The managements and the faculties of pharmacy colleges in Tamil Nadu are expecting a good turnout of student enrollment for Bachelor of Pharmacy course in all the colleges in the ensuing academic year, quite different from the situations the colleges faced in previous years.

According to senior academicians in the field, more enquiries are coming up in all the colleges asking for details about admission process. The visitors to the websites of the institutions downloading for applications are also on the rise.

“It seems that the number of students opting for engineering courses is dipping drastically this year and those who wish to enroll for medical stream are also declining due to no increase in the number of seats, unaffordable fees and other expenses.  Besides, a general impression has gripped the society that the future of engineering courses is not as bright as before. So, the next option is pharmacy”, said Dr TK Ravi, principal, Sri Ramakrishna College of Pharmacy, Coimbatore.

According to him, the enrollment of students for pharmacy courses in the colleges in Tamil Nadu in previous years was not encouraging. Some of the colleges were struggling to continue and a good percentage of the intake capacity was lying vacant in many colleges before three years. The situation is going to change from this year, he added.

Sources in the field said, in Tamil Nadu, there are 40 academic institutions conducting degree and PG courses in pharmacy apart from the two government colleges attached to the medical colleges in Chennai and Madurai. Out of the 40 private colleges, 30 colleges are conducting M Pharm courses and 12 colleges are conducting Pharm D programme.

Diploma in Pharmacy (D Pharm) is conducted only in the government colleges at Tanjore and Coimbatore.

Dr V Gopal Venkitachalam, HoD and Principal of Mother Teresa Pharmacy College in Pondicherry said in the neighboring states of Telengana and Andhra, 300 pharmacy colleges are working there and in Karnataka 80 colleges are offering the courses. According to him, the infrastructure and hostel facilities are better in the colleges in Tamil Nadu, which is an important factor in drawing students to the colleges in the state. He said, in Pondicherry, only his college is conducting pharmacy courses, so it never faced the problem of shortage of students.

“The admission process in all the colleges has started and it will continue upto July end, and the classes will begin in the following month.  Since our college is a government undertaking, the classes will begin in July. The admission process and commencement of classes will vary from university to university”, said Dr Gopal.

Answering a query, the academicians said the scope of job opportunities for pharmacy graduates is increasing every day. There are ample chances for pharma graduates in the government sector, industry, academia, research and marketing sides. All the colleges in Tamil Nadu will get sufficient number of students this year for all the courses, they hoped.

Regarding students’ dislike for applying engineering courses, Dr Gopal said the poor job opportunities and decreasing salary rates could be the reason for students to opt out of engineering in large numbers. The number of seats for MBBS is unlikely to be increased this year though the government of Tamil Nadu has approached MCI for more intake capacity. This persuades the students to enroll for pharmacy courses, especially Pharm D.