PHARMA LITERATI

The Modi government is working on a contingency plan for the higher education sector as the academic calendar has been disrupted because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.   The plan, which is likely to be announced after 14 April, will include an alternate academic calendar, ways to conduct exams for colleges and universities, a new schedule for vacations and announcement of results.   Apart from this, the plan will also include suggestions to improve the career prospects of students.   The University Grants Commission (UGC) had on 6 April constituted a seven-member committee to look into a contingency plan.   The committee is headed by the vice-chancellor of the Central University of Haryana, R.C. Kuhad. Other members include the vice-chancellors of Banasthali Vidyapith, Panjab University and the Shri Vaishnav Vidyapeeth Vishwavidyalaya, the director of Inter University Accelerator Centre and two joint secretaries of the UGC....

       The blanket ban by AICTE and Pharmacy Council Of India is not applicable to North East and states with less than 50 Pharmacy Institute. The to impose a moratorium was triggered primarily due to the unprecedented applications received by the councils for starting new pharmacy programmes during the academic session 2019-20. Several technical institutes and nursing colleges saw a dip in the admissions. the buildings of these institutes  were used to start pharmacy colleges.        Presently, more than 3000 Pharmacy colleges have enrolled more than 1 lakh students in undergraduate courses, which is adequate to meet the country's need to cater to the global health workforce, as per Dr. Suresh Bhojraj , President of  PCI .. As many as 1400 application were received in 2019-2020 to start new pharmacy colleges of which 842 were granted approvals, with maximum of 541 institutions in Uttar Pradesh . The conditional ban would avoid...

The Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka has issued a draft notification for the revision of the theory question paper pattern in the Pharmacy of RS4 (regular and supplement) batch of undergraduate and post graduate courses. The notification will come into effect from May 2017. At its 124th syndicate meeting, the RGHUS has now taken a decision to revise the theory questions paper by offering no choices. Under section 35(1) of the RGHUS Act 1994, the Syndicate vide ref. No. 03 approved the recommendations of the BOS (Board of Studies) vide reference No. 1 and faculty of pharmacy vide reference No 2 to revise the theory question paper. For B Pharm, the revised question paper pattern will now mandate two long essays to be answered of 20 marks total. The candidate will also need to attempt all the 6 short essays of 5 marks taking the total to 30 marks. There will be 10 short answers of two marks each for a total of 20 marks. Pharm D students will have a simil...

Prof Ramesh Goyal, the former vice chancellor (VC) of MS University, was appointed as VC of Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University (DPSRU) recently. Goyal has been appointed for a tenure of five years. DPSRU has the distinction of being country's first pharmacy university. The post of VC had fallen vacant after the tenure of its former VC professor S S Agrawal ended. "I have received the appointment letter and will shortly join the university," Goyal told TOI. While the search committee formed to recommend names for the post had already submitted its recommendation, Delhi government expedited the process of appointment as it wanted to hand over the charge to the new incumbent from September 1. Goyal, who had served as 15th VC of MSU between 2008 and 2011, will become second VC of DPSRU which was created through an act of Delhi government in 2008 but started on July 28, 2015. Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/MS...

PharmInnova Award Visit: http://www.innovativethesisaward.org/year2016-17.html PharmInnova Award is given every year to the students and their research guides for the most innovative thesis in Pharmaceutical Sciences in the following. M. Pharm Subjects: Pharmaceutics or Pharmaceutical Technology Pharmaceutical Chemistry Pharmacology Pharmacognosy Ph.D. Subjects: Pharmaceutics or Pharmaceutical Technology or Industrial Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Chemistry Pharmacology Pharmacognosy Guidelines for M. Pharm: http://www.innovativethesisaward.org/PDFs/2016-17/M%20Pharm%20Guideline.pdf Guidelines for Phd: http://www.innovativethesisaward.org/PDFs/2016-17/Ph%20D%20Guideline.pdf

Visit:  http://www.dst.gov.in/drugs-pharmaceutical-research The last date is 15th September 2016

The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) may come up with final notification on M Pharm and B Pharm syllabus by mid-August, 2016. This is the first time PCI is introducing uniform syllabus for the courses across the country, which aims to be more of industry oriented. The council has notified the revised syllabus on the website and invited public comments. Dr B Suresh, president of PCI informed that they have received many comments and suggestion; and have incorporated in the syllabus. Dr Suresh says, “The curriculum of B Pharm and M Pharm has already received feedback and the final version will be out in mid of August. Whatever feedback we have received we have incorporated that changes. The major changes made after the feedback was the alignment of the subject. This is for the first that there is a unified course across the country. We have structured it by keep in mind the job problems faced by the student and it is more industry oriented.” The course has been divided int...

Dr. Hemchandra P. Tipnis, retired principal of Bombay College of Pharmacy (BCP) and Central Executive Council Member of Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) passed away on May 23, 2016 after a cardiac arrest. Born on July 7, 1933, Dr. Tipnis completed his Masters and Doctorate from University of California School of Pharmacy and University of Nebraska respectively. He pioneered the initial bioavailability studies in human volunteers and his research papers formed the basis for amendments to Drugs & Cosmetics Act, with the ultimate inclusion of Schedule Y in the Act. Dr Tipnis was amongst the first to understand the importance of industry tie-ups in growth of academic institutes and sew-up partnerships between the pharma industry and BCP, a move that propelled BCP into the big league of pharmacy colleges not just in the country but internationally as well. Dr. Tipnis was active in the professional activities of IPA and was elected president of Indian Pharmaceutical C...

