The AICTE has been playing a pivotal role in administering the standards of technical education in the country. There is no doubt that without the AICTE’s involvement, the technical education could not have been what it is today. This has a special reference to the engineering education, which has helped the country in meeting the demand for technically qualified personnel.

The pharmacy education is also governed by AICTE; both the UG and PG education. Earlier AICTE used to inspect the institutes and grant permission for commencement of B. Pharm/ M. Pharm courses. The admission strength being 60 for UG and 3 or 4 for each PG programme. This particular aspect had ensured the maintenance of high standards in PG education also.

AICTE’s efforts in vain
The present system of sanctioning permission online has created a peculiar situation, as the number of seats allotted to PG courses is in the multiples of 18.  M. Pharm course involves a research project in the second year to be supervised by a qualified guide with an upper limit on the number of students per guide. Based on the availability of the technically qualified staff, institutes had to consolidate their infrastructure and research facilities to be able to increase the number of M. Pharm seats even to 10. Now, none of this is taken in to consideration. Everybody is sanctioned PG courses in multiples of 18 and even in shifts! This has dealt a severe blow to the profession as such, and has a telling effect on the quality of deliverables.

There is no co-ordination amongst the stakeholders viz., the university which trains; the industry which has to absorb the professionals and the apex body, AICTE.

There is a strong need for a survey to be conducted to decide upon the admission strength in pharmacy colleges, so that there is no mismatch between the market requirement and trained professionals being rolled out of the universities.

Streamlining the universities
Emphasis should also be given on infrastructure and qualified staff. As a first step, there should be no disparity between the AICTE guide lines and that of the university at least in terms of the faculty and their eligibility as research guides at M. Pharm. for example: the guide to student ratio is 1:5 as per the university (Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka) norms and as per AICTE it is 1:6. But, in several universities in the country, there is no restriction on this aspect at all!. This is a glaring anomaly.

The universities should frame their calendar of events for UG as well as PG courses so that the graduates of the same university do not have to wait for one year to pursue their higher studies in their own universities. This is the case in RGUHS. The AICTE can play a major role in streamlining this untenable attitude of the university.

The AICTE on its part, is required to do a statistical analysis, state wise, with regard to sanctioning of new pharmacy colleges and sanctioning of admissions at UG and PG levels in existing as well as new colleges. There is no study which has been undertaken to justify the sanction of so many colleges in the past couple of years.

The AICTE should stress upon the infrastructure as well as qualified staff. The other aspects like canteen, sick room etc can be considered under desirable category. With the phenomenal growth of the IT the concept of number of books in the library has to be rationalized. But, inspections must happen to ensure compliance of norms and to ensure quality education.

Role of pharma industry
The industry on its part has a pivotal role to play as it is the end user of the products of the university.















The Indian Pharma industry is a major force to reckon with from the point of view of its technical knowhow, competence, quality, infrastructure as well as the efficiency and efficacy of its products. It has to play a major role in ensuring the availability of competent technical persons to be able to participate in the growth that is projected in this sunrise industry.

Right from the procurement of the raw materials through the manufacture and the delivery of the end product, technology is in the forefront. The industry can directly collaborate with the academy and create the necessary interface so that there will be no gap between the students rolled out of the universities and the employable technical, personnel.

Globalization has shrunk the entire world and India is in an advantageous position to reap the benefits of its inherent strength, in this recession free sector.

The pharma sector involves: bulk drug industry, herbal drug industry, manufacture of medical equipment, instruments, pharma machinery, diagnostics and so on. To be able to employ technically qualified personnel in all these areas, the industries need to open up and provide the platform for training, skill development as well as framing the curriculum. If this happens, it will be a dream come true for our forefathers who had envisioned a developed India.

The need for interaction amongst the 3 main stake holders in the field of pharmacy education is emphasized. Even though, the projections in the growth of pharma sector are very promising but surprisingly the same is not being reflected in terms of employment potential. Certainly, there is a need for a major change in the manner in which the pharmacy professionals are being trained. There seems to be no correlation between the capacity of the pharma industry to offer employment and the way the number of educational institutions that have spurted in the recent couple of years.

In comparison with the IT industry, where a fresh engineering graduate starts with a reasonably good pay-package, the same is not the case with the pharmacy graduates. In-spite of the profits made by the industry, it is not reflected in the payments of the employees. This has dealt a big blow to the quality of input in educational institutions. If the entry level quality is lowered, there will be loss of talent and innovation which is the basic foundation of pharma industry, which is science based.

The pharma industry has to involve in a very big way with the academy by sharing the expertise and the infrastructure for training students who will be industry ready. This is more relevant today, especially, with the down trend in the overall industrial production in the country and the rupee taking a nosedive.