The University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) has recorded a landmark academic achievement with the graduation of its pioneer Doctor of Pharmacy cohort, a development that formally places the institution within globally recognised pharmacy training standards.
The six-year professional programme, now widely regarded as the global benchmark for modern pharmacy education, produced its first set of graduates during ongoing signing-out activities on the UNN campus.
One of the graduates, Joseph Cyril Ifunanyachukwu, described the programme as a definitive shift towards patient-centred healthcare. He noted that the Pharm D curriculum equips pharmacists for clinical decision-making through extensive hospital exposure, including a compulsory six-month clerkship.
Another graduate, Ugwueze Queendaline Chiamaka, said completing the programme felt surreal after six demanding years of academic work. She said the most memorable part of her journey was the people she met and the leadership responsibilities she took on in school. Balancing those leadership roles with her academics, she explained, was her greatest challenge, but she managed it by taking tasks in stages.
The programme, a professional doctorate and not an academic doctorate, retains the strong scientific foundation of the former Bachelor of Pharmacy while expanding into areas such as pharmacovigilance, patient counselling and evidence-based therapeutic care.
With project defence already concluded ahead of the signing-out activities, the ceremony effectively marks the end of academic obligations for the trailblazing cohort.
The graduation of the pioneer class positions UNN among the Nigerian institutions that have fully adopted the Pharm D model, aligning pharmacy education in the country with international clinical practice standards.
