A good collaboration pushes the
boundaries of both partners. – Neil Blumenthal
The area of internationalisation of the curriculum is a major thrust within higher education in pharmacy courses globally. In line with MAHSA’s Internship, Placement and Employability (IPE) initiative, Faculty of Pharmacy and Institut Ilmu Kesehatan (IIK) Bhakti Wiyata, Indonesia agreed for a close International Academic Collaboration. Through this initiative, six IIK students joined the online classes for seven courses of the BPharm (Hons) programme. The courses included Dosage Form Design III (Liquids and Semi Solids), Dosage Form Design V (Novel Drug Delivery System), Clinical Pharmacy I and Pharmacy Practice IV.
To extend this collaboration to Research, several IIK students attended and presented their research findings at MAHSA International Pharmacy Conference 2021 (Mi-PHARM 2021). One of the key elements to the Mi-PHARM 2021 success is having the knowledgeable speaker from IIK. She was APT. LIA AUGUSTINE who delivered a very informative plenary talk titled “Recent Developments on Protein Based Cosmetics.” She highlighted the advancements and benefits of protein materials for skin-based drug delivery applications. She helped make the conference it memorable to our audience.
The students and staff members shared international experiences in ways that help their growth in understanding of themselves as global citizens as much as appreciating foreign cultures and practices. Overall, IIK and the MAHSA Faculty of Pharmacy considered the collaboration a fruitful one and wished to continue with this collaboration further in the future.