The School of Pharmacy at the University of Waterloo offers a second-entry four-year professional program leading to an Honours Co-operative Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy (BScPhm). In the future, the School will also provide graduate academic opportunities culminating in either a Master of Science or Doctor of Philosophy degree. This new School will anchor the development of the University's Health Sciences Campus in downtown Kitchener.
Graduates will be well-prepared for a range of career options, including clinical patient care, public policy, regulatory agencies, the pharmaceutical industry, research, academia, and clinical specialties such as infectious diseases or pediatrics. The curriculum emphasizes breadth and flexibility, providing students the opportunity to pursue areas of specific interest such as business or informatics through the selection of elective courses. A key component of the program is a focus on inter-professional education, where students learn to work as highly-functioning members of professional health care teams, which may include medicine, optometry, social work, and others.
Pharmacy is a regulated health-care profession. The requirements to become a licensed pharmacist in Canada include: completion of a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy; completion of the national board examination offered by the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC); practical experience gained through an apprenticeship/internship program following graduation; and fluency in English or French. Each province in Canada has its own regulatory agency, responsible for granting licenses, and ensuring competency.
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that the formative stage of this program arose through the invaluable collaboration and support of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. Our program entails various educational concepts, courses, course titles, course descriptions, and course alignments that are common or similar to those at the University of Toronto. The substantive innovations in the University of Waterloo program include the incorporation of co-op in the format of 7 academic terms and 4 co-operative terms, progressive additions of new courses and course material, electives, and opportunities for independent learning.
The School of Pharmacy has been working closely with the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP) to ensure that the institution fulfills all accreditation requirements. In June, 2006 it was awarded Qualifying Accreditation, which constitutes the CCAPP-designated first stage for a new university Pharmacy program. It is anticipated that accreditation status similar to other established Canadian Pharmacy programs will be attained when students graduate from Waterloo.