The government of Karnataka is concerned about the career prospects of the students in BE biotechnology that was announced here recently. Dr. G Parameshwara, minister for higher education, government of Karnataka told Pharmabiz.com that the introduction of BE courses in biotechnology this year is causing much apprehension as no extensive research has been carried out on how to gear up the same with competitiveness.

"We have granted large number of biotechnology seats in engineering colleges. But we have no idea where these students will end up," said the minister while speaking to Pharmabiz.com.

Last month, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) approved the new BE (bachelor of engineering) course in biotechnology (BT) which is scheduled to start from this academic year. Nearly 30 students each have received approval. But most colleges will not be able to provide faculty and infrastructure immediately.

In the first two semesters all BE branches have the same syllabus, so colleges have one-year to put together a full-fledged faculty. Training existing faculty from other branches of engineering in biotechnology is not a one-man subject as many subjects are inter-related.

Lecturers from other streams of engineering will be trained to teach BT to the students. Infact a shortage of lecturers qualified to teach the new subject of BT was the reason for such a move. "While software engineers will click a button and get results on the computer screen but a biotech engineer may keep shaking a test tube for ten years without getting results. The government is looking at agri biotech courses," informed Dr. Parameshwara.

Meanwhile, the pharma-biotech industry here is of the view that after a BE biotech course, an intensive on-the-job training is critical for understanding the complexities in research.