Curtin University\u2019s long-standing partnership with Sojo University in Kumamoto, Japan continues to provide transformative learning experiences for final-year Pharmacy students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, Grace Smedley, Olivia Pedretti, Kevin Chin, and Fraser Hunt completed a four-week placement under the PHAR4009 Professional Pharmacy Placements<\/em> unit. From 16 June to 11 July 2025, they rotated through major hospitals and community pharmacies, attended Japanese language classes, and trained in aseptic preparation and Basic Life Support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The program included hospital visits to institutions such as the Japanese Red Cross Kumamoto Hospital, Kumamoto University Hospital, and the Nishi Kumamoto Clinical Trial Centre. Students also experienced community pharmacy at Central Pharmacy Nagamine, observing patient-centred practices and the integration of kampo (traditional Japanese) medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Grace, the placement highlighted healthcare differences between Australia and Japan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis contrast has been truly eye-opening and has deepened my understanding of healthcare on a global scale.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Olivia valued the chance to explore different specialties:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese broad range of experiences have been so enlightening for me and have really allowed me to explore what areas of pharmacy I am most passionate about.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Kevin described the placement as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAn experience that I will never forget and will hold close to my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Fraser reflected on the unique context of Japanese practice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMany things were very similar, but with Australia not having kampo medicines and not really having earthquakes and tsunamis I got to think about things from a different perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The Curtin\u2013Sojo program not only broadened students\u2019 professional and clinical skills, but also deepened their cultural awareness and global perspectives. Supported by academic staff in both universities, this international placement continues to demonstrate Curtin\u2019s strong commitment to global engagement and experiential learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read about four final-year Pharmacy students’ experience in Japan\u2019s healthcare system during a four-week international placement. | Reading time 1 min.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4452,"featured_media":29249,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"5331,21334,6726,8362,7845,4698","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_oasis-categories":0,"footnotes":""},"oasis-categories":[],"class_list":["post-29248","oasis-news","type-oasis-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"","qualification":"","link":"","description":"","faculty":""}],"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":false,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Curtin_Sojo_Placement_Report_2025-29082025-1000x500.jpeg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Joaquin","last_name":"Atizado","display_name":"Joaquin Atizado"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 00:44:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"oasis-categories","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news\/29248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/oasis-news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news\/29248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"oasis-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-categories?post=29248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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