Jagiellonian University in Kraków (UJ) runs Drug Discovery and Development (DDD) as a two-year (four-semester), full-time Master's programme with a general academic profile, taught in English at the Faculty of Pharmacy, UJ Collegium Medicum. It is meant for students who want to work on every stage of finding and developing new medicines and who already use English well enough to study in it.
The programme combines advanced theory of drug research with practical skills, step by step:
The three tracks are Drug Chemistry, Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Development Supported by Mathematical Modelling. Each builds on a solid base in the pharmaceutical sciences, and admission to a track depends on the qualification criteria set for it and on the number of places.
The Faculty of Pharmacy is based at ul. Medyczna 9 in the Bieżanów-Prokocim district of Kraków, next to the University Hospital and the University Children's Hospital. Its research covers new and innovative drug forms, drug toxicity, biotechnology and pharmacoeconomics. The faculty includes the Museum of Pharmacy, the Garden of Medicinal Plants and a specialised animal facility, and students can use the Medical Library and the Jagiellonian Library.
Alongside scientific knowledge, the programme develops management skills and language competence. Graduates are prepared to work in the pharma-biotech industry, in drug registration agencies and in drug research centres around the world.
If you want to stay in research, you can continue at a doctoral school, such as the Doctoral School of Medical and Health Sciences, or take postgraduate courses at the Faculty of Pharmacy.
Did you know? More than 20 student research groups and the Polish Pharmaceutical Students' Association operate at the Faculty of Pharmacy.
As of the 2026/27 admissions, based on the programme pages at studia.uj.edu.pl.
