The first new Pharmacy school in Canada after 20 years..

University of Waterloo is creating a new school of Pharmacy in Downtown Kitchener. The School pf Pharmacy, which is the first new school in Canada in 20 years, will fill the urgent demand for more pharmacists in Ontario. This innovative project is the result of a unique partnership between the City if Kitchener and University of Waterloo.

The first undergraduate class of 120 students started in January 2008. This Baccalaureate in pharmacy program at the School of Pharmacy, has been granted qualifying accreditation Status by the “Canadian council for Accreditation of Pharmacy programs”
At full operation, the school is expected to have 480 undergrads, 70 graduate students, 30 faculty members, and 20 staff. Special feature is that this program is a co-op program: the first in Canada. All students will alternate work terms with academic study, taking their classroom experience to the workforce, and bringing work experience back to class.

On January 9th, 2008, the class was welcomed to the profession with a white Coat ceremony as the white lab coat is symbolic of the tremendous responsibility that pharmacists hold as health care providers. This ceremony marks students’ commitment to ethics and integrity.

Future plans for the school include developing the waterloo Integrated Primary Healthcare Institute, which would feature a full-service family health clinic in the heart of the educational facility.