The subjects taken consist of general subjects and special subjects. From the 1st year, special subjects are offered concurrently with general subjects, enabling graduates of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences to learn a wide range of required knowledge.

The special subjects taken in each year are shown in the appendix. Subjects taken in the 1st and 2nd years are the same for the 4-year Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences course and the 6-year Department of Pharmacy course. The courses mainly cover the special subjects that form the foundation of pharmacology. The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences is located on the same campus as two other medical faculties, the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing. This enables students to learn the basic communication skills to understand patients and users that are required for team medicine. Team medicine lectures are held from the 1st year onwards for all three faculties, with the aim of fostering a spirit of respect between the various specialists engaged in healthcare. Practical training is carried out from the second semester of the 2nd year to the 3rd year, when students acquire basic experimental techniques. In addition, in the 1st and 2nd years, students study universal education subjects such as foreign languages and information processing which are offered across the university as a whole.

The subjects covered on the 4-year and 6-year courses diverge from the 3rd year. Students who have advanced to the 4-year program of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences take intensive specialist subjects related to life science and pharmaceutical sciences in order to develop their basic scholastic ability and adaptability, to enable them to function as researchers and educators in future. In addition to this classroom learning, students are affiliated with a specific laboratory (see page 14) from the latter half of the second semester of 3rd year to the end of the 4th year, where they pursue special training in the form of research towards their Bachelor’s Thesis. Students who will advance to the graduate school master’s course after completing undergraduate school take the entrance examination for graduate school around the summer of the 4th year.

On the 6-year program of the Department of Pharmacy, students cover the specialist subjects required for pharmacists and specialists engaged in the clinical development of medicines. From the latter half of the 3rd year second semester, students pursue special training in small groups in their respective laboratories. From the 4th year second semester, students undertake advance practical training to acquire the skills and knowledge required for practical training. They also take the Common Achievement Test. In the 5th year, students take practical training at a hospital and pharmacy. The practical training undertaken at Chiba University Hospital follows the standard national core curriculum. In addition, students leave the Department of Pharmacy and visit the bedsides of hospitalized patients, learning holistically about treatment policies and progress, changes in the patient’s physical and mental state and so on. We also provide a foundation in team medicine through extensive interaction with students from the School of Medicine who are training at the same time. In the practical training at a pharmacy, students leave the university and get a practical training at pharmacies in Chiba City. Since this practical training lasts a long two and a half months, the university has established an internet system that enables students, university academic staff and the instructing pharmacist to monitor the progress and achievement of students and any problems they may be having with their training. The students, university and institutions where practical training takes place cooperate to ensure effective training. In the second semester of the 6th year, students take Advanced Practice in Clinical Pharmacy in order to take the national examination for pharmacists.

Pharmacology spans many specialist fields, enabling students to pursue a field that suits their aptitude from among numerous options. After graduation, students take a wide range of jobs at pharmaceutical companies, medical institutions, universities and research institutions, health services and so on.