The Faculty of Pharmacy at Beirut Arab University was established in 1986 in Beirut. The undergraduate program at the Faculty of Pharmacy started with six academic departments and progressed to include four academic departments: Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Technology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and Pharmacy Practice.
The Faculty of Pharmacy has observed considerable growth in the number of its students that has increased from 115 in 1991 to 475 in the academic year 2014-2015. The main objective of the Faculty is to prepare competent pharmacists for career opportunities in different Pharmacy domains and to promote their role as healthcare providers, in the framework of BAU’s code of ethics.
Since its establishment, the Faculty has adopted the extended academic year system, and in 1999, it implemented the two academic terms scheme. In 2002, the Faculty updated its academic programs to obey the rules and regulations of the Credit Hour System. In 2002, the Faculty expanded its curricula to incorporate postgraduate programs including Master and PhD Degrees in addition to a two-year PharmD program.
The implementation of the “Experiential Training” Program for Pharmacy students was achieved in the academic year 2009-2010, and it became an integral part of the curriculum aiming to allow students acquire the required skills and competencies under effective supervision from the Faculty.
In the same academic year 2009-2010, and in response to a societal need, a one-year PharmD program was established. At the same time, Pharmacotherapeutics I-VI were added, gradually, to enable Faculty graduates to enroll in the PharmD program without conditions.
In the year 2011-2012, Pharmacotherapeutics I-VI became core courses, and two Faculty elective courses, Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management and Communication Skills For Health Professionals, were added to the curriculum.
Moreover, the Faculty established a Pharmaceutical Continuing Education Program which includes short courses, seminars and presentations in the various Pharmaceutical fields that offer graduates and the community a venue for maintaining up-to-date knowledge.
In May 2012, the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP) conducted a pre-accreditation site visit to the Faculty of Pharmacy for evaluation of the undergraduate educational Program at BAU. In the same year and based on the CCAPP final report, the Faculty of Pharmacy started to design a new curriculum to adjust the pharmaceutical sciences and introduce more clinical courses. The Faculty also established a pharmacy practice department PPD to offer courses specifically designed to achieve the Canadian professional competencies for pharmacists at entry-to-practice. The courses offered at early levels like Professional Communication Skills, Pharmacy Practice Management, Pharmacy Practice I and Pharmaceutical calculations serve as a solid foundation for the subsequent courses offered at higher levels.
The Pharmacy practice courses are interspersed in the Faculty curriculum in concordance with other relevant courses including Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Pharmaceutics, to achieve optimal learning outcomes. Moreover, a series of Integrated Case-Based Learning ICBL courses in addition to an Inter-Professional Education IPE course were included to promote pharmaceutical care practice as well as inter-professional collaborative patient-centered practice.
In October 2014, CCAPP has conducted its second site visit to the Faculty of Pharmacy for the accreditation of the Pharmacy Program. In the same academic year and based on the site-visit report, the Faculty of Pharmacy started to improve the curricular contents and design and further increase the percentage of clinical part of the curriculum. A great effort was made to vertically and horizontally integrate the courses to facilitate the curricular delivery. Moreover, OSCE was applied for the first time for the Fifth level students as a tool to measure the expected acquired competencies.
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