Strategic plan 2008-2012

On 1 January 2007, The Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences merged with the University of Copenhagen, with a new, sharper industry focus, to become the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (PHARMA). Located on the North Campus of the University of Copenhagen, the Faculty is situated near leading research environments in the natural, health and biological sciences. This key position in the Øresund Region affords ready access to one of the world’s biggest growth centres in medicine and biotechnology.  

Drugs are the hub of all research and teaching at the Faculty. Poised at the academic interface between the natural and health sciences, PHARMA is a main player in Health and Life Science at the University of Copenhagen.

PHARMA conducts research and teaches in areas unique in Denmark. The Faculty’s considerable academic scope extends from basic to targeted applied research, with some of our research inspired by the neighbouring scientific community. We bring this strength to our cooperation with the other faculties at the University of Copenhagen, thus making a constructive contribution to realising the University’s strategic plan Destination 2012.

As a small faculty, we can quickly adapt and promote the integration of research areas throughout the University. We have excellent opportunities to expand the ongoing cooperation on health science, natural science and biological subjects with faculties in the Health and Life Science cluster together with the Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC).

At present PHARMA has 1,300 bachelor and master students, 130 PhD students and 140 students following the part-time master’s programme or attending as guest students.  The staff number about 350, about half of them academic staff. The Faculty staff are divided among three departments, the library and administration.

PHARMA’s most important contribution to society is conducting research on a high international level as well as educating highly qualified graduates and researchers in the pharmaceuticals field. Graduates from PHARMA typically find jobs in pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries, pharmacies, hospitals and other public institutions in the healthcare sector. We are therefore under a heavy obligation to follow technical developments in the sector in which our graduates find jobs, in order to support these focus areas for the benefit of Danish society.

PHARMA is the only institution in Denmark that educates pharmacists. Pharmacists and other PHARMA graduates, the largest single group of academics employed in research and development in the pharmaceutical industry, are in high demand. Therefore it is vital that we supply enough graduates to the pharmaceutical job market and that our graduates are considered highly qualified. PHARMA has established an Advisory Board to discuss and develop strategies and action plans for the Faculty with the future employers of our graduates and external partners.

We have special focus on PhD programmes, and our PhD students make a considerable contribution to the Faculty’s research results. We often team up with external actors for our PhD programmes, and the Faculty houses the Drug Research Academy (DRA), an industry-targeted research training programme.

PHARMA faces several core challenges in connection with realising the University of Copenhagen’s strategic goals for research quality, teaching quality and position as an attractive workplace. In response, we have drawn up nine strategic statements about the future development of the University and the Faculty:

”Research is the energy that drives a basic research university forward. Conducting high-quality free research is a prerequisite for educating students at the highest level, disseminating knowledge and commercialising research results,” states the University of Copenhagen in its strategic plan Destination 2012.

PHARMA conducts research and provides education at the highest international level, and is the only Faculty in Denmark whose research and teaching concentrates on drugs. Since research in the drug arena is interdisciplinary by nature, several disciplines must be combined to achieve in-depth understanding of development in the area. Therefore research and teaching at PHARMA are conducted in the challenging interface between natural and health sciences and technology, with the further incorporation of social science and the humanities.

While safeguarding its independence and freedom of research, the Faculty also maintains a distinct industrial focus.  We engage in close dialogue and teamwork with the institutions and industries who employ our graduates, as well as with partners in university and corporate research environments.

PHARMA’s goal is to create new knowledge about the development, effect and application of drugs as well as to promote the rational and relevant use of existing and new drugs. Therefore drugs are the hub of all research at PHARMA within six defined core areas:

• Drug delivery
• Drug-oriented analytical chemistry
• Drug technology
• Medicinal chemistry – structure-based drug research
• Neuropharmacology
• Optimal drug therapy

PHARMA’s research must continue to be known for its high degree of interdisciplinary cooperation in the priority areas of chemistry, pharmacology and pharmacy.

