Overview

Non-Pharmacy Exit Pathway for students not completing Second or Third Year Pharmacy

The BSc (Ordinary) (Pharmaceutical Healthcare Sciences), NFQ Level 7, is an Ordinary degree pathway for students who do not satisfy the pass standard for Year 2 or 3 of the BPharm degree in the Summer Examinations and/or the Autumn Supplemental Examinations, or who do not wish to continue with their Pharmacy degree after obtaining the pass standard for Year 1 or Year 2 of the Pharmacy degree. Such students may, following consultation with the Programme Leader, register instead for the BSc (Pharmaceutical Healthcare Sciences) ordinary degree. The BSc (Ordinary) (Pharmaceutical Healthcare Sciences) does not confer eligibility to practice as a Pharmacist.

Year 2 BSc (Ordinary) (Pharmaceutical Healthcare Sciences)

In order to be admitted to the Second University Examination in BSc (Ordinary) (Pharmaceutical Healthcare Sciences), each student must have attended modules to the value of 60 credits.

Year 3 BSc (Ordinary) (Pharmaceutical Healthcare Sciences)

In order to be admitted to the Third University Examination in BSc (Ordinary) (Pharmaceutical Healthcare Sciences), each student must have attended modules to the value of 60 credits.

Students who pass all modules in the Third Year Examinations in the BSc Pharmaceutical Healthcare Sciences at the first or second attempt may choose to exit the programme and be awarded the BSc (Ordinary) Pharmaceutical Healthcare Sciences (NFQ Level 7) or following consultation with the Programme Leader, progress to the Fourth Year BSc (Hons) Pharmaceutical Healthcare Sciences, NFQ Level 8. The BSc (Hons) Pharmaceutical Healthcare Sciences does not confer eligibility to practise as a Pharmacist.

Programme Requirements

For information about modules, module choice, options and credit weightings, please go to Programme Requirements. 

Programme Requirements

Non-Pharmacy Exit Pathway for students not completing Second Year Pharmacy

Non-Pharmacy Exit Pathway for students not completing Third Year Pharmacy

¹

Students electing to take this optional module must secure a work placement relevant to the discipline, to be undertaken outside of term-time (minimum two weeks (70 hours)) subject to the approval of the School of Pharmacy. 

²

Not included for progression to subsequent year and is not counted toward the final degree award. The result obtained will be recorded on the student's transcript.

³

Modules will be completed while on placement.

Examinations

Full details and regulations governing Examinations for each programme will be contained in the Marks and Standards Book and for each module in the Book of Modules.

Programme Learning Outcomes

Programme Learning Outcomes for BSc (Ord) in Pharmaceutical Healthcare Sciences (NFQ Level 7, Major Award)
On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

• Apply the physiochemical properties of drugs to the design of small molecules and biopharmaceutical drug delivery systems and recognise the principles of pharmaceutical manufacturing encompassing good manufacturing practice (GMP), quality assurance (QA), quality control (QC) and regulatory affairs;
• Apply the principles of chemistry underpinning the design, development, manufacture, analysis and quality control of pharmaceutical compounds and excipients;
• Outline the physiological, biochemical, molecular and genetic basis of disease, drug therapy and drug delivery;
• Apply the pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetics and pharmacological principles underlying the use of medicines in health care;
• Conduct a literature review, design a research protocol;
• Identify, formulate, analyse and solve problems relating to the action, design and manufacture of pharmaceutical compounds;
• Design and carry out experiments to test hypotheses or theories in pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical chemistry, biochemistry or pharmacology;
• Summarise some stages of the pharmaceutical manufacturing process from drug candidate selection to commercial manufacture.

*** Only for Incoming First Years, Repeat First Years, Second Years and Repeat Second Years 2025/2026 ***
*** Click here for Marks and Standards for all other years ***

Marks and Standards

These Marks and Standards should be read in conjunction with the Programme Requirements and the Book of Modules.

Fitness to Practise

All students on programmes subject to Fitness to Practise in UCC will be required to comply with the Fitness to Practise Policy and meet the relevant Fitness to Practise standards, in order to progress to the next year of his/her/their programme. Click here for a list of programmes subject to the Fitness to Practise Policy.

First Year - Marks and Credits

Students are required to take modules to the value of 60 credits.
Total Marks for year: 1200.

First Year - Pass and Progression Criteria

To pass first year and progress to second year, students must have satisfied the Fitness to Practise requirements and must achieve:

1. An aggregate mark of 50% across all modules,
2. A pass mark in modules to the value of at least 50 credits,
3. A pass mark in each of the following modules: PF1009, PF1010, PF1011, PF1012, and PT1445, and
4. A module mark of at least 45% in any remaining modules.

