It’s official! After years of waiting, the University of Côte d’Azur will launch a pharmacy department in September 2025. It will be the 25th in France. This creation results from a long-term project, supported by elected officials, healthcare professionals, and higher education stakeholders. It addresses a long-expressed need in the Côte d’Azur region.
Nice will soon have its own pharmacy education program. Starting in the 2025 academic year, the University of Côte d’Azur will welcome its first cohort of pharmacy students. This new department, integrated into the future health campus in the Saint-Jean d’Angely neighborhood, will complement an already health-oriented university offering.
Since 2020, local elected officials and professionals in the sector have been mobilizing for the creation of this program. The project went through several phases of uncertainty. Budgetary issues, administrative delays, and political changes slowed its progress. But the ministerial green light was finally obtained.
Christian Estrosi, Mayor of Nice, is pleased with this outcome: “I am delighted to finally see this ambitious project come to fruition, for which we have been campaigning for years (…) The creation of this pharmacy department in Nice puts an end to an inconsistency in the national territory.”
Nice was an exception among major French cities. No pharmacy education was offered, despite the presence of a university hospital center and a medical school. This situation forced students to go to other regions, notably Marseille.
Training locally to meet needs
The establishment of the pharmacy department aims to fulfill several objectives. It is intended to address a shortage of pharmacists in the department, enhance the attractiveness of local education, and support health sector businesses on the Côte d’Azur.
Between 2014 and 2024, the number of pharmacies in the Alpes-Maritimes decreased from 464 to 424. This decline reflects a lack of professionals in this field. For Raphaël Gigliotti, president of the department’s pharmacists’ union, this opening is the culmination of a struggle: “For us, it’s really a five-year battle coming to fruition. It’s a case we’ve been following since 2020 with the city hall, which immediately understood there was a problem with medical and pharmaceutical demographics.”
The department will welcome 42 students in the first year. The numbers will increase to 70 or 80 students by 2028. The first courses will take place at various sites before the completion of the health campus. The program will cover all fields: community pharmacy, hospital, industry, biology, and research.
The educational model promises to be interprofessional and rooted in contemporary issues. It will include active methods, simulation, clinical immersion, and real-world data analysis. Digital technology and artificial intelligence, through a connection with 3IA Côte d’Azur, will also be integrated.
Richard Chemla, deputy for health in the city of Nice, advocated for this project from the start: “We have the capacity, we have the professors, we have the facilities.” He believed that only a definitive agreement was missing to begin.
The Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur is planning a financial contribution to support the launch of the program. The vote is expected at the next city council meeting.
