At QIU, we strive to make a global impact. Whether it’s in the realm of socially beneficial research or education advancement, we aim to help catalyse progress.
Along these lines, we’re excited to announce that our Faculty of Pharmacy was invited to be a founding member of a centre of excellence created in partnership with the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) — Western Pacific Region (WPR).
The centre, designated as the FIP-UNESCO UNITWIN (university twinning) Centre For Excellence, will be led by five founding universities from the 28 WPR countries. The five are the National University of Singapore (NUS), Quest International University, Universiti Sains Malaysia, University of Queensland (Australia), and the University of Makati (Philippines).
Pharmaceutical education is undergoing a dynamic transformation, driven by the evolving healthcare landscape, technological advancements, and the need for highly skilled professionals.
The centre aims to advance research, training and curriculum development in pharmacy education in the Western Pacific Region—focusing on global pharmacy education development and promoting an integrated system of pharmacy research, teaching and training, and community engagement and communication.
Prof. Dr Paul John Gallagher of the NUS, who will lead the centre, said: “I am thrilled that we are establishing this centre for excellence today. Our goal is to improve the standard of pharmaceutical and pharmacy education across our diverse region through excellence, collaboration and innovation. I am confident that with motivation, hard work and the joint support of FIP and UNESCO, we will make a lasting difference to the health of our patients from the Western Pacific Ocean to the South China Sea.”
“QIU has complementary strengths to the NUS, but also has distinctive strengths in Real World Holistic Pharmacy education linking to practice. The centre can leverage on QIU’s strengths.”
The centre was launched on 29 May from the Hague, and the launching ceremony can be viewed here, with key statements on QIU starting from the 48th minute.
Led by its Dean Prof. Datuk Dr Allan Mathews, the faculty contributed the following to the centre:
| Areas of Proficiency | Potential Transformation Areas |
|---|---|
| Extensive experiential learning in Hospital/Clinical, Community and Industry | Competency-based training based on real-world experiences—bridging academic-practice gap |
| Process-driven problem-based learning pedagogy | Student-centred learning, improving soft skills |
| Practitioner—teacher for clinical case studies | Bringing real-world cases for teaching and learning |
| Tutorial assessment for continuous assessment | Ensured learning and adequate student preparation for tutorial topics |
| Inter-profession learning for basic health sciences—anatomy, physiology, pathology, biochemistry, microbiology, immunology, biostatistics | Transitioning pharmacy students towards collaborative practice in the real world |
| Applied research in pharmacy technology, practice, chemistry, and clinical pharmacy | Competency-based training based on real-world experiences—bridging the academic-practice gap |
Congratulations, Faculty of Pharmacy!
