Explore…Your First Week

The MPharm course is a full time course and as such we ask you to be available for teaching sessions from 9 a.m. until  6 p.m. Monday to Friday.   That might sound a bit daunting but you will have plenty of time during the week where there are no timetabled sessions.   In a typical week you are likely to have approximately ten hours of lectures, four hours of practicals and five hours of workshops or seminars.   This means that you will be in scheduled teaching sessions for about half of the time.   The remainder of the time can be used for meetings or private study as required.      

Keele University Athletic Union Logo Most Wednesday afternoons will be kept free for those who wish to take part in sporting activities.  Keele University Athletic Union offers a number of sporting teams both for those who are interested in competitions with other universities and for those who prefer a more relaxed and sociable sporting life.   There will be occasions when we cannot avoid Wednesday afternoon teaching and this often relates to placement activities that have to accommodate our external placement providers.   Talking to the appropriate staff in advance may mean that we can work around inter-varsity competition dates and allocate you an alternative date.

 Once you arrive at Keele you will have access to an electronic copy of your weekly timetable.   You should check this regularly as we may have to schedule extra sessions for a variety of reasons.   Sometimes these will be  workshops designed to help you with an area of a module where you might need extra support.   Alternatively, we might invite you to a School Meeting.   School Meetings are used to keep you informed of changes in the School of Pharmacy, to give you some input into the School as a whole and also to present information to you relating to pharmacy in the wider context.   This might include, for example, a series of talks on other careers options available to qualified pharmacists.

The timetable for the first week will include several general student activities (GSA).   These might include a session on how to reference sources of information correctly  or how to use the various IT facilities available to you at Keele.   In addition, we will give you some time to meet the staff and other students in the School of Pharmacy, to ask any questions you have or make sure you’ve bought a lab coat ready for your practical sessions the following week.   You’ll also find that your first teaching sessions occur in week one for some modules.

We prefer to teach students in groups smaller than a whole year cohort where possible so, for this reason, we split the year into half or third size groups.   If you look carefully, you’ll find that the sessions are labelled slightly differently, indicating if students in group a, b or c should attend.   You’ll find out once you enroll at Keele which groups you are in.

The timetable for the second week will be a little different.   There will be less general activities and more sessions directly related to your first year modules.   These sessions might include lectures, workshops or practical laboratory classes.   There will also be an introduction to aspects of course outside of taught sessions.   This might include an introduction to the community and hospital pharmacy placements you will undertake as well as making you aware of your e-portfolio.

Outside of the timetabled sessions you will also be expected to complete further reading or prepare for your lectures and practical classes.  However, please remember that there are members of staff available to help you with all kinds of problems.   Throughout the course you will acquire skills in time management, communication, team working, independent study and prioritisation, and all that on top of the academic learning you will do.

We don’t expect you to come to Keele as experts in any of these areas, ready to do everything without any support.   We expect you to come to Keele with an idea about what you can do, an open mind about what you need to improve upon and the ability to ask for help when you need it.   While it might seem obvious to go and see a lecturer for extra help about a topic taught during your lecture, we want to make it equally obvious that you can seek help with your time management skills or exam technique.