- DTU was the first to offer a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree program in Danang, and between 2017 and 2021, has graduated students from four linked High Diploma to Bachelor courses and three Associate to Bachelor courses, who now work in several local medical facilities and pharmacies 

- DTU is still the only institution in Danang to offer Pharmacy studies up to the PhD level

- DTU employs a team of highly experienced lecturers

- DTU facilities include ample, modern laboratories and a diverse medicinal garden

 

Lecturers, Associate Professors Nguyen Thi Bich Thu and Nguyen Thi Thai Hang, and PGS Ha Van Thanh, from left to right

 

A team of highly experienced lecturers

 

In the nine years since it started offering a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree program, DTU has accumulated a team of 80 lecturers and other staff, and 70% of them hold postgraduate degrees. Students are taught by 5 associate professors with PhDs, 7 PhDs, 1 postgraduate senior pharmacist and by other research students, masters, postgraduate junior pharmacists, and postgraduate students studying in Vietnam and abroad. They all have many years of experience working at pharmaceutical companies and in hospitals.

 

Many of them are well-known in Vietnam. For example, Associate Professor Thu and her colleagues have been awarded a Ho Chi Minh prize for their project “Research on Artemisinin, extracted from sweet Vietnamese wormwood and converted into stronger active derivatives to treat drug-resistant malaria”. She is currently Dean of the DTU Faculty of Pharmacy, with a mission to educate DTU staff, lecturers and students to a higher level. Another example is Associate Professor Hang, Senior Consultant of Pharmacy, with experience in education and pharmacy management. She has also edited specialized books published nationally, covering additional practical work related to Pharmacy.

 

With their in-depth knowledge and dedication to education, the Pharmacy lecturers have developed an excellent curriculum, tailored exactly to their student needs. Several years ago, the university collaborated to share internationally recognized, advanced courses with two major medical universities in the US:

 

- The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC): with the most comprehensive medical education programs in the US

- The University of Pittsburgh (UPitt): one of the top medical research schools, ranked 13th in Pharmacy, 14th in Medicine and 6th in Nursing

 

DTU Pharmacy students benefit from the latest, advanced teaching methods:

 

- PBL (Problem/Project-Based Learning)

- EBL (Evidence-Based Learning): a proactive teaching method used in science and medical education worldwide.

 

These methods allow students to rapidly acquire specialized knowledge and skills and the opportunity to gain more practical and professional experience at the same time. DTU also added a Master of Pharmacology Management degree program in December 2018. The first of the four classes has already graduated and DTU is the only university in Danang to offer this post-graduate major.

 

Block C, exclusively reserved for state-of-the-art laboratories, lectures and research

 

Very few Vietnamese universities have invested as heavily in education facilities as DTU. Starting in their first year, Bachelor of Pharmacy students practice in basic laboratories. When they begin studying their minors, they can study and do research at all times in more advanced laboratories to learn more about pharmacology, processing, the pharmaceutical industry, medicinal materials, traditional medicine, testing and so on.

 

DTU students practice in a lab and the medicinal garden

 

The impressive pharmacy equipment has mostly been imported from abroad and only qualified students are allowed to use it. It includes a rotary tablet press, a capsule-filling machine, a multi-function preparation kit (for preparing tablets, ointments and so on), a film coating machine, a solubility tester, a UV-Vis spectrophotometer, essential oil distillation equipment, vacuum rotary evaporators and more.

 

The medicinal garden on the Hoa Khanh Nam campus contains the precious essential herbal medicines approved by the Ministry of Health, protected for research and medicine production, for future technology transfer to pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and traditional medicine institutions, primarily in Danang and Quang Nam province.

 

Practice real-time in the two university pharmacies

 

The two DTU pharmacies are officially authorized with Good Pharmacy Practice and Pharmacy Business Eligibility certificates, issued by the Ministry of Health. Compared to normal pharmacies, the university guarantees responsibility for advice given to customers and the safety and quality of the medicines dispensed by the specialists.

 

The university pharmacies provide students with the best way to gain practical experience

 

At the pharmacies, students can learn their profession and how to provide guidance to customers. They learn the different drug groups, which compartments the prescription and over-the-counter drugs are stored in and how they must be used case-by-case. At the same time, they learn how to manage a pharmacy, and constantly update their knowledge of pharmacology. They can also train in 18 hospitals, including:

 

- The Hue Central Hospital, DTU’s official partner for hospital practice

- The Danang Hospital

- The Danang C Hospital

- The Military Hospital 17

- The Ministry of Public Security Hospital 199

 

The Hue Central Hospital is the main training and practice institution for DTU Health Sciences students, while the Danang C Hospital is dedicated to DTU Pharmacy students.

 

(Media Center)