How to solve the enduring pharmacy degree awarding gap

For nearly a decade, data has shown that white pharmacy students are more likely to be awarded first or upper second-class (2:1) degrees compared with students from ethnic minorities.

According to the most recent data obtained by The Pharmaceutical Journal, in the years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, 94% of white pharmacy graduates were awarded a first or 2:1 degree compared with 83% of ethnic minority pharmacy graduates — an awarding gap of 11 percentage points.

The gap was particularly pronounced for Black graduates, of whom 77% secured a first or 2:1 degree in those years.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the awarding gap narrowed from 12 percentage points in 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 to 8 percentage points in 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. However, as the data above shows, this was not sustained. Tase Oputu, president of the Royal College of Pharmacy (RCPharm), points out the lasting damage that this difference in attainment can mean.

“For individuals, the impact can go well beyond academic results, affecting confidence, wellbeing and career progression,” she says. “For the profession, we risk losing talented people and the different experiences and perspectives that can strengthen the pharmacy workforce and ultimately benefit patient care.”

A spokesperson for the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) agrees: “These disparities can have a significant impact on individuals, affecting educational outcomes, career progression and confidence.

“Addressing the awarding gap is also important for the profession as a whole, helping to ensure talented people from all backgrounds can fulfil their potential through education and training.”

RCPharm has a cross-sector Differential Attainment Oversight Group — set up in 2023 when RCPharm was the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) — which aims to eliminate the differential attainment gap by 2030. In a 2024 report on gaps in both Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) and registration assessment, the then RPS stated: “Shockingly, despite being public knowledge, there has been a marked absence of concerted and persistent efforts to rectify this issue, resulting in a profound impact on the lives and careers of those affected.”

In recent years, more attention has been paid to the issue. In its ‘Delivery plan and budget 2026/27’, published in May 2026, the GPhC said that it was working with universities to reduce the differences in attainment, which was a key priority for the year. The regulator is also liaising with partners to “better understand and address the awarding gap in pharmacy education and training, including through shared data, evidence-based action and ongoing monitoring”. The GPhC also wants to eliminate the gap entirely for the MPharm degree and registration assessment by 2030.

Multifaceted problem

Oputu emphasises that this is a systemic issue not an individual one. “I think it’s important to be clear that this isn’t about individual ability,” she adds.

“We use the term ‘degree awarding gap’ because this is not a reflection of an individual’s ability or potential, but of differences in the outcomes being awarded to different groups of students.”

She also says: “The evidence points to a mix of factors across education and training, including bias, access to opportunities, impacting on readiness for university, access to role models and support, tutor training and the transition into foundation training.”

The GPhC shares this view. A spokesperson for the regulator tells The Pharmaceutical Journal: “Our engagement with schools of pharmacy suggests there is no single cause. Students may face a range of intersecting challenges, including financial pressures, caring responsibilities, disability and cultural expectations.”

Sam Appiah-Anane, president of the UK Black Pharmacist Association, adds: “Systemic and institutionalised racism in wider society is the main driver. The attainment gap is not specific for pharmacy.”

In addition, a spokesperson for the University of East Anglia (UEA) warned that grouping people together in one broad category might not show other reasons people may secure a higher degree award than others.

In its 2024 report — entitled, ‘Chasing equality in pharmacy training: closing the awarding and attainment gap for Black trainees in pharmacy’ — RCPharm referenced a Universities UK analysis about the gap. It found other significant contributing factors to the gap included lower socio-economic background and university culture and leadership, as well as lack of a sense of belonging, inadequate information, advice and guidance, subject choice and first-generation entry to university.

“It is important to acknowledge the impact of intersectionality when considering racial inequalities in the UK,” the Universities UK report notes. “Gender, socio-economic background and disability, for example, can add to the complexity of an individual’s experiences of racism and discrimination.”

Lack of work experience

However, there is one issue that appears particularly significant in pharmacy. Mahendra Patel, director of the Centre for Research Equity at the University of Oxford, vice president of RCPharm and chair of its English Pharmacy Advisory Council, says students from ethnic backgrounds often find it harder to access summer pharmacy placements.

While they are optional — as opposed to placements through the academic year — work experience over the summer can help students get ahead. They often then find the degree easier when they start because of the experience they have had, Patel explains.

As a visiting professor at the University of Sussex pharmacy department, which has experienced an awarding gap, Patel mentored and taught Black students for two years and says the issue with securing summer placements could often be attributed to distance.

“For some, they found placements, but it would mean that they had to travel an hour and a half from their home, and they had additional responsibilities in their lives that made this travelling impossible,” he says. “Or they studied in Sussex but went back home in summer to, for example, Manchester, and they didn’t know people there; so, it was difficult for them to find placements.”

Patel also believes employers have to play their part in solving the problem — it is not just for universities to solve.

“We shouldn’t describe this simply as a difference in examination performance,” he continues.

“The employers need to understand [the problem] as well, and I think employers need to get together so that we can make sure the whole education programme of supporting people from Black ethnic minorities is joined up.

“The important question isn’t just simply: why aren’t these students attaining? It’s, what is happening in the system that means they are not attaining in the same way?”

