Introduction

The aim of the Global Workforce and Education Cluster is primarily to host the UCL School of Pharmacy - FIP Collaborating Centre. The Cluster acts as a conduit for international expertise in workforce development in active partnership with other agencies such as the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and member associations of FIP and other stakeholders.

This focus of excellence collates workforce data, provides evaluation, research and advice on policy issues relating to the future of pharmacy and the pharmaceutical workforce and ensures healthcare workforce contributions to global health improvement and medicines expertise.

The research cluster and the Collaborating Centre provide a framework for partnership with FIP and other international stakeholders in order to generate and disseminate relevant findings to target audiences. The latter includes national and international policy makers, UN organisations, pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists and other health professionals, media commentators and other policy influencers, and wider populations.  

Strategic aim: The overall strategic aim of the Global Workforce and Education Cluster is to provide a conduit for medicines expertise training, educational research, workforce capacity building, innovation and development in collaboration with key external stakeholders. The principal aims are:

• To develop pharmacy and pharmacy-related education and workforce policy at a global level;
• To develop networks with other institutions with the aim of building the competence and capacity of individual practitioners, institutions and country workforce cadres to advance developments through projects, advice, and training;
• Strengthen evidence based approaches to pharmacy and pharmacy-related education and workforce policy;
• To form working partnerships with organisations (UNESCO, WHO, OECD etc), donors, foundations and industry aimed at supporting pharmacy development, innovation, safe and equitable population access to, and rational use of, medicines;
• To act as an interface between global academic research outcomes and policy implementation through FIP, by enabling engagement of the research, practitioner and political sectors.

Current principal activities, research and evaluation includes projects in the following areas:

• Producing annual technical reports on the global workforce and pharmacy education for publication and dissemination through FIP and partner organisations.
• Providing leadership through the FIP Education Initiative (FIPEd) for global educational development activities and strategic actions.
• Hosting and directing the Global Pharmacy Workforce Observatory in collaboration with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
• Providing editorial leadership for publication and dissemination of global education research through the journal Pharmacy Education
• Providing global leadership and actions on workforce development frameworks and associated evidence.
• Hosting the FIP-UNESCO joint global network on pharmacy education development.

The Global Workforce and Education Cluster is oriented to have an externally facing perspective. Our main partners are professional leadership bodies, global organisations and the United Nations organisations and hence much of our work is directed externally from the UCL School whilst providing a focus for global leadership in the area of workforce and education.

Evaluation, Research settings and collaboration: The Global Workforce and Education Cluster has activities and projects in several countries. We retrieve and analyse data from national organisations and we have direct contact with over 110 nations who routinely provide data for our workforce Observatory. We have a particular focus in African nations and run the country case studies project spanning activities in Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, Namibia, Nigeria and other nations. We are developing a further workforce and education focus with the Gulf Nations in addition to Southeast Asia and China. We have a formal partnership with UNESCO and via FIP with WHO. Our outreach and communications reaches over 127 member nations of FIP and more than 3 million pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists worldwide.

Cluster members:

UCL SoP Directors: Prof Ian Bates (FIPEd Director of the Development Team), Dr Andreia Bruno (FIPEd Project Coordinator and Researcher), Professor David Taylor, Professor Felicity Smith

International contributing members and Joint Project Leads:

• Prof Claire Anderson, School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, UK
• Mrs Kristie Galbraith, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Australia
• Dr Toyin Tofade, University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy, USA
• Mr Mike Rouse, Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, USA
• Dr Timothy Rennie, School of Pharmacy, University of Namibia, Namibia
• Prof Tina Brock, University of California, San Francisco, USA
• Mrs Jill Boone, The James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati, USA
• Mrs Susan James, Ontario College of Pharmacists, Canada
• Dr Jennifer Marriott, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Australia
• Prof Mahama Duwiejua, National Council for Tertiary Education, Ghana
• Prof Cyril Usifoh, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Nigeria
• Prof Richard Adome, School of Health Sciences, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Uganda
• Dr Lungwani Muungo, University of Zambia, School of Medicine, Zambia