Pass by Compensation: Students who satisfy each of the above criteria are allowed to compensate in modules to the value of 10 credits and pass the year overall.

Second Year - Marks and Credits

Students are required to take modules to the value of 60 credits.
Total Marks for year: 1200.

Second Year - Pass and Progression Criteria

To pass second year and progress to third year, students must have satisfied the Fitness to Practise requirements and must achieve:

1. An aggregate mark of 50% across all modules,
2. A pass mark in modules to the value of at least 50 credits,
3. A pass mark in each of the following modules: PF2011, PF2012, PF2013, PF2014, PF2015, PF2016, PF2017 and PT2448, and
4. A module mark of at least 45% in any remaining modules.

Pass by Compensation: Students who satisfy each of the above criteria are allowed to compensate in modules to the value of 10 credits and pass the year overall.

Award of Honours in the Degree Award

An honours classification is awarded for the final degree using the final year examination results and marks carried forward from the penultimate year. The aggregate of 33.33% of the penultimate year marks plus 66.67% of the final year marks will be used to calculate the final degree award.

Honours will be awarded as follows:

1. First Class Honours: ≥ 70%
2. Second Class Honours, Grade I: ≥ 60% and <70%
3. Second Class Honours, Grade II: ≥ 55% and <60%
4. Pass: ≥ 50% and <55%

Examination Boards

• Provisional marks for Semester 1 examinations are released in January/February of each year. These marks are subject to approval at the University Examination Board.
• Marks for all modules taken in Semester 1 and 2, including those wholly assessed by Continuous Assessment, will be presented to the University Examination Board at the end of Semester 2.

Supplemental Examinations and Assessment

• Students who fail to achieve the progression standard for the year at the Summer Examination Board must complete Supplemental Examinations and/or Continuous Assessment for those specific module(s), where there is provision to do so.
• Please refer to the Book of Modules for requirements governing the Supplemental Examination and Assessment for individual modules. Note: For some modules there is no Supplemental Examination and Assessment.
• The marks achieved in the Supplemental Examinations and/or Continuous Assessment of a repeat module are considered at the Autumn Examination Board.
• The actual mark achieved by the candidate in the Supplemental or Repeat Year Examination will be recorded on the student record (Academic Transcript).
• The maximum mark that will be taken into account for aggregation and progression purposes is a pass level, unless the student has been granted a cap waiver or deferral by the University Mitigation Committee, or a University Examination Board, or has been approved to defer the previous attempt by the University Mitigation Committee.
• At the Autumn Examination Board, marks from all passed modules approved at the Summer Examination Board are carried forward and are combined with the marks achieved in Supplemental Examinations and/or Assessments. The pass and progression criteria are applied to the aggregate mark achieved.

Note: The mark achieved at the last examination/assessment attempt is the mark that is included in the calculation of the aggregate mark for pass and progression purposes.

Exemptions

All passed modules carry an exemption, which is limited to a period of five academic years (or two in the case of Computer Science modules) subsequent to the award of the exemption.

Repeat Year Examinations

Students retain module exemptions, if any, and must repeat all failed/absent modules, including those modules where the failing mark previously achieved was greater than the level of compensation (≥ 45%) but who failed to achieve the progression standard for the year (see above). The pass and progression criteria are then applied to the combination of full marks achieved in modules passed at the first attempt, plus capped marks achieved in modules in the Repeat Year Examinations.​

Note: For students selecting different modules not previously taken, there are no restrictions on the marks awarded for those modules at the first attempt in a repeat year. The selection of different modules by the student means that the student foregoes any previous marks achieved in the original modules (including previously passed modules).

Two Year Rule

Students must pass/progress within two academic years of the date of first registration for a year, otherwise they cannot continue in the programme. Students are permitted to repeat any academic year once only and may not repeat any more than two academic years in any one programme.

Terms and Definitions

Programme Description

• The programme description is outlined in the Programme Requirements tab.

Module Descriptions/Assessment

• Module descriptions, including the pass standard for a module, special requirements to pass a module, and assessment elements and their weightings, are contained in the Book of Modules.

Marks and Credits

• A maximum of 100 marks may be awarded for every five credits of a programme.
• Some modules are assessed on a Pass/Fail basis only, i.e. marks are not awarded.

Pass and Progression

• Progression is defined as the permission granted to a student to register in the subsequent academic year for the next set of modules within his/her/their programme of study.
• Compensation is defined as the process by which a student, who fails to satisfy some of the regulations for credit in a specific module, is nevertheless recommended for credit to be awarded on the grounds that the failure is offset by his/her/their performance in the other modules on his/her/their programme of study.