NIPER Mohali director on PCI course revamp: ‘Curriculum overhaul important, want to make it industry-relevant’

National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) Mohali was one of the first NIPERs set up in India. While the institute is revamping its curriculum, Careers360 spoke with Dulal Panda, its director, about the new centre of excellence, placements, admissions, ranking and much more. Edited excerpts:

Q. Last year, a centre of excellence was set up for anti-bacterial and anti-viral drug discovery and development. How has this helped students?

The government of India is looking to transition from a developing state to a developed state. For this, we need to have research-oriented products. While India is a leader in generic products, we now need to be a leader in research-based products.

Also, the Indian population is aging, and bacterial and viral diseases are on the rise. Hence, we need good medication for our people. We need a dedicated research centre where a large number of people will be engaging to do fundamental research that will lead to such a product. Through this centre, our goal is to get some good new antibacterial, antiviral, diagnostic, and vaccine formulations.

Under this centre, we have started 32 projects which will have multiple students and researchers – that means at least 100 students or more will be directly involved in this. These projects address discovery of new antiviral, antibacterial diagnostic, formulation for antiviral and some other areas.

Recently, candidates of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research- Joint Entrance Examination (NIPER JEE) have complained of discrepancies in the admission process.

These are operational issues each NIPER faces. Decisions are taken in the best interest of all NIPERs. Last year NIPER Guwahati held the baton. This year, NIPER Mohali is making sure the best possible decision is taken. We have a decision-making body where a large number of people are consulted. That said, not every decision requires justification as sometimes some operational ones need to be taken by the authorities.

Q. Any plans to introduce new courses?

As everything is getting competitive, we need to change our curriculum. Everyday the world is globalised. Today more or less everyone has to compete with others.

For now, we are thinking of a couple of master's courses which will be introduced next year. These will include regulatory affairs, quality control and a few others.

PCI is planning to revamp pharmacy education across institutes. Does NIPER Mohali also have any plans?

In the new curriculum, changes are in progress. Overall, we want to make it more industry-relevant. Curriculum revamp is important for students to get the knowledge needed to work in today's industry. This new curriculum would also help them become entrepreneurs as it is National Education Policy compliant. Through the new curriculum, students will be highly oriented towards the industry with the required skills. We have also increased the faculty strength to enable this.

We might add more management-oriented courses in different courses. Now all courses have migrated to management orientation. Students get to study management, regulatory affairs, understanding of biology, molecular biology and many other areas as there are a lot of new techniques now such as tissue, gene therapy, and different types of cell therapy. Students need to know outside the traditional pharma area as well. Hence, these subjects are essential.

Also, we have got together a large group of faculty in order to increase the knowledge bank for students, a resource we did not have earlier. The revised curriculum will be implemented this year.

Q. How have partnerships accelerated research and innovation?

Huge efforts have been made in research to bring it from bench to application. Currently, this is our focus. Also, it takes time from discovery to making a product, which is time-consuming, highly challenging, and costly. So all this research will take at least five years.

We have incubation centres now through which we want to incubate student startups. We are also giving grants to faculty for product-oriented research.

We have several collaborations and have a large number of industry partners. One of the companies based in Hyderabad has started a centre of excellence in formulation. It is nearly ready and should be up for inauguration within two months.

Q. Last year, MBAs in pharmaceutical management were asked to be discontinued. However, Mohali held on. Why did you do this and how is the course doing now?

Last year, the two NIPERs decided to continue with the course. This year, the highest package from the course has been about Rs 28 lakh per annum and almost all students are placed. This is one of the most in-demand courses for those who want to pursue master's in pharmaceutical management.

While NIPER Mohali is the country’s best institute according to the QS ranking, it held the ninth rank in 2024 and the sixth in 2023 in NIRF pharmacy rankings. Why was there a fall and how are you planning to improve it?

After 2021, it took a little time to reflect – at least three years. There are several reasons for the fall. One of them is the depleting faculty strength over the last three-four years. Our faculty ratio earlier was 28:1 or 29:1. Now it has improved. From this year, you will see a faculty ratio of 16:1 or 17:1. But it will take a year or two to reflect as we recruited people only last year.

Also, we do not have foreign students which we need to get. This impacts ranking as well. Also, NIRF ranking only considers papers published in pharma journals. Many from our institute, particularly in different disciplines like chemistry, have published in top chemistry journals. This is around 50% of the research which is not considered in ranking.

But from now on, there will be only growth.

Q. How has been the placements of NIPER Mohali for the last five years? How do you look at this in the next few years?

Our placement number has been above 80% which is consistently increasing. Our highest placement package has been around Rs 28 lakh per annum. These are huge offers for non-Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) students. This is probably the best offer people can think of in India.

Last year, the campus placement of NIPER Mohali was nearly 90%.

Q. New pharma colleges are also coming up rapidly with a committee suggesting a halt on new ones in Maharashtra. How do you look at this?

These are mostly undergraduate colleges. So wherever there will be demand, there will be colleges. Now we are a national institute and our goal is to make sure we provide the best possible education. Education will lead to discovery, entrepreneurship, and skilled students. Hence, our students should take the challenge and make the country proud. That is what we are trying to do.

Q. How do you aim to advance the purpose and mission of NIPER Mohali in your tenure?

In my tenure, I have doubled the faculty strength, started so many research projects and made the institute more research-oriented. We needed to assign more value to independent thinking, and high-quality research, and this is my focus. If people have high-quality product-oriented research with independent thinking, they will make good entrepreneurs and leaders.

I am fortunate that the Department of Pharmaceuticals supported me and gave me this position, through which I have equipped NIPER Mohali. I am thankful to the administration that they sanctioned many faculty posts during my tenure.

Q. How do you see pharmacy education advancing in the next few years?

The future of pharmacy is good. If there is a large number of institutes coming up, it means there is a demand from students. And if there is demand, people will work towards it.

However, pharma education in this country requires a more rigorous curriculum.