The pharmacy colleges which are intending to start the Master of Pharmacy (M Pharm) course will have to strictly follow the teacher-student ratio of 1:3 for the intake of 15 students per specialisation. In order to have a quality control in pharma education and to cater to the pharma industry with more qualified pharma graduates, the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) said no admission shall be made without having minimum 5 qualified teachers for each specialisation.

The PCI has framed a scheme under regulation 4.1 b) of the Master of Pharmacy Course Regulations, 2014 for the colleges or universities seeking permission to start the M Pharm course or extension of approval or increase in intake up to 15 seats per specialisation. The council has invited application from the colleges willing to start M Pharm course and last date of application is February 29, 2016.

Dr B Suresh, president of PCI says, “We have put the scheme for M Pharm application for starting the course on our website. We are expecting at least 500 applications this year, as there are around 1000 pharma colleges in India and we are expecting nearly 60 per cent of them to apply.”

Speaking on the quality of pharmacy education, Dr Suresh says, “To improve the quality of pharma education and to have a control in quality, we have told the colleges that no admission would be entertained without having minimum 5 teachers for each specialisation course. The teachers need to have minimum 5 years of experience along with their PG degree. Hence, grievance the industry is having today that pharma graduates are not skilled enough will change in next two years.”

The maximum number of students for a PG course in pharmacy who can be registered in any recognised department or institution for M Pharm degree by the affiliating university, shall be determined by the facilities available in the department or institution in terms of infrastructure, teaching staff and teaching material. The intake capacity will be based on the availability of the qualified teaching faculty in the teacher-student ratio of 1:3. However in no circumstances more than 15 students in any speciality of M Pharm course shall be registered in a department or specialization in one academic year.

M Pharm course shall be permitted to be conducted only in those institutions which are approved by the PCI for B Pharm course as provided under section 12 of the Pharmacy Act, 1948. No admission or increase in intake shall be made by the applicant to the proposed courses without prior permission of the PCI. However, the institutions established by the central government/state government for the purpose of imparting postgraduate education shall be eligible for starting M Pharm course.