Based on the Gold Coast campus, Griffith University’s School of Pharmacy is known for its innovative teaching that produces highly sought after graduates in pharmacy and pharmaceutical science. With the opening of the Gold Coast University Hospital – Australia’s first public university hospital and located next to the new Griffith Health Centre – students are ideally placed to gain practical work place experience as part of multidisciplinary teams.

The School’s 400 partners offer clinical and research placement opportunities for students on the Gold Coast, in rural Australia and overseas. The newest of these includes a placement rotation through Indonesia where students experience hospital, community and industrial pharmacy, and a hospital/research placement in Singapore. These activities reflect the strong partnerships that the School of Pharmacy has with clinical and research centres around the world.

Griffith’s School of Pharmacy was the first pharmacy school in Australia to introduce Stage 1 Australian Association of Consultant Pharmacy training, giving graduates an advantage when developing their career in medication management.

With outstanding facilities such as a professional practice laboratory with model dispensary and a dedicated formulations lab and aseptic dispensing unit, supportive staff and active student organizations, the School of Pharmacy at Griffith University offers students an exciting opportunity to learn pharmacy and pharmaceutical science in a vibrant world-class environment.

Griffith University Bachelor of Pharmacy Overview

The Bachelor of Pharmacy program at Griffith University provides students with a strong understanding of pharmacy practice and pharmacotherapeutics that will lead graduates to registration as a pharmacist after completion of 48 weeks of internship training and compliance with all other statutory requirements.

Students in this program will study core courses in chemistry, physiology, anatomy, statistics, biochemistry, pharmaceutics and pharmacology. A series of Integrated Pharmacotherapeutics courses will enable the students to understand the relationship between drugs and their therapeutic use in different disease states. Alongside the Integrated Pharmacotherapeutics courses, students will undertake a series of Pharmacy Practice courses and Placements that will develop skills enabling students to apply their knowledge in a clinical setting.

Final year courses provide integration of the curriculum with an emphasis on management, research and special populations.

Griffith’s Bachelor of Pharmacy will put you on the path to a career in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology or nutraceutical industries.

You will learn through hands-on experience in state-of-the-art facilities (formulation, pharmacology and analytical laboratories) and during professional practice placements at the new Gold Coast University Hospital and other clinical settings.

You will take specialist courses in areas such as pharmacy management, complementary and alternative medicine, and pharmacology.

Clinical Work Experience

Industry experience and clinical placements are a critical part of your pharmacy degree. Griffith University provides these opportunities throughout your studies which means you regularly get to use your knowledge in real-world settings.

From second year of study you will spend time at pharmacies and industry sites to see where a pharmacy career can lead you. In fourth and fifth years, extensive time is spent gaining hands-on experience in community and hospital pharmacies. During these placements, further skills will be developed in community and hospital pharmacy practice.

The School of Pharmacy gives you the opportunity to complete your placements in urban, rural, remote or even international locations. For example, past students have done their placements in: Thursday Island / Alice Springs / South Africa.

Entry Requirements

Entry into the Bachelor of Pharmacy program for students holding Ontario Secondary School Diploma: minimum grade average of 76% in 6 university/college courses (includes math plus one of biological Science, chemistry or physics).

All other qualifications are assessed individually.

Professional Recognition

To seek registration as a pharmacist, graduates from the Bachelor of Pharmacy degree will be required to complete 48 weeks of intern training.  The Bachelor of Pharmacy program is accredited by the Australian Pharmacy Council (APC). Graduates of this program will be eligible to apply for registration with the Pharmacy Board of Australia via the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA), subject to meeting any additional requirements that may be stipulated by the Pharmacy Board of Australia.

It is the student’s responsibility to contact their local credentialing body for re-entry pathways. The Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) is the national certification body for the pharmacy profession in Canada. Upon returning, students must go through an evaluation procedure with the PEBC.