Course of Study at the Four-year Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

First-year students study at the Hiyoshi Campus, while second-year students and above study at the Shiba-Kyoritsu Campus. Starting in fall of the third year, students are assigned to laboratories and begin their graduation research, dedicating themselves to research activities and practically honing their problem-finding and problem-solving skills as scientists.

In the first year, students focus on core areas of pharmacy, including physical and analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, and life sciences. Pharmacy is a comprehensive science requiring the study of a wide range of fields, including the chemical structure that determines drug properties, analytical methods for examining drug content, and the organs and cellular functions upon which drugs act. From the fall semester onward, students will engage themselves continuously not only in lectures but also in practical sessions involving experiments and observations.

They will also learn together with students from other undergraduate faculties.

In the fall semester of the second year, learning expands to cover knowledge closely connected with drugs, such as of pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, pathophysiology of diseases, effects of medications used, dosage calculations and drug formulations. Students also take courses concerning the environment, public health and food and nutrition.

From the fall semester of the third year the focus is on graduation research in laboratories. The period of graduation research in the faculty is around one-and-a-half years, during which students try to find solutions to research questions together with their academic advisors, with the aim of developing their creativity. As places for their research activities, students can choose not only laboratories and centers in the faculty but also affiliated organizations within and outside Keio. In parallel with their graduation research, students select elective courses from a wide range of pharmaceutical-related courses - such as pharmaceutical statistics, drug informatics, pharmaceutical manufacturing chemistry and pharmacy of natural products - based on their specialization, interests and career paths.

In the fourth year, students are also able to take graduate school-level courses in advance. At the end of the fourth year, students write an undergraduate thesis and present their research at a presentation session. This serves as an interim presentation for students going on to graduate school. The faculty has established its own system for supporting presentations at international academic conferences, and there are increasing instances of these presentations being recognized as outstanding research and the student receiving an award before returning to Japan.

After going on to the Graduate School Master’s Program, you will devote even more time and effort to your research project. A doctoral degree will serve as your passport to playing a leading role in the increasingly globalized fields of pharmaceutical research and development and life sciences. Therefore, we strongly recommend that students go on to the doctoral program after completing the master’s program.