BSc (Hons) Pharmaceutical Science

"Due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, examinations may be replaced by an alternative form of assessment during the academic year 2021/2022. Please refer to the Programme Specification on these pages for further details."

Why choose this course?

Want to get hands-on? You’re in the right place. Because at Hertfordshire, that’s exactly what you’ll do. We teach pharmaceutical science in small, supportive groups, based in real labs, equipped with outstanding industry technology. Every step of the way you’ll build the skills today’s employers really need. We know because we asked them. In fact, we designed our entire course in collaboration with the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.

Our inventive, inspiring teaching team has an outstanding reputation and a strong research ethos, pouring their internationally acclaimed discoveries straight into your learning. So, whether you want to design new drugs, bring brilliant discoveries into the real world, or champion patient safety, you’ll be studying as part of a vibrant, supportive scientific community.

In your first couple of years, you can take advantage of peer-to-peer mentoring from final-year students, and throughout the course, you’ll get the chance to go to eye-opening events and gain career insights from visiting experts and inspiring alumni. Fancy some phenomenal transferrable skills? You’ll get those too – from making presentations and working with others, to brilliantly managing your time.

What are the facilities like?

Outstanding. This course is based in our modern, fully-equipped science building, where you’ll get hands-on in specialist labs and suites dedicated to making medicines including working in pharmacology, cell biology, synthetic chemistry, analytical chemistry, formulation development, and sterile manufacturing.

We continually invest in industry-standard equipment and you’ll also have access to the latest software, clinical journals, dedicated learning spaces, and the University’s 24/7 Learning Resource Centres.

Like to pave the way for powerful new treatments? Want to help patients lead better lives? We’ve got everything you need right here at Herts.

What's the course about?

Your first year gives you a solid grounding in pharmaceutical science. You’ll find your feet in the lab and the library – learning experimental techniques, getting to grips with powerful data and analytical tools. Together, we’ll explore human physiology and biology, biology and biochemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry, and the fundamentals of analytical chemistry. Together, these subjects will help you understand how to make medicines, how they work in the body, and how to ensure they’re safe.

In your second year, you’ll put that learning into practice. It’s your chance to explore drug discovery and formulation, make medicines and natural products and design advanced treatments using artificial intelligence. You’ll also study lab practices, how to make sure drugs are safe and viable, and how they metabolise in people’s bodies.

By the end of the year, you’ll have the scientific know-how, lab skills, and analytical abilities to secure a powerful placement year. This option is a great way to pack your CV with practical experience and insights before coming back for your final year with us.

Study abroad/work placement option: Recent students have taken placements in research institutions, healthcare companies, agrochemical organisations, environmental agencies, and pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Like to join them? We’ll help you find a great opportunity. Want to study abroad instead? We can open exciting doors, all over the world, with recent students going to the US, Mexico, and Spain.

You’ll spend the first 12 weeks of your final year in the lab full time, working on a real-life research problem that will help you hone your lab and research skills. Finally, you’ll spend your last semester studying a simulated regulatory science module, examining how medicines are translated from the laboratory to the clinic, and specialising in either medicine design or formulation development.

Your main campus is College Lane

This is where the creative arts, science, and health-related subjects are based. This means you’ll share the campus with future nurses, scientists, artists, and more. You can use the common rooms to relax with friends, work out in the 24-hour gym or have a drink in our on-campus pub or cafes. We also have restaurants for you to eat in or grab something on the go. Our Learning Resources Centres are open 24/7, which means you can study whenever suits you best. Want to pop over to the other campus? You can take the free shuttle bus or walk there in just 15 minutes.

This course includes the options of:

• Work placement
• Study abroad

At the University of Hertfordshire, we see your potential, we hear your ambitions and we support your futures. From the moment we meet, we will set you on a path to achieving your goals. We will drive you forward, we will actively guide you every step of the way. You may not be confident or you may have questions – but we believe in you and we will help you find the answers. You may have a goal that you want to achieve – we can help focus you. You may want an experience – we can get you some. Here at Herts, there are many pathways to success, so let us empower your future, and take you all the way. This is your platform, your opportunity to succeed – so what are you waiting for?

Prepare to succeed

Show employers what you’re made of. We’re big on placements – and for good reason. Research tells us that over 70% of employers prefer students with work experience. That’s because placements aren’t just an excellent way to put what you’ve learnt into practice, they also show employers what you’re like as a person – with all those attributes like ambition, teamwork and a can-do attitude. To make sure our students get that work experience advantage, we’ve developed strong links with businesses and organisations here and internationally. These have allowed us to build valuable placement opportunities, from short-term experience to full-year paid placements, into many of our courses. What’s more, you won’t have to pay fees during the year you’re on placement.

