A closer look at BPharm programmes
Abstract
It is now almost ten years since the collaborative
BPharm degree programme of the University
of Limpopo (Medunsa campus) and Tshwane University of Technology accepted its first students in 1999. This programme was unique for two reasons;
it represented a radical new approach to teaching pharmacy and was a partnership between a Technikon and a University.
The thematic, integrated, problembased (PBL), experiential teaching and learning methodology was adopted in response to professional and educational
imperatives driving change. The goals of the new degree were thus to produce pharmacists equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitude to deal with the
rapid changes required of a healthcare professional in the 21st century; and to do this within the parameters of the new education philosophy in South Africa necessitating the pooling of resources, broadening access and, of course, the move to outcomes-based education.
BPharm degree programme of the University
of Limpopo (Medunsa campus) and Tshwane University of Technology accepted its first students in 1999. This programme was unique for two reasons;
it represented a radical new approach to teaching pharmacy and was a partnership between a Technikon and a University.
The thematic, integrated, problembased (PBL), experiential teaching and learning methodology was adopted in response to professional and educational
imperatives driving change. The goals of the new degree were thus to produce pharmacists equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitude to deal with the
rapid changes required of a healthcare professional in the 21st century; and to do this within the parameters of the new education philosophy in South Africa necessitating the pooling of resources, broadening access and, of course, the move to outcomes-based education.