From October 31 to November 2, 2019, the 6^th National Competition of Pharmaceutical Experimental Skills for College Students was held in Henan University of Chinese Medicine. Undergraduate students Wang Tianyu and Chen Shutian from School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (SPS), Xiamen University won the first prize and second prize respectively.

It was the second time for Xiamen University (XMU) to participate in the competition. Associate Dean of SPS Wu Zhen, teachers from SPS Li Funan and Chen Qing were the instructors. SPS selected two students with solid theoretical foundation and proficient experimental operation from all the undergraduates, gave them guidance to practice experimental skills, and helped them to review theoretical knowledge. The competition is divided into two parts: experimental theory and experimental operation. The theoretical part includes single choice questions and multiple-choice questions. These questions are novel in form and involve a wide range of topics. The experimental operation part involves two parts of general technology and operation, pharmacy (pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmaceutical analysis, pharmaceutics and natural medicinal chemistry) and biology (physiology, pharmacology and biochemistry). Contestants are required to follow the experimental procedures and requirements, conduct one or two experiments which cover the related contents of chemistry and biology, and get the corresponding results. After six hours of fierce competition, two students from XMU showed the judges their solid theoretical foundation and proficient experimental operation skills.

This year, the competition attracted the active participation of 714 students and teachers from 112 colleges and universities, including Peking University, Zhejiang University, Fudan University, Sun Yat-sen University, Sichuan University, Wuhan University, China Pharmaceutical University and Shenyang Pharmaceutical University.