Guntur: Pharmacy education has tremendous career opportunities but the demand - supply mismatch was glaring as the youth passing out of the basic B.Pharmacy course are found wanting in skills required by industry while the job market has not yet fully opened up due to various regulatory issues. The pharmacy colleges have to impart the best quality education with a fair blend of academics and research component. The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) should come up with a standard set of guidelines for pharmacy education, said Allam Appa Rao, Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University-Kakinada.
Addressing a workshop on pharmacy education here on Monday, Prof. Appa Rao said the shortage of qualified pharmaceutical teachers and competent administrators was the fundamental drawback as far as the education part was concerned.
Students of B.Pharmacy and M.Pharmacy should be able to deliver what the industry requires. For this to happen, they should gain practical experience in their final years of study.
As regards the Pharm.D course, which has a lot of preference in the USA, PCI has to make a detailed study of the requirement of this emerging breed of professionals. The first batch of Pharm. D graduates would be coming out from colleges in 2014.
The governments and administrators of pharmaceutical education have to address the issue whether Pharm. D candidates would go for hospital jobs, government organisations, private sector or be equal partners in the health care delivery system.
Uniformity in syllabus for B. Pharmacy, D. Pharmacy and M. Pharmacy courses throughout the country was imperative, Prof. Rao said.
Director of Evaluation and Academics In-Charge K Satya Prasad said the stress was on bringing about commonality of first year course structure for B.Tech and B. Pharmacy courses in JNTU-K and incorporating the PCI guidelines in framing the course.
Directors G.V.R. Prasada Raju (Academic Audit) and B. Prabhakar Rao (Institute of Science and Technology), Advisor for Pharmacy courses S.V.U.M. Prasad and others were present.