With health-service facilities growing in number and becoming more evenly distributed, additional health personnel are needed — both in quantity and in the quality of their knowledge and skills — including pharmaceutical personnel. In line with Ministry of Health policy, efforts to improve the quality of pharmaceutical personnel are directed toward strengthening them at the Associate (D-III) and Bachelor/Pharmacist (S1) levels. The role of higher education as a public means to produce graduates evolves over time, in step with developments in industrialization, matched by preparing a workforce that is professional in its field in terms of both skills and work culture.
Recognizing how important the goals of national education development are, together with the development needs to create high-quality human resources, the role of educational institutions — especially higher education — is greatly needed. In Riau Province, particularly the City of Pekanbaru, establishing a Bachelor (S1) pharmacy education program was deemed essential, as its output is expected to anticipate the impact of regional development and free competition, and to affirm Riau Province's important, responsible role in developing professional human resources and advancing national education.
For this reason, the Riau University Foundation initiated the founding of a higher-education institution in pharmacy — the Riau College of Pharmacy (STIFAR Riau) — which opened in 2002 under the Ministry of National Education permit SK No. 170/D/O/2002 dated 12 August 2002. Three study programs have been accredited: the D3 program by LAM-PTKes under No. 0092/LAM-PTKes/Akr/Dip/II/2020, the S1 program by LAM-PTKes under No. 0739/LAM-PTKes/Akr/Sar/XII/2019, and the Pharmacist Profession program by LAM-PTKes under No. 0740/LAM-PTKes/Akr/Pro/XII/2019.