University of Findlay, Ohio has now collaborated with pharmacy colleges in India to widen the scope of pharmaceutical care in the country. At the Manipal University and St. Peter's Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Warangal , University of Findlay’s College of Pharmacy has initiated global expert lectures and student exchange programmes where candidates get the required exposure about the advanced pharmacy practices in US. These include creation and maintenance of electronic prescription dispensing records and monitoring Narrow Therapeutic Index Drugs across patient population that can be replicated back home. The objective of this initiative is to develop a pharmacy service platform to open up job opportunities where pharmacists could chip in their expertise to ensure safe medication practices. A lot needs to be done in India in pharmacy care. To begin with, the accessibility of electronic medical records across healthcare providers will be a big game changer in India...

Two statutory medical bodies have published different rules for admission into M. Pharm (The Master of Sciences of Pharmacy), causing confusion among the 156 pharmacy colleges across the state, 20 of which are in Mumbai. The Central government's new regulations state that the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) will now govern admission into the two year M. Pharm course . However, the rules of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which previously governed this course, continue to exist. The lack of clarity and the contradictory information issued by both bodies has befuddled colleges. PCI AICTE Students intake in the institute PCI says each college can take only 15 students. AICTE says that each college can take in 18 to 36 students. Student to teacher ratio The PCI has said that there ought to be one teacher for every 3 students AICTE says there should be one teacher for ...

An Indian Express report from Bangalore reveals the rampant practice of excess fees by colleges in the pharmacy field.  Please see: http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/Colleges-Demand-Extra-Fee-From-Pharma-Students/2015/08/01/article2951348.ece Students who joined B Pharm and D Pharm courses through Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) under the Common Entrance Test (CET) 2015 had to pay fees in excess of the sum prescribed by the government. An admission overseeing committee, constituted by the state government to monitor violations, however, says it is helpless as these courses do not fall under the professional category. According to complaints received at examination authority, the colleges are asking Rs 10,000 to Rs 60,000 over and above the fee . The fee fixed for BPharm and DPharm courses is Rs 14,030 at government colleges and Rs 21,430 at private colleges. But the colleges are demanding more in the name of additional faciliti...

The Pharmaceutical University which has been a long pending plan of the Delhi government is going to be functional from this academic session. The Act of Delhi Pharmaceutical Science and Research University (DPSRU) was passed by the Legislative Assembly of National Capital Territory of Delhi in September, 2008 but it could not be made functional, so far. “With the vision to promote excellence, research and development in pharmaceutical field the new Government of Delhi took initiative by making the University functional,” an official from the Delhi government said. The Board of Governors (BoG) of the University has been notified to take forward the academic functioning of the University from the Current Academic Session 2015-16. The University will run from the DIPSAR Campus at Pushp Vihar in Saket.  Presently, the existing institute DIPSAR is running Diploma, Bachelor Degree and Master Degree in Pharmacy. The University will introduce more courses in pharmac...

Dr PG Yeole, Principal, IPER Wardha and former President of APTI is appointed as the Pro Vice-chancellor of Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University by the Chancellor and Governor of Maharashtra . Yeole completed his B Pharm from Mumbai University, M Pharm from Pune University and PhD from Nagpur University. He was awarded Mahindra Talent Search Scholarship for securing first position in M Pharm. Yeole started his teaching career from September 1, 1982 at Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (IPER), Wardha, Maharashtra. In 1985, he was appointed as principal of same institute. Since then he holds the same position at IPER, which conducts diploma, degree, post graduate and doctorate programmes in pharmaceutical sciences. Yeole has been emphatically working for the cause of up-liftment of pharmacy profession in India by being the President of Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India, Working President of Association of Unaided Private Pharmacy Colleg...

Dear All, Mr. Arun Jaitley, honorable finance minister during his budget today on 28th February 2015 announced the creation of three new "National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (NIPER)" in three states namely Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. A welcome initiative or dilution of the NIPER brand. Request your thoughts. Send your thoughts to pharmaliterati@gmail.com We would publish the same on the blog.

Ahmedabad Mirror reports the fate of technical education in Gujarat.   Two MBA institutes and two pharmacy colleges offering degree courses have applied for shutting down. Three MBA schools and a pharmacy college have applied for reduction in seats, citing less than adequate number of students. "None of the applications is from institutes in Ahmedabad. The colleges that have sent us applications are mostly from rural areas like Modasa, Matar, Mehsana and Kutch , to mention a few. Students do not opt for colleges in remote areas as many do not have adequate infrastructure, teachers and other facilities," said an official at GTU requesting anonymity.   Despite housing 40 per cent of pharmaceutical industries from India, students clearing BPharm and MPharm do not find lucrative jobs. Head of the department at LJ Institute of Pharmacy, Sheeraj Shah, said that the location of the institute also plays a crucial role. "Institutes in big cities will not find problem ...

Habil Khorakiwala, chairman,Wockhardt Group is the new Chancellor of Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi. He spoke about his vision for the University, the gaps in the Indian higher education sector and the importance of hard work in a conversation with Prachi Rege of Zee News.   He highlighted that his focus would be to challenge the faculty to aim for excellence. He further stated that as a Chancellor, it will be his responsibility to give them a reality check of what they are doing and how relevant it is to things happening around them.     Detailed interview can be accessed at : http://zeenews.india.com/news/education/my-focus-will-be-to-challenge-the-faculty-to-aim-for-excellence-habil-khorakiwala_1532989.html