The Republic's lead in the sphere of e-learning was underlined yesterday, when 27 students graduated with masters in pharmaceutical medicine through online institute Hibernia College.

Pharmaceutical medicine is an emerging medical specialisation and the MSc course was fully funded by drug company Pfizer, which is hoping to increase the supply of qualified practitioners.

The course was run in conjunction with Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Harvard University in the US, with students attending both for one week courses during their studies.

According to Dr Nicholas Breakwell, chief knowledge officer with Hibernia College, this "blended" approach is key to its courses, which are primarily in the area of education.

As well as providing real-world education experiences, Hibernia has developed an open source-based platform that attempts to provide as interactive an experience as possible, according to Dr Breakwell. Students can access on-demand content which includes interactive elements such as video and which is backed up by message boards, discussion forums and blogs.

They also access a virtual classroom once a week at the same time as their lecturer and other students.

Dr Seán Rowland, president of Hibernia College, said he hoped the course would help promote the Republic as a leading location for scientific research.

Attracting leading international researchers to the State has been identified as an issue in the Government's strategy for science, technology and innovation, which aims to double the number of PhD students in the Republic by 2013.