taught MSc in chemistry at UCC

lanky donkey

Hi!
Would anybody know much about taught MSc in Applied Science (Enviro, Pharma, Analytical chemistry) at UCC ?
Is there any difference between the Lab practices between these programs? What techniques do the students get to use in the labs? The three programs seems to have the same subjects except for one and the final thesis. I would be really really grateful for any info.
If there is anybody who did this taugh MSc part time, how did you find it?
I am currently working in the area of enviromental analysis but I would like to widen the expertise in analytical techniques used, not necessarily for environmetal analysis but analytical techniques in general.

aelune

Hi one of my friends completed the course and if you want I can ask her about the content and give you a reply here? Let me know, thanks.

lanky donkey

Yes, please ask, that would be brilliant. I tried to contact the course coordinator but maybe it's just bad time because it is still only August. The opinion of someone who did the course would be definitely really helpful.
Thanks a million!

aelune

OK I'll get back to this thread later with her reply. :cool:

aelune

Here is what my friend e-mailed to me :

So basically in the one class you have it split into six main groups:

Pg Dip/MSc Analytical Chemistry
Pg Dip/MSc Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry
Pg Dip/MSc Environmental Analytical Chemistry
Basically all 6 courses do the same modules CM6012(Modern Analytical Techniques, Chemical Data Analysis and GLP), CM6013(Separation Science, Sensors and Process Analytical Technology), CM6014( Materials, Pharmaceutical and Bioanalysis) and CM6015(Practice of Analytical Chemistry). Then for the analytical chemistry you have to choose between a bio pharmaceutical module or an environmental module. Whereas the pharma analytical chem has to pick the bio pharmaceutical module, so has no choice, and the same goes for the environmental analytical chem but with the environmental module.

As I was just basic analytical chemistry I picked the bio pharmaceutical module, because I'm more interested in the likes of pharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics and validation which are the main topics on the course along with vaccines and GMP. Its alot of work though, requires a lot of case study reading and in total you have lectures from six different lecturers from between sept-jan, and it includes a validation project and then a final exam in march.

For CM6012 and CM6013, the course material is very similar and you'll have the same three lecturers for both, but don't worry because they clearly define before the exams what material is for which exam. CM6014 has the same three lecturers and phd students give a few lectures aswell, this was a really interesting module I thought! Then CM6015, is basic lab work! Its 6 weeks of practically 9.30-6 in a lab, were you have to complete 10 set experiments. You really only get to leave for lectures, lunch or if you happen to finish your experiment for the day. It usually takes two days to complete one experiment and you will be in a group of two or three. The write ups for this are insane and you usually have till xmas to finish them.It felt like writing up 10 FYPs to be honest and there is a serious amount of research needed for the introductions. They really expect a lot from the write ups with a min 10 page for introduction for each experiment and there is a lot of results, especially with the HPLC and GC experiments. So basically semester one is extremely busy. Semester two is a lot slower, with really only 6 hours on the timetable, which then drops to three after a few weeks. Then around March time you will hear about your project title, but you don't really begin testing etc till after the may exams. Myself and the rest of my course began in june my testing only took around a week but im not finished yet and I have only written my lit review and results.
http://www.ucc.ie/calendar/postgraduate/PGDiplomas/science/page03.html This is the link for the book of modules and gives more information on the modules!!

lanky donkey

Thanks aelune! Great info. I really appreciate the trouble you went into for getting it. I'll have a good read through the modules. Interesting timetable though. Isn't it unusuall for the exams (winter semester subjects?) to take place in March? Anyway thanks again!

val man

Thank You for the timetable information. Has Anyone tried the elective environmental engineering module and was is that like? Is it more work compared to Biopharmaceuticals: Formulation Design, Secondary Processing and Regulatory Compliance (10 credits)?. I am interested in the Pharmaceutical side of things but I am also aware that patient cases can be very difficult. What are some examples of patient cases that you can provide me with because one of my lecturers gave difficult patient cases for continuous assessment and that dropped my grade. Although I am confident that with practise and the correct patient cases I can do very well. Thanks. Any information on these modules would be appreciated.

Also can I still get a job at a pharmaceutical company if I choose environmental monitoring to gain more GPA instead of the biopharmaceutical elective? I did clinical chemistry and medical microbiology as my fourth year main modules. I never did pharmacology but I have undergraduate lecture notes and the subject does not seem too bad but is very detailed.