The All India Council for Technical Education's (AICTE) move to insist separate campuses for degree and diploma courses in pharmacy has come in for widespread criticism from various quarters.

The major opposition to the AICTE move comes from the Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (APTI) Maharashtra state branch and the opposition is on the grounds that separate campuses for degree and diploma courses would be resulted in wasting of the infrastructure facilities available with the pharma colleges. Around 50 per cent of the infrastructure facilities of diploma courses are under-utilized, which is a national wastage, APTI sources said.

Talking to Pharmabiz, APTI Maharashtra state branch president Dr P G Yeole said, "Most of the pharmacy colleges are conducting degree and diploma courses in the same campus. There is no written resolution for separate infrastructure facilities for degree and diploma courses. But now the AICTE has started insisting the colleges to have separate facilities for the degree and diploma courses".

He stated, that separate infrastructure facilities for degree and diploma course could be resulted in the wasting of funds. Instead of duplicating the system funds should be used for the betterment of the available infrastructure and extension of the existing campus for more innovative purpose. The funds should also be used in accelerating research and development in key platform areas, he added.

When the issue has come to the fore for the first time in 1995, the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) opposed the move. Dr B Suresh, president, PCI, has echoed the viewpoint in the meeting of the PCI inspectors held at the 58th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress held at Mumbai in 2006. In a move to recognise degree and diploma courses in the same campus the PCI has also designed a separate standard inspection form (SIF).

When contacted Dr B Suresh said, "Both degree and diploma can be in the same campus as long the college has the infrastructure facilities and other facilities to meet the needs. Moreover, both degree and diploma and courses are integrated each other and so it can be conducted in the same campus."

In a recent development, the AICTE had directed a Bombay based college to separate degree and diploma courses. Nearly eight to ten years ago, the AICTE had resolved for the continuation of degree and diploma courses of pharmacy on comfortably co-sharing basis.