Two Years On: How the Core Curriculum has Shaped Pharmacology Courses at the University of Aberdeen

The British Pharmacological Society’s core curriculum for undergraduate pharmacology programmes provides a quality assurance tool for higher education institutions in terms of the critical areas that are central to any undergraduate degree in pharmacology. The guidelines enable institutions to reflect on the current content of their course programmes, identifying and celebrating areas of strength and most importantly, recognising areas for improvement, towards which resources and development efforts can be directed. Since its launch in 2016, the core curriculum has been well publicised and frequently used as a design tool for new pharmacology programmes. This article uses the University of Aberdeen as a case study to reflect on how the core curriculum can be used to evaluate current pharmacology course programmes.