Since all the UG and PG pharmacy courses have been brought under the control of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the technical education regulator is now engaged in the process of bringing more reforms in the functioning of the council.
 
As part of it, the AICTE has increased the number of experts in the panel of the Expert Visiting Committee (EVC) which conducts inspections in the newly applicant colleges. The council feels that the prior approval inspections in institutions have to be more effective, efficient and transparent.
 
Different from previous years, AICTE has included two more experts in the EVC panel of the council for the purpose of visiting new institutions applied for approval to start pharmacy courses afresh. According to AICTE sources, 400 applications from managements of new colleges have been received by the council, for which inspections have been started. Institutions which have zero deficiency as per the Approval Process Handbook (APH) of the council are liable for approval.

The panel of five experts will assess if the norms and standards as stipulated by AICTE are fulfilled by each institution. The committee will verify the physical and infrastructural facilities of the applicant colleges and if any deficiency is found in any institution, the committee will recommend to AICTE to withhold the process of approval till the anomalies are rectified. All the colleges have to comply with the norms as specified in the Approval Process Handbook issued by the council in December last year.
 
AICTE sources said, to make the inspection more effective and efficient from this year, two representatives, one from concerned universities and another one from technical or medical education board of each state have been included in the panel. These two persons represent the state government as exam conducting authorities and AICTE selects two professors and one engineer. If the EVC finds any discrepancy in the facts or documents the colleges provided it may lead to stern actions or suspension of approval process.
 
This year, all over India, the EVC of the AICTE will visit 400 new applicant colleges of pharmacy for inspection which started in the first week of this month and continue up to April 10. Sources from the council said if everything is found correct, then the AICTE will provide approval within 10 days time. Followed by the inspection of AICTE, there will be visit of experts from Pharmacy Council of India in every institution to check all their conditions are fulfilled by the colleges. A new pharmacy college has to obtain approval from two statutory bodies.
 
Currently, throughout the country 1,600 institutions conduct courses in pharmacy. If the new applicant colleges get approvals, the total number will go up to 2000. According to AICTE sources, majority of the applications for new colleges have been received from north India, especially from Maharashtra and UP. Demand for pharmacists in north India is increasing because of stern action by the enforcement wing against retail shops which are not appointing registered pharmacists.