General rules at the university
1. Students are admitted to the faculty according to the rules and conditions provided annually by the Higher Education Council and in accordance with the university by-law.
2. A student is dismissed by the university council if he/she has committed a violation of the university’s code of conduct or the university’s rules and regulations that is deemed severe enough. The dismissal may be for a period of one to four semesters or permanent.
3. Payments of fees: fees may be paid in total at the beginning of the academic year or in half at the beginning of each semester.
4. The university council decides who would teach each module, based on the suggestions of the faculty council.
Semester System
1. The academic year at the Faculty of Pharmacy is divided into two 16-week semesters, first and second.
2. Two exam sessions are arranged for annually by the faculty. The schedules of which are determined according to the annual calendar provided by the University Council. The first session is usually performed at the end of the first semester and the second session is at the end of the second semester. The first and second exam sessions include the modules related to the first and second semesters respectively.
Stages of Study
1. First stage (Basic Sciences):
It consists of the first and second years, and the following modules are taught: General and Inorganic Chemistry - Plant Biology - Maths - Pharmaceutical Physics - Computer Skills and its Applications in Pharmacy - Anatomy and Histology - Arabic Language - Organic Chemistry - Physical Pharmacy - Physiology - Animal Biology - Pharmaceutics - Pharmaceutical English - National Education - Analytical Chemistry - Pathology - History, Ethics and Legislation of Pharmacy –Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry - Biochemistry – Biostatistics.
2. Second Stage:
It consists of the third year and the following modules are taught: Pharmaceutical Technology - Toxicology - Parasitology and Mycology - General Health – Applied Pharmacognosy - Pharmaceutical Chemistry - Pharmacology.
3. Third Stage:
It consists of the fourth and fifth years, and the following modules are taught: Drug Synthesis - Pharmaceutical Microbiology - Community Pharmacy - Automated Analysis - Haematology and Immunology - Biopharmacy and Pharmacokinetics - First Aid - Industrial Pharmacy - Graduation Project - Clinical Pharmacy and Hospital Pharmacy - Forensic Toxicology - Food Chemistry - Molecular Biology - Nutrition and Diets - Media and Pharmaceutical Marketing - Molecular Pharmacology - Drug Control - Clinical Biochemistry - Drug Chemistry - Biotechnology – Apprenticeship.
a. Graduation Project
1) Students are distributed among research groups of 2 to 5 students as decided by the faculty council. The students in each group work under the supervision of a teaching member of faculty staff. The Faculty Council names at the beginning of each academic year the supervisors for the graduation projects.
2) Each supervisor is responsible for choosing a research subject for his/her research group.
3) The graduation project is considered as a taught module. The students of each research group present a report, when the research has been completed, containing the details of their research work. The students discuss the contents of the report with their supervisor and this is considered as an oral exam (it is subject to the same rules as any other ordinary exam).
4) The faculty council is responsible for providing any other rules and regulations related to graduation projects.
b. Apprenticeship
1) Each student is required to attend a practice session at a pharmacy during the summer holiday under the supervision of the dean office. This is achieved during three stages as follows:
A 200-hour period at the end of the second year of study.
A 200-hour period at the end of the third year of study.
A 100-hour period at the end of the fourth year of study.
2) Members of teaching staff are appointed to oversee the practice sessions for students. Any student who is reported absent during the practice session mentioned in (1) for more than three times without a valid excuse accepted by the dean must reattend an extra period that is equal to the period of absence.
3) Each student must have a log book for the practice session, which must be certified by the dean, and must also have a written approval from the pharmacist who is supervising the session indicating the start and finish time of the session.
4) The student must record in his log book all the prescriptions he prepared at the pharmacy during his practice session. These prescriptions must be numbered in a series and a short description of how each prescription is prepared must be recorded. In addition, the student must record in his log book any notes he deems necessary about ready-made drugs: classification, doses, main constituent groups and pharmaceutical forms.
5) The log book must be certified by the pharmacist syndicate when the practice sessions are over, and presented to the dean office at the beginning of the fifth year of study. The log book is accompanied by a report written by the supervising pharmacist. This report contains the pharmacist’s notes about the student during the period of practice session.
6) Apprenticeship is considered as one of the taught modules of the fifth year, and the student must pass the exams related to it in order to graduate. The following procedures are applied to examine the student in the apprenticeship:
- A committee of at least three members of the teaching staff is formed by the dean with the responsibility of examining the students with regard to the apprenticeship.
- A two-stage exam is sit. The first stage is a written exam taken in the following subjects: Pharmacognosy, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology. This exam is taken during the practical exam period and it accounts for 50% of the total marks (100 marks). The student must pass this stage (i.e. must get at least 25 out of 50 marks) in order to be eligible for taking the second stage of the exam. The second stage is an interview-based exam. . The student’s ability to know the prescriptions, doses, pharmaceutical effects, etc. of various ready-made drugs is assessed. This exam accounts for the remaining 50% of the total marks. The student must get at least 25 marks to pass this stage of the exam. A total of at least 50 marks in both stages must be achieved in order to pass the practice session exam.
- The student must retake the exams of both stages if he/she fails to get the required pass marks.
Rules governing attendance, pass and graduation
1. A module can be transferred from one semester to the other if approved by the faculty council in accordance with the rules and regulations of University Regulation Law.
2. At the beginning of the academic year the faculty council, based on a suggestion from the relevant department, chooses one module in order be taught in English. This applies from the third year onwards.
3. In regard to attendance and exams:
- Attendance of classes (for both lectures and lab sessions) is mandatory and an 80% attendance must be achieved so that the student can be allowed to take the exam of the relevant module.
- The student is transferred from one academic year to the next if they pass all their modules or fail up to a maximum of four modules. The student is deemed “successful” if they pass all the modules (of the current and previous academic year). However, if the student fails from one to four modules they are deemed “transferred”. “Successful” students are arranged according to their Grade Point Average (GPA).
- The student may defer their study for a period of time by presenting the appropriate application (supported by the relevant documents) to the dean two weeks before study commences in order to be discussed at the meeting of the faculty council. If the application is successful the period of deferment is not counted when considering the period of study for the student at the faculty/university.
- If the student does not attend classes for a period of one semester (without applying for deferment) he/she fails all the modules of that particular semester.
- The student may be excused for not being able to continue attending the classes of a particular semester if he/she presents a valid excuse (accepted by the side appointed by the university council) at least five weeks before the final exams of that semester. The student in this case is considered “excused-withdrawn” in regard to all the modules of that semester.
- The student may not defer or be excused for more than two consecutive semesters or for more than three non-consecutive semesters during his/her period of study at the faculty/university.
- The student must get his/her legal guardian’s approval if he/she decides to defer or be excused for any period of time. The university is responsible for publishing the academic year calendar, at the beginning of each academic year, stating the dates of tests and exams at the end of each semester. This allows students to know when to apply for deferments, etc.
- The total marks for modules consisting of two parts (lectures and lab work) is the sum of the marks obtained in both parts and the student must achieve a total of at least 60% in order to pass the module.
- If the student fails to achieve the required 60% he/she fails the module and must retake the final exam, however, he/she may keep the marks he/she achieved in his/her lab work. The student may also re-attend the lab-work part of a failed module if he/she wishes to. This can be achieved by applying in person to the dean within the first month of the relevant semester, in which case the student loses his/her previous lab work marks.
- The student graduates whenever he/she has passed all the modules mentioned in the study plan and achieved any other requirements.
