Experience of a lifetime
TAUGHT by an experienced and practicing faculty, pharmacy students at the International Medical University (IMU) will be given relevant practice exposure as part of their programme. They will also have the opportunity for an elective placement.
This year, pharmacy students Taasjir Kaur and Nicole Tay Wuen Rong completed their electives at Blackmores, a health supplement company based in Australia.
Taasjir, 22, had completed her third year of study and was required to complete an elective during her three monthlong break. She shared, “I chose Blackmores as I always wanted to try being in the corporate field as a pharmacist. My interest in exploring complementary medicine led me to this company.
“During my twomonth internship, I learnt many new things that helped improve my soft skills and critical thinking. It was a real working life experience, where we were trained in actual tasks in two departments – regulatory affairs and education and training.
“Throughout those two months, we had the chance to expand our network with some of the retail pharmacists, our head boss from Australia and pharmacists from different backgrounds. We were also trained on how to provide counselling to customers about complementary medicine and how to perform bone density checkups using ultrasound.
“We also had the chance to practise and improve our communication skills by interacting with real customers on various complications and issues. My two months at Blackmores were filled with a lot of challenges and experiences, which will help me in every aspect in the coming years.”
Tay, also 22, did her elective at Blackmores Malaysia as well for two months. She said, “Interning with Blackmores Malaysia was a really good experience in an unexpected way. As a BPharm student in IMU, I was mostly exposed to clinical and community settings, and did not know much about the industrial or corporate sector.
“The first month of the internship was challenging, as I was new to guidelines set by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency to regulate the registration of health supplements and so on. Education and training involved more data entry and communication skills, as I got to perform bone density tests for the public in retail pharmacies and reply to enquiries on various supplements.”
IMU’s Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) students have the option to transfer credits in their first two years’ curriculum to the pharmacy programme at the University of Otago, New Zealand, or University of Tasmania, Australia. These international partnerships are a clear testament to the alignment of IMU’s innovative education to global standards. Students can also opt to complete the entire fouryear pharmacy degree in IMU.
Commencement for the Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) programme is in July and September. Those keen on a diverse career involving the safe and effective use of medicines can apply online today.
Those who have just completed SPM and do not have preuniversity qualification may consider enrolling in the oneyear IMU Foundation in Science, the direct route for entry into any of the university’s degree programmes.