, £14,300pa part-time 2 years, £9,550pa part-time 3 years
  • PgDip:  £9,550pa part-time 2 years
  • PgCert : £9,550 1 year
  • Standalone module fees: £2,600 per 15-credit module

Scholarships

We invest heavily in scholarships for talented prospective Masters students. This includes over £5 million in scholarships for international students, such as our Global Excellence Scholarships*.

For more information on scholarships, please visit our scholarships and bursaries page.

*Selected programmes only. Please see the Terms and Conditions for each scheme for further details.

Finance

UK government postgraduate loan scheme 

Postgraduate loans of up to £12,167 are now available for Masters degrees. Find out more about eligibility and how to apply. 

Scholarships  

Details of scholarships, including our Global Excellence scholarships for international fee paying students, can be found on our dedicated funding page.

Teaching and research

Our purpose is to deliver transformative education that will help tackle health challenges of national and global importance.

Teaching

With the support of our enthusiastic and clinically active tutors, this blended course involves online learning via ELE plus minimal face-to-face contact days. It makes use of contemporary education methods such as case-based learning, small group work and development of communities of practice.

Teaching methods on the Master's programme include:

  • Interactive e-learning activities
  • Masterclasses from highly experienced clinical teachers and researchers
  • Small group simulated learning tasks
  • Patient case-based discussions
  • Practical workshops for clinical skills development
  • Opportunities for practice and receiving feedback

Teaching is supported by extensive online University library resources, personal tutor systems, University pastoral support structures and a clinical pharmacy virtual learning platform.

Research

We excel at working with members of the public and our partners in the health service to ensure that our research addresses the most important questions, so we can quickly translate our findings into accessible treatments and care.

Our research is globally recognised and our partnerships with healthcare providers, industry and above all, the public, mean that this work is constantly at the cutting-edge of innovation in improving lives.

Explore some of the many highlights of our research on our research impact page.

Facilities

This programme is based at the St Luke’s campus in Exeter, just a 15 minute walk from the city centre and just over a mile away from the Streatham Campus. The campus is close to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and RILD building, which is home to the NHS funded Exeter Health Library. Students have studied at St Luke’s campus for over 150 years and the campus enjoys a vibrant atmosphere set around the lawns of the quadrangle.

Facilities at St Luke’s campus include:

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Careers

Graduation

Our masters programme focuses on UK-based clinical pharmacy practice rather than pharmaceutical science. Applicants will need to have access to a clinical pharmacy environment for practice-based learning, either through employment or work experience.

Who is this course for?

Home students will typically be registered pharmacists with the General Pharmaceutical Council, working within a clinical pharmacy setting. There is no requirement for minimum time since registered, however, we advise that they feel established in their current role.

International students will typically be experienced registered pharmacists who wish to undertake further study in the UK in order to gain a perspective on UK-pharmacy practice. Completing this course does not allow a student to register as a pharmacist in the UK. Before applying, applicants should note that there are significant differences in pharmacist roles and responsibilities, and drug licensing, dosage and usage between countries. Applicants will need to have access to a clinical pharmacy environment for practice-based learning, either through employment or work experience.

Employer-valued skills this course develops

Acquiring this qualification will boost your professional status and enhance your ability to extend your clinical pharmacy role. You can also benefit from our Communication and clinical skills training within our Clinical Skills Resource Centre.

Career paths (graduate destinations)

Applicants will already be registered pharmacists in the UK or their home country if international. This programme will boost their professional status and enhance their ability to extend their clinical pharmacy role.

UK registered pharmacists may take the Practice Certificate in Independent and Supplementary prescribing (if eligible) which makes them eligible for annotation as an Independent Prescriber. This will enable pharmacists to seek extended roles in clinical practice as a non-medical prescribing practitioner.

Careers support

This programme will enhance your opportunity to take on more demanding roles or management roles within healthcare.

All University of Exeter students have access to Career Zone, which gives access to a wealth of business contacts, support and training as well as the opportunity to meet potential employers at our regular Careers Fairs.

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