Dr. Shyamala Bhaskaran, of Bangalore’s Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy, will receive the Young Pharmacy Teachers Award for 2003 during the 8th Annual National Convention of the Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (APTI) to be held at Hubli on October 17 and 18, 2003.

Dr. Shyamala Bhaskaran, professor, Department of Pharmaceutics was selected for the award based on her efforts in teaching and research. She is an examiner for several universities, delivered lectures, coordinated workshops/seminars, and published papers in national and international journals. In 2000, she received the AICTE’s Career award for Young teachers, two best Paper award at the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress in 1999 and 2002 and at the International Pharmaceutical World Conference, organized by FIP at Singapore in 2001.

APTI has announced three more awards. Dr. E Venkata Rao, retired professor, department of Pharmacy, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh University receives the ‘Shri Bhojraj Panjamool Lifetime Achievement Award’. Dr. D Satyanarayana, NGSM College of Pharmacy, Mangalore receives the Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (IPER) Principal of the Year award. There are two winners- Dr. K P R Chowdary, Waltair, Andhra Pradesh University and Dr. N K Jain, H S Gaur Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh for the Bharati Vidyapeeth Pharmacy Teacher 2003.

The criteria for award’s selection is the teacher/principal’s contribution to the pharmacy education research and administration, informed Prof. BG Shivananda, secretary APTI and principal, Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy.

There are several training programmes to enhance the skills of the teachers like the Quality Improvement Programme organised at any of the five recognised national centres at the pharmacy colleges in Warangal, Belgaum, Udhagamandalam, Chandigarh and Jadavpur where doctorate degree pharmacy teachers inducted for a qualification improvement and advanced teaching techniques exercise. For the teachers with a below 10 years experience, AICTE organises workshops for each state where new teaching aids are addressed. There is also technology training for teachers under an industry study for technical education open to polytechnic and degree pharmacy colleges.