The Masters year was re-structured in 2007 to take into account a number of factors affecting education and professional role development for health professionals to embody an emphasis on the researching professional as a reflective practitioner. It is categorized by the University as a Professional MSc that is grounded in an individual’s professional practice. It will enable you to focus on an area of interest to you so that you can develop a comprehensive understanding and critical awareness of this at an advanced level and apply your learning to develop your professional practice/services through scholarship, research and enquiry that will, in parallel, enable you to achieve the standards for a Masters degree. 

Entry to the Masters year requires satisfactory completion of a postgraduate Diploma award that is associated with one of the relevant Keele programmes, or an ‘equivalent’ postgraduate Diploma award from another university. Candidates who wish to gain direct entry after having completed a Diploma at another university will have to provide full details of the syllabus covered/assessment strategy for consideration with their application to Keele.

The title of the final MSc award will depend on the entry route, for example, students entering the MSc year with a Diploma in Community Pharmacy will graduate, upon successful completion of the year, with a Master's in Community Pharmacy. This principle applies for all our postgraduate programmes i.e. Community Pharmacy, Clinical Pharmacy, Prescribing Studies and Advanced Professional Practice.

The Masters year is structured to take into account a number of factors affecting education and professional role development for pharmacists to embody an emphasis on the researching professional as a reflective practitioner.

It is categorised by the University as a Professional MSc that is grounded in an individual’s professional practice.

It will enable you to focus on an area of interest to you so that you can develop a comprehensive understanding and critical awareness of this at an advanced level and apply your learning to develop your professional practice/services through scholarship, research and enquiry that will, in parallel, enable you to achieve the standards for a Masters degree.

The Masters course is common to all School of Pharmacy’s principal postgraduate programmes, i.e. Community Pharmacy, Clinical Pharmacy (secondary care), Prescribing Studies and Advanced Professional Practice (Open Learn Pathway only).

Entry to the Masters year requires satisfactory completion of a postgraduate Diploma award that is associated with one of the relevant Keele programmes, or an ‘equivalent’ postgraduate Diploma award from another university. Candidates who wish to gain direct entry after having completed a Diploma at another university will have to provide full details of the syllabus covered/assessment strategy for consideration with their application to Keele.

English language proficiency requirement

If English is not your first language, you must either:

Hold a degree from a school where English was the language of instruction

OR

Take the IELTS (average of 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in all categories)

Please note that IETLS exams must be no more than two years old at the start of the course for which you have applied.

The course is designed around three compulsory modules:

• Advanced Practice Development
• Researching and Evaluating your Practice
• Independent Learning Project

The delivery media used, outline content and activities for each module are described in the postgraduate module section of the website. You will also attend an Induction Session at the beginning of the course. This will be held ‘virtually’ so there is no requirement to attend Keele. 

The Professional MSc is designed principally for distance-learning. We provide mainly online distance-learning materials so that you can study where and when it is most convenient for you. 

The Professional MSc is fully supported by a team of experienced, friendly, and approachable academic, administrative and technical staff based at Keele. The Programme is also supported by our network of experienced, practising tutors. You’re not on your own! And, don’t forget the network of other pharmacists on the course whom you can contact. You will require the equivalent of 1-2 days (approximately 10-15 hours) each week to complete your course. Remember that the online nature of our course materials, and the fact the MSc focuses on your professional practice, means that you can integrate study and work.

You will be assigned a tutor at the beginning of the course who will support you throughout the course. You will meet with your tutor on a regular basis either on the telephone, virtually or face to face as agreed between you and your tutor. 

Assessment is entirely by coursework. Project Protocol Development and the Independent Study Project Report assess ‘thinking’ and practical skills, and your ability to plan, conduct and report on an investigation. They also assess your ability to critically appraise the literature and relate published theory to everyday practice. A Reflective Portfolio also assesses your ability to relate theory to practice, and self evaluation of, and reflection on, your own performance and CPD needs.

Each method of assessment is supported by clear criteria for marking; these are explained in the relevant Course Handbooks. The minimum pass mark is 50%. The summative assessment is supported by a variety of formative assessment activities that include online discussions and formative feedback on elements of the reflective portfolio.

For all programmes you will need regular access to a computer, email and the internet. Apart from additional costs for text books, inter-library loans and potential overdue library fines we do not anticipate any additional costs for our postgraduate programmes.