Making a different for future pharmacy students
MPharm student Anthea took an internship in the School of Pharmacy as a student engagement associate, helping to redesign the MPharm course curriculum. In her blog, she shares what she learned.
Anthea told us...
I applied for this internship as it seemed to be the best opportunity for us to bring forward our student experience, have our voices heard and play a stake in the curriculum development.
The changes that can be made to the MPharm degree are restricted by the set standards from General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). Based on the 50 learning outcomes set out by the GPhC, we were able to set a direction to look into and come up with ideas.
We ran some focus groups with alumni and had a conversation with key academics and staff members surrounding the changes in the current curriculum. From there, we analysed the findings and transformed them into the final ideas.
Most of our ideas were considered, and some of the changes were implemented into the MPharm 2022 curriculum. I have witnessed some of the changes made to the current MPharm Y1 degree structure and it seems like Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is more emphasised than ever. In addition, some of the MPharm 2022 modules have already been merged after what we proposed.
We were also given the opportunity to present in person during the University Executive Board meeting where we presented our work as the student engagement associates. They were really impressed with our work.
We were also involved in the Designing Programmes for Learning Conference where we shared our journey as a student engagement associate. The conference was held across two days and attended by more than 400 academics and staff across different UK universities.
I mentioned this internship opportunity to my parents, and they were really impressed. In general, everyone seems positive about the internship and even provided me with suggestions for what could be worked on.
Getting involved in this internship experience has taught us a lot of soft skills in terms of team collaboration. As all the interns came from a range of diverse backgrounds and experiences, we learned to adapt to each other's working styles, respect each other’s opinions and worked together towards a common goal.
This internship gave us the flexibility to generate our own ideas and encouraged us to think creatively. We have nurtured the essential communication, time management and public speaking skills through this internship. Most importantly, we have managed to gain a meaningful bond among the interns.
Staff members and lecturers have supported our work throughout the internship and promoted our ideas to a bigger platform. Throughout the journey, we felt valued and appreciated by the school which encouraged us to continue to play a role in the co-design work. The Educational Excellence Team deserve more recognition! They have achieved a lot of reputational work such as getting students’ involvement in curriculum co-design and provided us the support throughout the internship journey. We couldn’t have come this far without them, so a huge shout-out to Matthew and Carmen!
To any students interested in applying for a role like this, I would say seize the opportunity and give it a go! I did not know what to expect when I first joined, but little did I know I have been influencing a bigger movement and making an impact towards the future. Stepping out from your comfort zone and making changes could seem intimidating, but you will realise how meaningful and rewarding it can be.
