Monash urges uni review
July 19, 2011
MONASH University Dean of
Pharmacy, Prof William Charman,
has called for a moratorium on new
pharmacy schools in Australia, as
well as a review of their
accreditation standards.
Charman says the proliferation of
schools here is “of significant
concern,” with a threefold increase
since 1997 to a total of 18 - greatly
exceeding the level of pharmacy
education per capita in the UK,
USA, Canada and Europe.
He says there is currently a
“prevailing lack of clarity, future
planning and governance of this
matter,” adding that it is also time
to “reconsider the overall
standards, process and quantitative
quality assurance requirements
associated with accreditation of
pharmacy schools”.
The statement follows a recent
response from Monash to reported
comments by PSA President
Warwick Plunkett (PD 06 Jul), who
accused Monash of being among
the “big universities” contributing
to an excess of pharmacy graduates.
Charman defended Monash,
saying the university now had the
same number of incoming
pharmacy students as in 2004/5, as
part of a “deliberate strategy to
support the very high-quality
students attracted to our leading
education and research program”.
He said Monash had invested
over $50 million in new facilities
and infrastructure “to enable our
approximately 50 highly qualified
academic staff to provide the best
possible education to our students.”
Charman said he looked forward
to positively contributing to a
debate about the future of
pharmacy education in Australia,
adding that “it is essential that
stakeholders from the community,
the various organisations that
represent the profession, pharmacy
regulatory bodies, students and
interns, the education sector and
the Government come together to
urgently address these matters in
the public interest”.
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