Source: https://www.educationtimes.com/article/careers/97969085/careers-offbeat
The new curriculum aims to introduce industry-relevant courses
The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) is working to modify the existing curriculum of Pharmacy education to make it more focused towards modernizing the Pharma industry.
PCI will introduce full-time degree
programmes in the manufacturing of medical devices and students will
get internship opportunities in hospitals for hands-on training.
The revised curriculum would be implemented once PCI gets full control over Pharmacy education from the AICTE,
which is in the final stages. PCI will get complete control over the
curriculum in a year once the formality and other processes are
completed. PCI introduced attractive scholarships to meritorious
Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT) qualifiers, which currently are
available only to students from AICTE-approved Pharma colleges.
Speaking to Education Times,
a source in PCI on the condition of anonymity says, “As soon as we get
the entire control of Pharmacy education, we would work on changing the
curriculum to make it in consonance with the demands of the industry.”
“The main thrust would be to
introduce full-time degree courses in the manufacturing of medical
instruments the provision for which is not there in the existing
curricula. “There would also be some aspects related to engineering that
the students would need to study while pursuing these full-time degree
courses as there are plans to increase the number of pharmacy colleges.
Besides, teachers would be updated about the industrial manufacturing
process of medical devices,” adds the source.
There are
discussions to introduce Pharmaceutical ethics, vaccination training
similar to that offered to nurses and increasing awareness of social
pharmacy in the new curriculum.
