The Old Versus The New

The Pharmaceutical Journal has discovered that Durham University may be starting up a Pharmacy degree which is a great undertaking but not surprising. Durham University has an excellent reputation and a well-established medical school so Pharmacy should fit right in. However, there are risks to consider when choosing either an old or a new course.

               The advantage of choosing an older, more established course is that it will already have a good reputation amongst employers. There will be a consistency of knowledgeable graduates who have been given appropriate teaching and the university will have a good rapport with the General Pharmaceutical Council.

               A possible disadvantage of an earlier founded course is that it could have the issue of getting stuck in its ‘oldways’. The teaching may be perfectly consistent from year to year but the topics and facilities available may become out-dated as the profession rapidly modernises unless the university can update and adapt.

               An advantage of selecting a new course would be that it will have new facilities, a carefully structured timetable of relevant subjects and possibly some new ways of teaching pharmacy.

               The disadvantages of this would be the fact is that there is no way for employers to know how good the level of teaching is if they have not yet experienced any of its graduates.

               My advice would be to check the overall reputation of the university then decide which course looks more suited to you, whether you would enjoy a more scientific, research based degree or perhaps a more clinical one.