Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University

Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University

Education

Curriculum

Curriculum

To do pharmaceutical research, a wide range of academic ability is essential. The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Tohoku University provides basic education on biology, organic chemistry and physical chemistry as three basics so that they will be able to "find and develop potential drugs." As its development, the Faculty provides education on the science of drug discovery and clinical pharmacy.The curriculums of Tohoku University consist of subjects common to the whole university through which students learn general basic culture and specialized subjects that are different according to the Faculties. The classes are allocated to semesters. The common subjects are completed at the end of the fourth semester in the second year. On the other hand, specialized subjects begin with the first semester and increase gradually as semesters proceed.The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences consists of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences with a 4-year program that is basically to develop pharmaceutical researchers and engineers for drug discovery, and the Department of Pharmacy with a 6-year program that is basically to develop pharmacists with sophisticated skills and knowledge. When students are admitted to this Faculty, they are not divided according to the departments. They learn the common basic subjects (biology, organic chemistry and physical chemistry) until the end of the fifth semester for both departments. Thus, the curriculums are so designed that students can fully acquire the basics of pharmacy. For one year including the second half of the second year and the first half of the third year (i.e., the fourth and fifth semesters), students are educated in basic pharmaceutical practices. They learn the theories that they have already been taught through experiments, and at the same time, acquire the basic skills for experimenting. After the end of the fifth semester, they are allocated to the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (about 60 students) and the Department of Pharmacy (about 20 students) on the basis of their requests and academic results, and they begin to study according to the curriculums of their own courses from the sixth semester (the second half of the third year).

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

After entering the Department, students attend classes on advanced subjects to acquire a deeper knowledge of drug discovery in the sixth semester. For one year and a half including the sixth semester to graduation from the 4-year program, students are assigned to laboratories, with several of them to each, to do assigned research. In other words, each student is assigned a research subject. They probably enjoy this period of one year and a half as the most productive, with the pleasure and problems in tackling unknown challenges. They may take the admission examinations for the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences in August of their fourth year. If they pass those examinations they are allowed to proceed to the Master's program (2 years) of the School where they will engage in a higher level of research. They may also work outside the university when graduating from the Department. If they finish the Master's program, they may work in companies in the area of research, development or production as a researcher/engineer for drug discovery. They may also further proceed to the Ph.D. program (3 years), where they will do advanced research. Then, they may take jobs at research/educational institutions as a researcher who is internationally accepted, where they can contribute to the maximum of their ability. If they take some subjects on clinical pharmaceutical sciences, and a practice course at a hospital or dispensing pharmacy, after finishing the Master's program, they are qualified to take the national examination for pharmacists.


・2023 Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Syllabus

Department of Pharmacy

Department of Pharmacy

After entering the Department of Pharmacy, students take advanced subjects on clinical pharmaceutical sciences, specialized pharmaceutical practices, and basic practices of clinical pharmaceutical sciences, to acquire the basics as a clinical service expert through the seventh and eighth semesters in their fourth year. They are required to take common examinations: CBT (Computer Based Test) for basic knowledge and OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) to evaluate their skills and behavior in the fourth year. They are also previously given preparatory education. Only students who have passed CBT and OSCE are allowed to proceed to the educational practice after that. They then practice at hospitals and dispensing pharmacies, where they acquire the skills and knowledge required for a pharmacist. For about one year from the end of the fifth year to graduation, they do research at laboratories that they are assigned to. Each student has a research subject that has not been elucidated, and researches it and raises the researcher's mind. Near the end of the sixth year, students attend a seminar to prepare for the national examination for pharmacists. If they successfully pass the examination and graduate from the Department, they may work in the medical field such as hospitals as pharmacists with a full researcher's mind. They may also proceed to the Ph.D. program of the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences to become a dedicated researcher and research in the field of clinical pharmaceutical sciences at research/educational institutions.


・2023 Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Syllabus

Graduate School

This Graduate School has set up an education system where students can acquire the basic knowledge required for doing pharmaceutical research and the ability to apply that knowledge to make effective use of it, aiming at developing researchers/engineers who are able to create original ideas and be internationally competitive in the academic field. In the first course (2 years) of the Ph.D. program or Master's Program (i.e., master's course), students are given knowledge in a wide range of areas from the creation of drugs through their proper use, and acquire a wide and deep knowledge of pharmacy as a total science of substances, life and medicine. They gain the ability to apply such knowledge, by participating in cutting-edge research in their respective specialized fields. In the second course (3 years) of the Ph.D. program (i.e., doctorial course), they take the lead in doing cutting-edge research, so that they can establish themselves as pharmaceutical researchers.


・Syllabus 2023 (Elective required classes)
・Syllabus 2023 (Classes conducted by each laboratory)

Hand Book


・2022 Student Handbook