Strong research environments attract scientists and students who are highly qualified, ambitious and full of initiative. Therefore PHARMA must be a well-functioning workplace known for openness to the world beyond its portals.

We must safeguard our academic research freedom, credibility and scientific independence within the framework of the departments’ strategic research priorities. We will use external assessment, among other means, to ensure quality research. Research areas must also achieve critical mass, another objective of our active and targeted research strategy that also takes into account the interests of future generations of scientists.  

To minimise the burden of administration, researchers must be supported by an up-to-date and differentiated library/information service and efficient administrative and support staff.
Research must primarily be planned on the initiative of the individual scientists/research groups, that is, according to the bottom-up principle. In planning and allocating resources, the Faculty will promote research environments of particularly high research quality.  

It is important for research areas to be fully covered by professorships. Professors must head all of PHARMA’s core areas, and the proportion of professors must be at least 20% of the Faculty’s permanent academic staff.  
To further strengthen our core areas – and maintain quality in future – the Faculty will offer attractive research conditions to highly qualified young scientists, for example, through so-called ‘MSO’ professorships with responsibility for special projects.  
Career development for female researchers is another key focus area.

‘Hothouse’ projects are innovative research projects whose element of academic risk-taking is intended to ensure the future of front-line research at PHARMA. Along with the strategic allocation of PhD scholarships, hothouse projects are tools in our continued quest for excellence in research environments. They are also another way for us to provide opportunities for promising research activities in what we have defined as core areas. A good example of this kind of innovation is the visionary establishment of a professorship in chemical biology in cooperation with the Danish pharmaceutical company H. Lundbeck A/S in 2006.

Scientists in PHARMA’s three departments are encouraged to invite external financial funding from the EU and interested foundations as well as globalisation funds.

‘The best in the world go where the best already are  – where facilities are first rate and the chances of obtaining financing are greatest,” states the University of Copenhagen in its strategic plan Destination 2012.

Here at PHARMA we are cognizant of the global reality and where the world is heading. The Faculty participates in major international applications for research funding – and we strive to attract scientists from international research environments to participate in strategic research areas of high international quality. In addition, we will work to increase the opportunities for academic staff at PHARMA to conduct research at well-reputed foreign research institutions.  

We urge Faculty researchers to gain international experience, for example, as reviewers and members of editorial boards of international journals. In addition, the Faculty wants to host symposia and conferences with broad international participation every year.

In the area of research training, we cooperate with leading international pharmaceutical environments through the ULLA network (European University Consortium for Pharmaceutical Research), as well as GPEN (Globalisation of Pharmaceutics Education Network) and EUFEPS (European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences).

‘We have a strategic interest in close interaction with strong private and public companies,’ states the University of Copenhagen in its strategic plan Destination 2012.

PHARMA’s staff have traditionally cooperated closely with the private and public pharmaceutical and biotech companies that employ the Faculty’s graduates. The Faculty wants to ensure effective knowledge exchange with primary partners in society and will continue to be an active player in creating knowledge networks between institutions.

PHARMA will bolster innovation and interaction with industry through activities that heighten student and staff awareness of the Faculty’s societal obligations in the area.

The Faculty has three departments: Department of Pharmacy and Analytical Chemistry, Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy and Department of Medicinal Chemistry. They have a long tradition of cooperation among themselves as well as with the University’s other departments.

Fertile inter-departmental cooperation is an internal and external asset for the Faculty, and we intend to maintain and expand cooperation in the years ahead.  
A good example of inter-departmental project collaboration is the current neurophysiological research, which aims to identify new points of attack for drugs in order to promote the development of new drug candidates. This requires the close integration of medicinal chemistry, structural biology and molecular pharmacology with research in molecular, cellular and in vivo pharmacology.

‘Ensuring that we can make a targeted contribution to the development of the knowledge society while strengthening our programme quality' is one of the goals in the University of Copenhagen’s strategic plan Destination 2012.
 
