Financial investment of United States pharmacy schools on international activities.

Introduction: The primary objective of this study was to determine the financial resources that United States (US) pharmacy schools spend and receive for international activities, as well as the future direction of expenditures and revenue.

Methods: An online survey was sent in April 2019 to the chief financial or administrative officer at each accredited pharmacy school (N = 141) to ask about average annual budget for international activities and areas of expenditure (student travel, partnership development, faculty salary, staff salary, training programs) and revenue (dean's office, university, student tuition and fees, alumni, grants and contracts, other) associated with their budget. Participants were asked whether they anticipated spending or receiving more, the same, or less on the aforementioned expenditure and revenue areas.

Results: Sixty-three programs (45%) responded, with 61 (43%) complete responses used for data analysis. Thirty-eight schools (62%) had an annual budget for international activities with an average of $77,327, a median of $18,750, and a range from $2000 to $615,000. Public schools averaged $102,129 compared to $43,225 for private schools. The largest expenditure source was split evenly between student travel and faculty salaries while the largest revenue source was student tuition and fees. The most common response for future trends was to spend or receive the same amount of support.

Conclusions: There is wide variance regarding the amount each US pharmacy school spends on international activities, with most programs anticipating spending or receiving the same amount in the future.