As the pharma industry continues to evolve, pharmacy education in the country will have to transform itself to help India Pharma Inc leverage emerging opportunities and nullify the challenges. Leaders and experts reflect on the strategies needed to bring about this metamorphosis
Pharmacy education has a major role to play in the the progress of the pharma sector. Yet, in India, it is entangled in several issues. One of the major issues is the implementation of the right courses as academic programmes are structurally not organised to meet industry expectations. This has resulted in a large number of vacancies in the organised sector along with a high rate of unemployment among the skilled category.
Understanding the criticality of the issue, Express Pharma spoke to industry experts to find out how these issues can be resolved.
The topic was also addressed at the recently held FDD Conclave organised by Express Pharma. An expert panel discussed the various challenges faced by the sector due to qualitative and quantitative paucity of talent and the role of academic
institutions in creating better talent in terms of quality and quantity.
Right talent pool
In the recent years, we have seen a lot of pharmacy colleges mushrooming across the country, especially in rural India. However, a constant lament is that students from many from these institutes lack exposure due to an outmoded curriculum changes and various other factors. So, how can we ensure that we create the right talent pool which is industry-ready?
Dr Amelia M Avachat, Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, Sinhgad College of Pharmacy points out, “It is not that we don’t have the right talent pool but the main problem is lack of exposure. Students belonging to rural areas have never seen a pharmacy college in their life and upgrading the talent pool remains a big challenge.”
Stressing on the urgent need to create the right talent pool via the academia route, Roop Krishen Khar (KILAM), Professor & Principal, BS Anangpuria Institute of Pharmacy, says, “The talent pool can be created by focussing and shortlisting pharmacy academic institutions in different regions of the country on the basis of their academic and research
outcomes and identifying their industrial partners in respective regions in the first place. Academic staff can move to industry on short-term sabbaticals from time to time and get trained in accordance with industrial needs. Industrial experts can be formally aligned with the academic institutions in different capacity, which can be mutually worked out. This can set a chain of activities together which will include, the process of curriculum changes, sharing of expertise and many others.”
Pointing out the reasons for lack of skill-based training at the academic level, Dr Arun Garg, Dean, SMAS KR Mangalam University, highlights, “The quality of education in Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) approved diploma colleges is a concern because most of the institutes provide education through distance mode/non-attending mode. This prevents student from learning necessary practical skills expected by the community/hospital/industry. Hands-on training in any course is the necessary gap that needs to be urgently bridged so a student can understand the value and essence of the programme he/she is undertaking. It also helps a candidate analyse his/her role to play as a pharmacist in the society.”
However, with regulatory reforms and technology upgradation happening at a fast pace, creating a niche number of talents for QbD, dissolution, patent search, IVIVC, pellet manufacturing, bioavailability and bio-equivalency testing, dossier preparation and filing, seems to be a challenging task for pharma institutes.
Nevertheless, the problem can be resolved, provided a thorough and rigorous screening process is undertaken, recommend some experts. Khar replies, “In under graduate courses, students should be directed to develop some practical skills in various areas of pharma technology, which can finally assist them to develop professionally in future. At present, we can see the potential impact of the outdated syllabus on the current industrial needs. With new technologies and regulations in place, the requirement for change in pharmacy education curriculum cannot be neglected. Hence, perfect courses and guidance should be provided to students, which will assist them to move in the direction of professional development.”
Upgrading the syllabus
The current syllabus followed in pharmacy colleges, as per the industry experts, is outdated.This, in turn, has taken a toll on nurturing the right talent. With advancements in pharma technology, students, alongwith, industry stakeholders should remain updated on the current scenario.
Khar points out that the outdated pharmacy syllabus is affecting industrial growth and there has been a large hue and cry to revise the syllabus, however, nothing much has happened on this front.
Dr Avachat talks about the required changes in pharmacy education and says, “The syllabus lacks in-depth study of excipients. Flexibility in syllabus can be in the form
of electives designed by the industry and academia during the first or final year of PG studies or final year of UG level and can be need-based as per industry requirements.”
She continues, “The elements of the course have become outdated and provide no or little interaction with the status and growth of the pharma industry. It becomes necessary to follow the rapid and continuous changes in pharma industry, which makes academia-industry interaction a necessity. The curriculum should be revamped to have more case study or actual practical-based syllabus. This would require inputs from the industry during the point of framing of syllabus. Practicals need to be designed based on problems encountered by the industry during the product development process, right from pre-formulation stage to regulatory filing.”
Pointing out that there is a complete disconnect between theoretical education and its application in practice, Dr Avachat says that there is an urgent need to bridge the gap. She also lists down a few points that needs to be considered to bridge the gap.
These include:
- How much theory is connected to industrial practice or pharmacy practice or to other requirements at the place of work?
- In what way is the ‘theory’ connected with ‘practical’ work?
- What is the real outcome of theoretical training? Can’t it be translated into some tangible outcomes?
- We need to understand and be very clear about as to which basic concepts have been imparted or strengthened by theoretical courses. Can these be actually documented or measured?
- Which specific skills have you been able to impart through the practicals attached to the theory course included in the syllabus?
- What are the specific applications or outcomes?
- How do you connect the basic concepts and the skills imparted? What is their actual application in industry/ market/work place etc?
- Can all these be documented or quantified, in order to highlight the achievements and the added value to the knowledge body acquired in this manner?
- How many times you give an opportunity to the students to give a feedback so as to whether he has understood the concepts or skills imparted by you?
- Can these facilities be effectively used by opting for initial R&D work of formulation development to be carried out in such type of institutions? She also says that this can be done mutually by the pharma industry and the academic institutions together. It could turn out to be a win – win situation.
She highlights that this could be a dynamic and a continuous process as per the needs and requirements.
Agreeing with Dr Avachat’s idea of involving representatives from pharma companies in the process of revising pharma curriculum, Dr Mahesh D Burande, Director, Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Pune says, “All companies should devote at least one person from their company and form a committee and this committee with the chairman should suggest the syllabus for M.Pharm. It should have a problem-solving approach and the process needs to be repeated every three years. Top 50 academicians in the country should come together to work with this committee to implement the revised syllabus. Initially, 50 per cent upgradation in syllabus is required but later 20 per cent is required every three years. This will give the industry the right talent pool.”
Dr Burande further says, “We have around 10000 pharma companies in the
organised sector and more than 500 pharma companies have their formulation development department while less than 50 companies are involved in basic research and drug development. To attract the talent, if all companies come together