Pharmaceutical Science (with specialism) MSc

This course is in clearing

Overview

Course options

Select year

MSc

  • MSc Pharmaceutical Science (with specialism), home applicant, full time

    • Home Applicant
    • Full time, 1 year
    • Pound 10800 per year
  • MSc Pharmaceutical Science (with specialism), home applicant, part time

    • Home Applicant
    • Part time, 2 years
    • Pound 1800 per 30 credit module
  • MSc Pharmaceutical Science (with specialism), international applicant, full time

    • International Applicant
    • Full time, 1 year
    • Pound 15960 per year
    International applications are closed for 2024

MSc

  • MSc Pharmaceutical Science (with specialism), home applicant, full time

    • Home Applicant
    • Full time, 1 year
    • Pound 10800 per year
  • MSc Pharmaceutical Science (with specialism), international applicant, full time

    • International Applicant
    • Full time, 1 year
    • Pound 15960 per year

What makes this course different

Tailored to maximise employability

This course is designed and tailored to your own preferred specialism in either of the following: Pharmaceutical Analysis; Pharmacology; Physiology; Phyto-pharmaceuticals or Toxicology.

Taught by industry professionals

You will be taught by a highly experienced team headed by Course Leader Dr Mukhlesur Rahman. He has worked extensively within the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, spoken at numerous international conferences and published 80 research articles.

Research excellence

92 per cent of research world-leading, internationally excellent, or internationally recognised

REF 2021

Course modules

NOTE: Modules are subject to change. For those studying part time courses the modules may vary.

Download course specification

Your future career

Your future career

As a graduate, you will have a wide range of career options open to you in the broad field of pharmaceutical research.
This course provides you with ideal training either for employment or for continuing your studies with a PhD or further work at a university or research institute.
You could choose to build a career in pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies that are developing new drugs and evaluating new products.
There are numerous small companies in the UK and around the world carrying out research and development for drugs.
This course provides you with ideal training to fit into such operations, whether through being employed or by continuing your studies with a PhD.
There are also strong potential employment opportunities within chemical companies making intermediates for the drug industry. They require graduates with analytical skills and an understanding of drug development.
Major pharmaceutical companies need expert personnel to work in the manufacture, formulation, and quality control of medicines and to advise customers on technical aspects of products.
The opportunity to work with cutting-edge equipment in our refurbished laboratories means you are likely to be familiar with all the relevant technology when you come to start work or a new research project.
You will be taught by hugely experienced members of staff, who have great contacts with potential employers or educational establishments where you might continue your studies.

Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.

How we support your career ambitions

We offer dedicated careers support, and further opportunities to thrive, such as volunteering and industry networking. Our courses are created in collaboration with employers and industry to ensure they accurately reflect the real-life practices of your future career and provide you with the essential skills needed. You can focus on building interpersonal skills through group work and benefit from our investment in the latest cutting-edge technologies and facilities.

Career Zone

Our dedicated and award-winning team provide you with careers and employability resources, including:

  • Online jobs board for internships, placements, graduate opportunities, flexible part-time work.
  • Mentoring programmes for insight with industry experts 
  • 1-2-1 career coaching services 
  • Careers workshops and employer events 
  • Learning pathways to gain new skills and industry insight

Mental Wealth programme

Our Professional Fitness and Mental Wealth programme which issues you with a Careers Passport to track the skills you’ve mastered. Some of these are externally validated by corporations like Amazon and Microsoft.

Our Mental Wealth programme

We are careers first

Our teaching methods and geographical location put us right up top

  • Enterprise and entrepreneurship support 
  • We are ranked 6th for graduate start-ups 
  • Networking and visits to leading organisations 
  • Support in starting a new business, freelancing and self-employment 
  • London on our doorstep

What you'll learn

As an MSc student, you will complete four taught modules and an independent research project.

Three of the taught modules are core to the course: Advanced Pharmaceutics; Drug Design; and Research Skills. The latter serves as ideal preparation for your final project.

You can also choose one optional module from Pharmaceutical Analysis; Advanced Cellular Pharmacology & Physiology; Bioinformatics; and Toxicology.

Advanced Pharmaceutics develops an understanding of advanced drug delivery systems. It includes the study of the legislative process needed to turn a new substance into a medication that can be used safely and effectively.

Pharmaceutical Analysis covers the methods used in the detection, extraction, isolation, and quantitative/qualitative analysis of drugs and phytochemicals.

Drug Design looks at the process of drug design and the development of drug products from traditional medicine systems.

Both these last two are joint modules with Phyto-pharmaceutical Science. 

For the PG Diploma, you would complete the MSc course minus the final project. To gain a PG Certificate you need to complete two modules.

How you'll learn

Your studies will be overseen by experts at facilities that include newly refurbished laboratories with the latest analytical equipment.

This will be hugely beneficial when you go on either to employment or further research in the field as you will be familiar with all the technology you are likely to encounter.

You will benefit from external visits to herbal suppliers and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Previously our students visited GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) at Stevenage and toured the manufacturing facility.

You will also share trips with the BSc Pharmaceutical Science students to places such as the Economic Botany Collection at Kew Gardens and the Medicinal Garden at the Royal College of Physicians. We inspected the manufacturing procedure at the Herbs in a Bottle company in the recent past.

As an MSc student, your course culminates in an individual research project which will give you the opportunity to develop and demonstrate your own particular skills and abilities.

We will provide you with the best possible setting for your studies. Bioscience has contributed to outstanding results in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, the six-yearly review by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. 92 percent of UEL's overall was rated research world-leading, internationally excellent, or internationally recognised.

How you will be assessed

You will be assessed via a mixture of coursework and written exams at the end of each term. Coursework takes a variety of forms, including laboratory work, data analysis, essays, case studies and oral presentations. 

The Research Skills module is assessed by coursework involving several forms of presentation. The research project is assessed mainly by final written report, with contributions from a poster presentation and portfolio.

Campus and facilities

Water Lane, Stratford

Who teaches this course

This course is delivered by School of Health, Sport and Bioscience

The teaching team includes qualified academics, practitioners and industry experts as guest speakers. Full details of the academics will be provided in the student handbook and module guides.