Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences news

Monash pharmacy course in Middle East

October 2005

The Monash University Bachelor of Pharmacy course is now being taught at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. 

The dean of Monash University’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Professor Colin Chapman, and the manager of the university’s Pharmacy faculty, Ms Marian Costelloe, have just returned from Sharjah where they saw the first intake of 55 students on 3 September. 

Professor Chapman said the enrolments are just the beginning. “Our expectation is that numbers will grow quite rapidly from now on,” he said.

The Pharmacy course is being taught under a five-year contract between Monash University and the University of Sharjah, that was signed in April this year.

Under the arrangement, Monash will provide its pharmacy curriculum and course material, help recruit senior teaching staff and assist with the design of a new hospital and separate research building.

Ms Costelloe said the University of Sharjah, established in 1997, is a not-for-profit university with about 5000 undergraduate students in eight facultys.

“It has brand new buildings set in magnificent grounds in one of the most stable and advanced countries in the Middle East,” she said.

Professor Chapman said the collaboration is excellent for the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences because Sharjah University is located at one of the world’s major international hubs for travel and trade. 

“Through the University of Sharjah, we are introducing a modern pharmacy curriculum to the Middle East, along with research programs, and we see this as an exciting opportunity for potential research collaboration and staff and student exchange.

“It is a wonderful opportunity that allows us to be part of the establishment of a truly world-leading pharmacy teaching faculty from the ground up,” Professor Chapman said.