Recently this month, a delegation from India announced the country’s intention to invest in several industries in Uzbekistan, including pharmaceutical and industrial sector. Currently, more than 145 joint ventures operate in the country. News of India investing in industries in international waters has been cropping up far and wide. The value of fostering good industrial relationships is especially amplified in the educational sector; still significant is its value in Pharmacy education. In this respect, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Puri, has made tremendous headway.
Not only has the college made collaboration with UPMA ( Utkal Pharmaceutical Manufacturer’s Associates), Phyto Pharmaceutical Pvt. Ltd., Manner Pharmaceutical Works, Jagannath Chemicals & Pharmaceutical Works (P) Ltd., and Abicee Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. (all from Odisha), the college recently appointed an industry expert and consultant as a faculty member, who is brings to the table his rich experience of working in various National and International Pharmaceutical Companies in sections like production, QC, QA, GMP, validation and R&D.
The Industry Institute Partnership Cell
The college also has a special Industry Institute Partnership Cell (IIPC) that acts as an interface between the industries and institute to take up collaboration activities for mutual benefit. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)-approved cell reduces the gap between industry expectations ( practise) and academic offerings (theory) by direct involvement of industry to attain a symbiosis. All the stakeholders, namely: Institutions, Industry, Students and Society stand to gain.
The Institutions stand to gain by way of up-to-date curricula, source of revenue generation by consultancy and R&D, source of manpower for employment, societal relevance, and most importantly acquisition of brand name and equity; industry stands to gain by way of availability of employable manpower pool, and increased productivity; students stand to gain by way of hands-on training, reduction of learning curve in industrial practices; and society stands to gain by way of improved quality of goods and services.
Director Academics
College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Puri
“It is important that the academia interacts with companies to provide training to students. They should also look into the critical evaluation and suggestions made by the industry to improve their curriculum. Changes made to the curriculum must be acknowledged by the industry experts and they should voluntarily interact with university academia for making the curriculum more relevant to the end-users. On the other hand, in a post-GATT era with product patents in place, the Indian Pharma companies have to come up with their own drug molecules and formulations that need innovative research. Academic institutions can carry out basic research to achieve these targets. The industry with the institutional involvement will be able to accelerate their New Chemical Entities projects and other research activities like product development, formulation or stability problem, quality control methods etc. using younger scientists and faculty from the institutions. They can use the infrastructure and human resources that these institutions provide. Moreover, academia has more vision and expertise in developing newer technology, which is essential for innovative research. With industry involvement, these ideas can be brought to reality for the benefit of society. Thus, the industry can also benefit provided they encourage tie-ups with academia,” says Prof. (Dr) B B Barik, Director Academics, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Puri.
Currently offering D. Pharm, B. Pharm. and M. Pharm Programmes, the college is affiliated to Biju Pattanaik University of Technology (BPUT) and is All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi, approve and Pharmacy Council Of India (PCI), New Delhi, approved. the college has segregated the students into various groups depending on their interests and their performance in the classroom and examinations, depending on which further remedial or boosting steps are undertaken. CPS, Puri also pays special attention to develop the necessary soft skills among students.
CPS, Puri is also one of the front runners when it comes to research and development. The recent Nodal Research Centre has been duly approved by the technical committee of BPUT and is fully functional under the guidance of eminent Professor Dr. B.B. Barik, who has already supervised many research projects from different funding agencies. Likewise, the college has applied for MODROB grant of AICTE and are hopeful to get many projects and findings from various sources. CPS, Puri continuously encourages its students and teachers to take part in national & international, symposiums & seminars and presenting research papers.
The college has prepared its laboratories as per global guidelines. Besides these, the college also has industrial machinery for training and the college’s experienced, senior faculty members, guide the students for industry-oriented project works. The college houses an array of machinery in its industrial Pharmaceutical lab; some of which are single punch and multi punch tablet machine, capsule filling machine, ointment and cream filling machine propeller starter double cone blender, as well as a 6 station dissolution test apparatus disintegration test apparatus, double beam, UV spectrophotometer, HPLC, and humidity chamber etc. for quality control test.
Recruiter’s Haven
Guest lectures and interactive sessions with seasoned experts can only get the “exposure’ quotient halfway. The rest half is carried out by the students themselves as they attend industrial training. For instance, students pursuing M. Pharm (Pharmaceutics) carry out project works at the college as well as in industry. this Exposure certainly helps them to gather knowledge on production, QC & QA, R&D, F&D etc. These initiatives that the college takes to ensure all-round development of the students is directly translated to the number of industry giants who flock around CPS, Puri to recruit the cream of the crop. Some of these recruiters are IPCA Labs. Ltd. SYLVASA (USFDA); N.Q.Ethicals (USFDA), Goa; ZYDUS, CADILA, Sikkim; Alkem Lab., Sikkim; Micro Labs Ltd., Sikkim; and ZYDUS CADILA, DAMAN (USFDA).
Imparting to the students the three major qualities on which CPS, Puri, stands firmly on, Honesty, Integrity, and Camaraderie, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Puri, is on its way to be the Eastern Zone for quality education and research.