Characteristics of Pharmacy Educators in Korea

약학 교육 인력 특성 분석

The educational backgrounds and research interests of pharmacy educators in Korea were analyzed to investigate the possibility of migrating the pharmacy education system from basic science-oriented to pharmacy practice-oriented. There are 257 full-time faculty members and 190 part-time members in twenty pharmacy colleges in 1999. Most of the full-time professors are majoring in basic pharmacy areas focused on the drug itself. Thirty nine percent of full-time professors are specialized in the fields of Medicinal Chemistry, $20\%$ in Biochemistry, $19\%$ in Pharmaceutics, and $18\%$ in Pharmacology-Toxicology. Only $4\%$ are related to the Pharmacy Practice Field. When we consider only the educational backgrounds of the educators, $89\%$ of full-time professors are related to the subjects of Korean Pharmacists Licensure Examination. Changes in educator's inclination will lead to the changes in pharmacy education and the contents of the test. There will be at least 38 job-openings due to retirements within next five years, and this will lead to approximately $15\%$ changes of current full time professors in Korean pharmacy education. More full-time professors will be needed in the area of pharmacy practice in order to focus on the pharmacy practice-oriented pharmacy education. Many distinguished characteristics of pharmacy educators between the private schools and the national universities are also discussed in the paper.