PHARMA educates pharmacists and other graduates with drug expertise that meets society’s preferences and prerequisites. Teaching quality must continue at least on the level of the best pharmaceutical institutions in the world.

In recent years the Faculty has increased the number of students and available places. In an effort to meet the demands for adaptability, we have renewed our programmes, always in fertile dialogue with the future employers of our graduates: the pharmaceutical industry, pharmacy service, hospitals and regulatory bodies. The work to expand and renew the Faculty’s programmes will continue at the pace allowed by the number of available places and the financial platform. Notable synergies are being generated in the educational arena in cooperation with the University of Copenhagen’s other faculties, particularly those in the Health and Life Science cluster, by establishing a so-called ‘inner market for education’, for example.

We will dramatically increase the number of students accepted for PhD programmes, assuming that the government’s allocations and external funding provide the right financial framework. PHARMA houses the Drug Research Academy (DRA), an industry-targeted research training programme, which can become part of an impending international Medicines Research Academy with the same aim.  
PHARMA is also internationally competitive as regards lifelong learning in pharmaceutical fields, and this positive development will continue in the years ahead.  
 

PHARMA strives to implement an active language policy to create a more international study environment. Our goal is to offer elective courses and entire graduate programmes in English to attract students from foreign universities.  
Our English-language master’s programmes (Master of Industrial Drug Development and Master of Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs) contribute significantly to internationalising the teaching milieu, and we intend to raise the number of course participants.  

PHARMA has created a healthy tradition of improving programme quality through close dialogue between students, teachers, the Study Board and the future employers of our graduates. By incorporating quality assurance and quality development, we put heavy emphasis on development and what most benefits our programmes, teaching and students.
We make targeted efforts to ensure a high educational level in the teaching itself and the academic staff who provide it. The result of our cooperation with groups focusing on similar initiatives at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Copenhagen is a didactic unit with responsibility for educational development at PHARMA.

‘Our professional and active dissemination of knowledge to the outside world has become a crucial competitive parameter’ states the University of Copenhagen in its strategic plan Destination 2012.

Targeted communication to a broad public is essential for PHARMA. We make a genuine effort to create optimal frameworks to help us meet our communication objectives while fulfilling our other obligations.

The Faculty will actively continue to clarify and communicate the elements of our research that might have relevance for groups outside the scientific community. At the same time we make knowledge available to journalists, the media and other representatives of the public interest. The obligation to inform is part of the work of the departments, and the Faculty places professional communication competencies at their disposal.  

PHARMA will develop and expand the number of external activities and popular science publications, as well as using the Internet to generally publicise the Faculty’s good ideas. We communicate with the outside world and see it as an important mission to encourage coming generations to develop an interest in drug research. Giving presentations to upper secondary schools and the oldest pupils in lower secondary schools is a top priority for the Faculty. 

‘Increasing our attraction value as a workplace for Danish and foreign employees’ is one of the goals in the University of Copenhagen’s strategic plan Destination 2012.

The culture and values that characterise PHARMA are professionalism, credibility, innovation, trust and a sense of overall responsibility. Cooperation within the Faculty is known for its short chain of command from employee to top management. We cultivate constructive dialogue, and communication between management and student representatives is especially good.

Employees are a crucial resource for the Faculty. In order to attract and retain highly qualified employees in stiff competition with trade and industry, nationally and internationally, the Faculty must be an attractive workplace with challenging projects and a good working environment. It must offer employees competitive employment terms, a well-functioning management and a good social milieu, as well as ample opportunity for skills development that can set the individual employee on an attractive career path. Thus the Faculty spotlights human resources policy and systematic management development.  
    
The Faculty accords high priority to the study environment, an essential condition for the highest possible number of our students to able to complete their education in a stimulating learning milieu and good physical surroundings. More initiatives to improve the study environment for the University of Copenhagen’s students on the North Campus support this goal.

We will undertake the considerable task of improving the infrastructure by providing laboratories, classrooms and support functions that can accommodate the host of new research and teaching initiatives.