Everything you need to know about the OSPAP

What is the OSPAP?

The OSPAP is a recognised qualification for:

• Qualified pharmacists outside the European Economic Area (EEA)
• Holders of an EEA pharmacist qualification that isn't a UK-recognised pharmacist qualification.

You must complete the OSPAP postgraduate diploma (PgDip)(opens in new tab) to become a registered pharmacist in the UK.

The course content reflects the accreditation requirements of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).(opens in new tab) GPhC accredit both our OSPAP and our Pharmacy (MPharm)(opens in new tab) courses.

Entry requirements

You must pass the GPhC adjudication process before you begin your application with us.

This involves the GPhC assessing your qualifications and English language skills. For example, your International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score. You must contact the GPhC directly if you experience any issues with the adjudication process as the University can't help with this.

When you apply to the GPhC, they'll then send your form to the institutions that offer the course for further assessment. Your application with us will be put on hold, and we'll invite you to an interview once we've received your adjudication letter.

As part of your application, we'll ask you for a copy of your GPhC approved adjudication letter and proof of English language proficiency (this could be your IELTS score). When you've received an offer, this will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check – we'll send you the documentation for this.

Please note, you can only complete a DBS check if you've been living in the UK for more than three months. If you haven’t, don’t worry – we can also accept a letter of good standing from the police in your home country. Please contact us if you wish to discuss any of these requirements.

Interview

All offers are subject to interview and interviews will take place on set dates and are only available on those dates. Check out our OSPAP interview guide for more information.(opens in new tab)

Course structure

This is a full-time course, and teaching on the OSPAP takes place on campus Monday to Friday. You’ll learn through a wide variety of teaching and learning methods which include:

• Lectures
• Seminars
• Simulated pharmacy sessions
• Clinical skills
• Simulations in the University’s mock hospital wards.

Teaching will also include opportunities to collaborate with students from other healthcare disciplines. (such as medicine, nursing, and occupational therapy) in an interprofessional learning capacity.

As well as on-campus learning, you'll undertake placements throughout the course. You'll experience placements and on campus simulation in hospital pharmacies, in the community, GP surgeries, and in primary and secondary care. Your placements are an excellent way to discover what kind of pharmacist you want to be and where you want your career path to take you.

Foundation training

After completing the OSPAP, you'll move onto the next stage of your training process by progressing onto a foundation training year. All OSPAP and MPharm graduates must complete this year successfully to register and practise as a pharmacist in the UK.

Be aware that your foundation training place must be arranged before you even begin the OSPAP, so organisation is key!

All students who apply for a foundation training year must sit a numeracy test and situational judgement test (SJT) that takes place through Oriel(opens in new tab). Applications for the foundation training year close in June and tests take place in September. We send out foundation training offers in November.

Sound complicated? To give you a better idea of how it all works, let’s assume you've applied to start the OSPAP course in September 2027.

• You'd complete the course and therefore start your foundation training application in June 2027
• If you were successful, you'd be invited to Oriel assessment tests in September 2027 (around the same time you'd start the OSPAP)
• From there, if you pass Oriel’s assessment process, you will receive your foundation training offer in November 2027.

You may be wondering how you can find your foundation training placement, and if there's any support available. The GPhC has links to approved training sites and other great resources on their website. While Health Education England operates a national recruitment scheme for all foundation placements(opens in new tab).

We have a strong track record of training pharmacy students, and our former students continually perform well in the GPhC registration assessment.

Employment

Our graduates go on to work as pharmacists in a wide variety of settings, including hospital pharmacies, community pharmacies, and in primary and secondary care. Some graduates choose to stay in academia, either going into research or teaching.

We’re often asked what job opportunities are available after completing the OSPAP course and what the odds are of getting a job as a pharmacist. The answer to that is that the odds are quite high! There are plenty of jobs available – your employability all comes down to how much effort you put into your work and how well you do during your interview for a foundation training place.

You get out of university what you put into it, so if you're committed and hardworking, you'll succeed. Remember, this is a full-time course, and you must attend – it’s not distance learning! Our OSPAP course is GPhC accredited and therefore, attendance is a requirement of our accreditation.

Further information

We’re a well-established pharmacy school, having taught pharmacy for over 100 years, so we have lots of experience and knowledge to pass on to you. We have an open-door policy, which means we’re always happy to help you when you need support – whether that be academic or personal.

If you have any questions about the OSPAP course, please contact programme leader, Deanne Marshall.