Passport to success

Many students at Hertfordshire have the chance to study or work overseas – for a semester, a summer or even a whole year. Studying or working abroad is a great way to immerse yourself in a new culture, broaden your horizons and create many unforgettable memories. We have partnerships with many universities across the world, including in the USA, Canada, Latin America, Africa, China, Korea, Japan, Australia, and across Europe. The cost of living in many countries is lower than in the UK and you’ll still be eligible for any grants or loans you’d get if you were studying here. Most students also pay no tuition fees during the year away and may be eligible for one of our scholarships to help with living and travelling costs.

Learn from the best

We like to think our teaching is a little different. Not only are our academics experts in their respective fields, but everything they teach is shaped by businesses and industry, giving you the subject-specific and transferable skills for an exciting career. Alongside your core subject, you’ll also be able to pick up other qualifications to help you stand out to employers. From mentoring to Microsoft qualifications, City & Guilds awards to getting your pilot’s licence, there’s a tonne of ways to build an impressive CV.

Key Facts

• TEF Gold : Our teaching is among the best in the UK.
• 170 : Study abroad at one of over 170 universities in 40 countries around the world.
• National Rankings : 4th Economics 7th Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management 10th Engineering: Electronic and Electrical.
• Number 1 for Games : TIGA Games Industry Award 2019.
• 96.5% of students in employment or further study within 6 months.
• Award-winning : Employment mock assessment centre simulation (Institute of Student Employers).
• Career enhancing experience : Our students have undertaken placements at companies including KPMG, Tesla Motors (UK), Microsoft and GSK.

Learning and teaching

Whatever your background, wherever you are from, we believe that higher education can be a transformational experience.

We develop graduates who are capable, creative and enterprising. Through engaging with employers and professional bodies who contribute to the development of our curriculum and our status as one of only 20 University Enterprise Zones, we transform the lives of our students.

We offer the flexibility, opportunity and community students need to succeed. We achieve this by:

combining traditional teaching methods with digital resources including our online student network, StudyNet teaching courses that are designed with the input of business and professional bodies giving students the chance to learn about employability through listening to the experience of our alumni organising networking events where staff, students and graduates can meet offering a vibrant multicultural campus by increasing the proportion of international students on campus giving students the option of studying at one of our partner universities overseas supporting students in their learning and living offering students valuable work experience in research, business or industry before their final academic year.

Vision

Our vision is to transform lives. This means whatever your background, wherever you are from, we will drive your potential, powering you to succeed.

We are committed to having a positive transformational impact on every member of our university community, and to share our successes with the community around us.

Our strategy

We support a diverse range of students, staff, businesses, researchers and members of the community. What they all share is the desire to make the most of the opportunities in front of them. Our strategy will enable us to power their potential and achieve their goals.

Students, businesses and the local community are all motivated by the same thing. Finding ways to make the most of the opportunities in front of them, by tapping into their individual or collective potential. Powering Potential is embedded in our philosophy. This means – to transform lives, we not only find potential, but we also harness it and drive it.

Key strategic themes

Students, businesses and the local community are all motivated by the same thing. Finding ways to make the most of the opportunities in front of them, by tapping into their individual or collective potential. Powering Potential is embedded in our philosophy. This means – to transform lives, we not only find potential, but we also harness it and drive it.

Offering opportunity

We offer every student the opportunity to succeed, with varied and well-signposted routes into university and clear pathways through study. We support students to achieve to the best of their ability and will support them in preparing for global opportunities after graduation. We will use our links in business, our research expertise, and our global outlook, to transform lives.

Building community

We are a diverse and welcoming community with a global reach and a common purpose, to transform lives, which we will work together to achieve. Through communities of learning, exploration and knowledge, we celebrate diversity and share our passions. We want all our students and staff to find their communities here. We are engaged as a Civic University in our region, supporting schools, colleges and students. We will share our knowledge, culture, research and resources with businesses, the professions and the wider community.

Embracing flexibility

We will respond flexibly to the challenges and opportunities ahead. Flexible modes of study will support our students to succeed and allow them to engage with a greater range of opportunities in education, extra-curricular activities and work experience. We want our students to follow their interests and passions to transform their lives and to be empowered by a choice of pathways that take them to the next stage and open doors to the future.

Our values

We provide opportunities to attract, retain and develop individuals. We are building a diverse and inclusive community and we respond with flexibility to the challenges of the changing world. Our values underpin everything we do. We are friendly, ambitious, collegiate, enterprising and student-focussed.