The College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, a new international undergraduate honours programme for the training of pharmaceutical scientists

Introduction: In September 2010, the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (CPS), a novel international, selective, research-based undergraduate honours programme, started at the Utrecht University. This programme aimes at attracting talented students from an international context, who are interested in a research career within the pharmaceutical field. Methods: The CPS was designed according to the principles of enquiry-based learning. Several reasons prompted this educational approach: selected students are expected to be highly motivated and talented; they will be trained for the discovery and development of drugs in a research environment and they are expected to be able to cope with less repetition and more challenging education. It is important to foster high-end learning, higher-order thinking skills, self-regulated learning and creativity, where the teachers’ role is to support students in developing their own personal understanding of scientific concepts. The first year of the CPS -programme consists of four highly integrated 10-week courses, following the “drug development pipeline” in reversed order (from man to molecule). In their second year, students can choose from a wide range of electives offered in the chemical, biomedical and pharmaceutical field. In year 3, students follow a mandatory course Drug Discovery and Development as a preparation for their individual undergraduate research (6 months). Conclusion: The CPS is a novel international undergraduate honours programme. Small-scale project-based education and direct interaction with principal investigators of the department is organised throughout the curriculum. The first graduates of this programme are expected to enter research master programmes from September 2013.