Rhodes University Faculty of Pharmacy Admission Requirements
Admission requirements
DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF PHARMACY
The BPharm degree is registered on the NQF as a level 8 qualification.
Candidates shall not be admitted to the degree unless they have attended approved courses for at least four years subsequent to their first registration as a matriculated student.
Normally candidates shall not be admitted to the courses for the degree of Bachelor of Pharmacy unless they have:
2.1 obtained either the National Senior Certificate with Bachelor status, or obtained a matric exemption certificate from the Board.
2.2 obtained at least a rating of 6 for Mathematics, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences to receive a firm offer.
2.3 Mathematical Literacy will not be considered.
2.4 if a candidate has 45 points and above they may receive a firm offer, if between 35 and 44 points then admission will be at the Dean’s Discretion. Normally candidates who have 34 points or less are likely to be rejected.
2.5 candidates who have obtained a matric exemption of the Joint Matriculation Board must normally have obtained at least a D symbol in Mathematics, Physical Science and Biology on the Higher Grade.
Candidates shall not be admitted to the degree of BPharm unless they have:
3.1 obtained credit in all courses of the following curriculum: (with the consent of the Board of the Faculty, courses may be taken in years other than those specified);
3.2 candidates who have obtained at least a rating of 5 in Computer Science in the National Senior Certificate or a pass in Computer Science deemed to be the equivalent of the above in another examination, may be permitted to take Computer Science 101 instead of Computer Science 1L;
3.3 obtained credit in electives chosen, with the approval of the Dean of the Faculty, from the electives listed under Rule P.9 or other courses approved by the Senate for this purpose;
4.1.1 Candidates in first year may not take Chemistry 102 or Pharmaceutical Biochemistry 1 if they have not obtained a credit for Chemistry 101, or are awarded a re-write for Chemistry 101.
4.1.2 Candidates who fail the subminimum for Chemistry 101 may be permitted to take Chemistry 1R and will not be able to register for Chemistry 102 or Pharmaceutical Biochemistry 1.
4.1.3 Candidates in first year who fail Cell Biology and are not awarded a re-write may not continue with Pharmacy Anatomy and Physiology 1.
4.1.4 Candidates in first year who fail either Introduction to ICT or Mathematics for Life Sciences with or without the option of a re—write may continue with second semester subjects unless they have also failed Chemistry 101 or Cell Biology without the possibility of a re-write.
4.1.5 Candidates in first year who fail all four first semester subjects will be excluded.
4.2 Normally students repeating second-year courses with a total value exceeding 50 or more credit points will be denied entry into later courses. With the permission of the Dean, candidates carrying 50 or fewer credit points from their second year may be admitted to the appropriate third-year courses.
4.3 Normally students repeating third-year courses with a total value exceeding 60 or more credit points will be denied entry into later courses. With the permission of the Dean, candidates carrying 60 or fewer credit points from their third year may be admitted to the appropriate fourth-year courses.
4.4 Students transferring from other universities may not normally take courses from the second year of the BPharm curriculum unless they have obtained credits in courses deemed to be equivalent to those listed in the first-year BPharm curriculum.
4.5 Normally, candidates will not be permitted to register for any course more than twice.
5.1 Before admission to a course, a candidate must have obtained credit in all prerequisites for that course except as provided for in 5.2 below.
5.2 On the recommendation of the Dean, Senate may permit a candidate to repeat one prerequisite course concurrently with the courses for which it is designated a prerequisite provided that
5.2.1 credit has been obtained in all other prerequisite courses, and that
5.2.2 such permission will not normally be granted in respect of courses which themselves lead to more advanced courses in the same subject area.
5.3 Credit in a course will be conditional on obtaining a pass in its prerequisite courses.
At the Dean’s discretion, candidates may be granted a supplementary examination in one of the courses for which they are registered – other than in the first year of study – provided that:
7.1 they are taking the full complement of courses for that year;
7.2 they have failed no other courses in that year;
7.3 they have no examination outstanding for that year of study.
8.1 Courses in the Faculty of Pharmacy are measured in terms of credit points. Each credit point is based on the notional hours that an average student would require to master the content and develop skills in a subject. In this respect in the BPharm curriculum one credit point is equivalent to 10 notional hours.
8.2 Candidates must have the permission of the Dean to undertake a work-load exceeding 120 credit points in the first and second year, and 135 credit points in the third and fourth years.
8.3 For the purpose of General Rule G.46.2, credit in courses to a total of 360 credit points must be obtained at the University towards the degree.
The degree certificate of a candidate who passes with an average of not less than 3,0 merit marks per credit point in all courses of the second year and subsequent years shall be endorsed “with distinction”.
Merit marks are awarded in respect of each course on the basis of the credit points of the course multiplied by the numerical value of the class as follows:
Class Numerical value
I 4
II (Div.1) 3
II (Div.2) 2
III 1
9.1 All candidates must complete elective courses to the value of 30 credit points to be admitted to the degree.
9.2 All candidates must take two elective courses offered within the Faculty of Pharmacy or a full year course offered by any department in another Faculty that are relevant to Pharmacy and can be accommodated in the BPharm 4 timetable.
9.3 For the purposes of 9.2 an elective course within the Faculty will count 15 credit points and a full year course 30 credit points.
9.4 The elective courses offered within the Faculty of Pharmacy will be dependent on relevance to the Pharmacy profession, staff availability and expertise..
9.5. With the permission of the Dean and subject to the provision of rules P.4 and P.7 candidates may take elective courses in the second and third year of study provided they are courses offered by other departments and can be accommodated into the timetable.
All candidates must complete a research project to the value of 30 credit points to be admitted to the degree
The Calendar for the year in which students enter the first-year programme will govern their curriculum for the BPharm degree.