UM Bandung Pharmacy Programme Equips Students with Professional Competence and Ethics

Amid the increasing demand for professional healthcare workers in Indonesia, the Pharmacy programme at Universitas Muhammadiyah (UM) Bandung is becoming an increasingly popular choice for prospective students. The programme attracts applicants from various regions because it offers competency-oriented learning and wide-ranging career prospects. UM Bandung, established in 2016, has shown significant development over the past decade. The campus now has five faculties, 18 undergraduate programmes, two master’s programmes, and a Pharmacist Professional Education Programme, achieving ‘Baik Sekali’ accreditation from BAN-PT in 2024. Mutiara Imansari, Head of the Pharmacy Programme at UM Bandung, stated that the programme is open to graduates of science-track senior high schools or Islamic senior high schools, as well as vocational school graduates in pharmacy and other health fields. She explained that students study various branches of pharmaceutical science, from pharmaceutical chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and pharmacology to pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical technology, and clinical and community pharmacy. ‘Students learn how drugs are discovered, formulated, produced, distributed, and used effectively, safely, and rationally by patients. The ultimate goal is to ensure that medicines truly provide benefits to society,’ Mutiara said at the UM Bandung campus on Wednesday. She explained that pharmacy graduates have career opportunities in various health sectors. Besides becoming pharmacists and pharmaceutical staff in hospitals or pharmacies, graduates can also work in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food industries, laboratories, research institutions, government agencies such as BPOM and the Ministry of Health, or become academics and entrepreneurs. According to Mutiara, one of the strengths of the UM Bandung Pharmacy programme lies in its competency-based curriculum supported by modern laboratory facilities and experienced lecturers. The learning process is also integrated with Al-Islam and Kemuhammadiyahan values, so that students are equipped with professional competence as well as character and professional ethics. This experience was felt by Surya Khairul Rizky, a 2023 Pharmacy student, who assessed that the supportive learning environment makes the intensive lecture schedule easier to manage.