STUDY PHARMACY COURSE IN AUSTRALIA: A COMPLETE GUIDE

Admission in Bachelor of Pharmacy and Master of Pharmacy in Australia

There are two pharmacy degrees available to become a registered pharmacist in Australia, namely the Bachelor of Pharmacy and the Master of Pharmacy.

The Bachelor of Pharmacy is an accredited four-year graduate-entry degree leading to eligibility for registration as a pharmacist in Australia. The Bachelor of Pharmacy is a professional degree designed for people who want to have a career in the various fields of the pharmacy practice and pharmaceutical industry. The program focuses on the identification, discovery, isolation, synthesis, and formulation of biologically active compounds for clinical use. In Australia, the registered pharmacist mostly worked in community and hospital pharmacies.

Duration: 4 years

The Master of Pharmacy is an accredited two-year graduate-entry degree leading to eligibility for registration as a pharmacist. Innovative and practice-based in approach, the course builds on students’ strong scientific foundation to provide specialist, comprehensive knowledge relevant to contemporary pharmacy practice.

Duration: 2 years

WHY STUDY PHARMACY IN AUSTRALIA?

  • Australia has some high-ranked universities that provide world-class education. These prestigious universities offer a comprehensive program for a Master’s in Pharmacy in Australia.
  • According to the most recent data released by the Pharmaceutical Board of Australia, registration data for the period of the 1st January 2020 to 31st March 2020 shows that at this date, there were 32,777 registered pharmacists in Australia.
  • Jobs for Pharmacists are expected to grow from 25,500 in 2018 to 27,400 in 2023, according to Job Outlook of Australia.
  • It is predicted that there will be around 2,600 pharmacist jobs per year in Australia for the next five years.
  • 68% of the pharmacists are working on a full-time basis in Australia.
  • The percentage of female pharmacists in Australia is much higher than male pharmacists i.e. 62%.
  • UNIVERSITIES OFFERING PHARMACY PROGRAM:

    • Curtin University, Bentley campus
    • Griffith University, Gold Coast
    • The University of Western Australia, Crawley Campus
    • University of Canberra, Canberra
    • University of Sydney, Sydney
    • University of Technology Sydney, Sydney
    • University of Queensland
    • University of Monash
    • University of Tasmania

    BACHELOR OF PHARMACY, ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

    If you are looking to study pharmacy in Australia, you can opt for a Bachelor’s degree, which is a 4 years’ full-time course. Needless to say, competency in the English language must be demonstrated & each candidate must be able to fulfill the minimum Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) score as required by the specific university they may be applying to.

    After successfully completing your undergraduate degree, you may choose to take a Masters, i.e., a post-graduate degree – which is a 2 years’ full-time course. You may also need to pass examinations like Graduate Australia Medical Admissions Test (GAMSAT) and/or Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).

    MASTER OF PHARMACY, ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

    Applicants eligible for admission into the Master of Pharmacy are subject to meeting the following criteria:

    • Minimum 15 years of education with a 10+2+3 breakup
    • A 3–4-year bachelor’s degree in science or pharmacy field or other related fields.
    • Proof of English proficiency.
    • Completed an eligible science or health science bachelor’s degree within the past 10 years.
    • Achieved an overall GPA greater than or equal to 5.0 (on a 7.0-point scale) or 60% in the last 18 months of undergraduate study.

    DOCUMENTS REQUIRED:

    As part of your application you will need to provide scanned coloured original or certified of original documents.

    • Academic transcript
    • Completion certificate
    • CV/resume
    • Australian Student visa
    • Passport/birth certificate
    • Evidence of satisfying the English Language Requirements for this course.
    • Letters of work experience (where applicable).

    WHEN TO APPLY?:

    Most of the universities in Australia offer admission intakes twice a year from January to June, and from June to November. The university recommends international students to apply well in advance of the specified deadlines so that they have enough time for the Australian visa process and secure admission to the program in the desired semester.

    ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

    Before applying for Bachelor of Pharmacy and Master of Pharmacy in Australia, you should make sure to have following requisites:

    • Application form
    • Statement of purpose
    • GPA scores
    • TOEFL, IELTS or other similar English proficiency test scores
    • Official transcripts and bachelor’s degree
    • Updated CV
    • Criminal record/police clearance

    VISA REQUIREMENTS:

    An international student must obtain Australian Student Visa to study and work in Australia for a period longer than six months. You can complete the visa application with the payment of the necessary fee of $413 AUD. The overall student visa acceptance rate is 90%-95% for all the levels of study.

    Typically, students must submit the following for the visa:

    • Scanned copy of Birth Certificate.
    • Copy of passport bio-data page (some students may be asked to physically provide their passport)
    • Certificate of Enrolment or Letter of Offer
    • Evidence of sufficient funds
    • Evidence of health insurance cover
    • English proficiency test results
    • Criminal record check results
    • Four recent passport-sized photographs
    • Australian student visa application form

    Most visa applications take four weeks to get processed. If one studies in Australia for a particular course which is longer than ten months and gets finished at the end of the Australian academic year (usually mid-December), your visa will often be valid till 15th March the following year.

    If your course is longer than ten months and gets finished from January to October, then your visa will usually be valid for two months following the completion of your course.

    FEES and SCHOLARSHIP:

    It costs an average of 31900 AUD – 52440 AUD/yearly to study a bachelor or master’s program in Pharmacy in Australia.

    The cost of living can vary depending on the lifestyle of international students.

    There are plenty of scholarships available for the international students studying in Australia. Some of these scholarships include full-tuition and fees. These scholarships amount ranges between 1,000 – 120,000 AUD.

    CAREER OUTCOMES:

    The average annual Pharmacist salary in Australia is around AUD 94,940 (INR 50,64,961). Hobart, Tasmania, Sydney, Queensland, Perth are some of the highest paying cities in Australia for Pharmacy.

    With the demand for pharmacists growing worldwide day-by-day, the career opportunities with a master’s degree are vast and financially rewarding.

    Some of the top companies for employing pharmacists in Australia with their salaries are as follows: The Chemist Warehouse, Priceline, Terry White, Amcal, My Chemist, Pharmacy 777, Terry White Pharmacy.

    POST STUDY WORK VISA IN AUSTRALIA (SUBCLASS 485):

    The post study work visa allows international students to stay, work or look for a job in Australia after they graduate. Depending on their region of study, the stay durations are from 18 months to 3 years. So, under this visa, you can complete your registration with the Australian Pharmacy Board, secure a paid internship, and then apply for permanent residency.

    Note:To the best of our ability, we give all information in a correct manner, although errors are possible. We cannot guarantee that this information is accurate, complete or current.

Dr. Akram Ahmad, PhD

Academically.ai is the brainchild of Dr. Akram Ahmad. He has done his PhD from the Faculty of Medicine and Health, the University of Sydney, Australia. He is a self-motivated clinical pharmacist and committed lecturer with over 9 years of teaching and research experience in various subjects of medicine at the leading Universities in Australia, Malaysia, and India.

Dr. Akram is the recipient of prestigious “Best Promising Researcher Award” from the UCSI University (Malaysia). He has also published over 110 papers, book chapters, conference papers including in high-impact journals. In addition to that, he is a reviewer and editorial board member in
several journals of medicine and pharmacy.

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