Abstract: The European Union directive on sectoral professions emphasizes the fact that pharmacists working in member states should possess the competences required for their professional practice; the directive does not, however, describe such competences in detail. The “Quality Assurance in European Pharmacy Education and Training—PHAR-QA” consortium, funded by the European Union, will define such competences and establish a quality assurance system based on them. This will facilitate the tuning of the pharmacy education and training required to produce competent pharmacists in the different member states. PHAR-QA will (1) establish a network of participating pharmacy departments, (2) survey existing quality assurance systems used, and (3) develop competences through iterative interaction with partners. The European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy will use the harmonized competences produced as a basis for the creation of a quality assurance agency for European pharmacy education and training. PHAR-QA will impact on staff and students of European departments; the final stake-holder will be the European patient who will benefit from better pharmaceutical services and better medications.

Abstract: Pharmacy (ISSN 2226-4787) — A journal of pharmacy education and practice is an international scientific open access journal on pharmacy education and practice, and is published by MDPI online quarterly. The practice of pharmacy is changing at an unprecedented rate as the profession moves from a focus upon preparation and supply of medicines to a clinical patient-facing role. While an understanding of the science related to medicines remains core to pharmacy education, the changes in practice are driving changes to the traditional methods of pharmacy education. This is reflected at an international level by major changes in the educational standards set by statutory regulators and by policy statements from bodies such as the World Health Organisation. These changes reflect an increasing trend to look at educational policy at a supra-national level, typified by the “Pharmine Project” led by the Association of European Faculties of Pharmacy.