Finding solutions  

Appiah-Anane agrees that current methods to narrow the awarding gap “need to expand beyond pharmacy, including universities and other healthcare disciplines”. However, he gives hope by sharing his own experience that getting below a 2:1 does not have to be career limiting. 

“I got a 2:2 in my pharmacy degree,” he explains. “In no way did my scores hold me back in my career, nor is it a reflection of my academic abilities.”

It’s true that the issue of awarding gaps extends beyond pharmacy. The GPhC spokesperson notes that these gaps “reflect wider inequalities seen across higher education and healthcare professions”. In a position statement, published in 2020, the Pharmacy Schools Council, which represents pharmacy schools in the UK, said: “The awarding gap remains an issue across the higher education sector, and while there are variances in its extent across different degrees, any gap is unacceptable.”

Oputu says: “There has been progress in understanding the issue, but the fact that the gaps persist tells us we need to do more.

“We need to look at what is happening across the whole system, use data better, listen to students’ and trainees’ experiences and focus on removing the barriers that are making it harder for some people to succeed.”

However, as Appiah-Anane says, it is also worth looking outside of pharmacy. The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA)-funded report, published in February 2026, found the ethnicity attainment gap narrowed then widened again across many subject areas during the COVID-19 pandemic, not just pharmacy.

The QAA report noted that “awarding gaps are not fixed but vary systematically with assessment structures, institutional practices and wider post-pandemic conditions”.

Oputu tells The Pharmaceutical Journal that RCPharm has “set up five task and finish groups looking at data, removing bias from recruitment, role models, tutor training and the transition from university into foundation training, and will continue to meet as an oversight group to review progress”. The task and finish groups report to the cross-sector oversight group.

She adds: “The challenge now is making sure this leads to sustained action, not just recognition of the problem.”

Siobhan McGuinness, director for Scotland at the GPhC, tells The Pharmaceutical Journal: “We are working closely with schools of pharmacy and other partners to better understand the factors that contribute to disparities in outcomes and to identify the approaches that can make the greatest difference.

“Our current focus is on the MPharm degree, where we believe there is the greatest opportunity to drive meaningful change from the outset, but our ambition is to apply the learning from this work across pharmacists’ and pharmacy technicians’ education and training.”

In its position statement, the Pharmacy Schools Council said: “Universities across the UK have active programmes in place examining awarding gap data and developing interventions to remove barriers that contribute to inequalities in degree classifications.”

University actions

For the past three years, Nottingham University has run two projects: one to look at how students felt about the challenges associated with the awarding gap and the other to come up with practical solutions.

A spokesperson for the University of Nottingham’s School of Pharmacy states: “We are aware of our attainment gap for our Black students compared with white students and are working to address this.”

“Addressing this is part of our school of pharmacy plan and is also a University of Nottingham priority more widely,” they add.

The University of Liverpool is one of a few universities that have recently launched MPharm programmes. Its first cohort of students started in September 2026.

Lesley Howell, dean of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Liverpool, says: “Equity has been a fundamental consideration throughout the development of the course and is embedded across four connected priorities: staff, students, partnerships and research. Using data, student voice, evaluation and research, we will continually monitor the student experience and identify any differential experiences or outcomes at an early stage should they arise.”

The University of Leicester, which launched its MPharm course in September 2024, “actively engages pharmacists and healthcare professionals from a range of backgrounds as guest speakers and role models” in an effort to drive equity across the programme, says Shabana Chaudary, an equality, diversity and inclusion lead for pharmacy at the University of Leicester.

She says that doing this allows “students to learn from individuals whose experiences reflect the diversity of both the profession and our student body”.

“Whilst our programme is still in its early years and no cohort has yet completed the degree, we recognise the importance of addressing factors that may contribute to differential attainment and ensuring that all students are supported to achieve their full potential,” Chaudary adds.

A spokesperson for the University of East Anglia also told The Pharmaceutical Journal that it has “a range of initiatives aimed at supporting an inclusive learning environment and enabling all students to achieve their potential”, adding that the university “regularly reviews student outcomes data, both at university and course level, to identify where gaps may exist and inform action”.

Conducting an annual review of data “with a focus on monitoring where there are gaps in student performance and attainment” is also part of the University of Reading’s School of Pharmacy’s efforts to eliminate the awarding gap, says Katrina Bicknell, professor of pharmacology and pharmacy education at the university.

Pulling together

While a spokesperson for the GPhC says the regulator’s “current work is focused on the MPharm degree”, they explain that the learning from this work will be applied “to later stages of pharmacists’ education and training, as well as pharmacy technician education and training, to support a coherent and sustained approach across the profession”.

However, the GPhC spokesperson says that the issue will not be solved by people or organisations acting alone.

“Reducing the awarding gap will require sustained action across the sector, including regulators, universities, professional bodies and employers,” they add.

“Everyone, including people first-hand delivering education and training in [the] workplace, has a role to play — whether that’s using data to identify disparities, removing biases, listening to students and trainees, challenging bias or making sure people have the right support and protected learning time,” notes Oputu.

Appiah-Anane says that the best way to close the attainment gap is for everyone to “listen, ask curious questions, say what you see/hear [and] repeat”.