Mohali NIPER plans to admit Nigerian nationals to boost revenue
chandigarh@hindustantimes.com In a bid to make National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), a self-reliant body, the authorities are mulling to consider Nigerian nationals for admission to various courses. “We have recently received an offer from the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Abuja, Nigeria, for exchange of students and faculty.
chandigarh@hindustantimes.com
In a bid to make National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), a self-reliant body, the authorities are mulling to consider Nigerian nationals for admission to various courses.
“We have recently received an offer from the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Abuja, Nigeria, for exchange of students and faculty. Research collaboration factor is also a there, ” said an official, requesting anonymity.
The review committee has checked the memorandum of understanding (MoU) sent by the Nigerian University. “It will be forwarded to the director by next week and then it will go to the ministry for a final call,” he said.
In September last year, an internal and external budget resources meet to discuss making all NIPER centres across India self-reliant was held.
All NIPER directors, including Raghuram Rao Akkinepally (then director of NIPER Mohali) attended the meet in New Delhi at the office of the department of pharmaceuticals secretary, PD Vaghela.
All directors had received a mail from the secretary to hold the meet, after which they had sought ideas from all teaching faculty on ways to generate revenue for the institute.
Some teachers had then suggested that the institutes should start admitting foreign students to the campus. “The foreign students will be paying higher fees than the domestic ones which will increase the revenue of the institute,” said another official.
Renting out the guest houses and swimming pools were also discussed. Some suggested that the institutes should become consultancy partners for medical industries to help them make medicines using the most suitable ingredients.
Saving Plans
He said the annual expenditure of Mohali NIPER was ₹45 crore. “We are expecting to save 30% out of the total funds allocated to us, by generating revenue through the centre among other steps,” he said.
On November 24, cash-starved NIPER in a meeting had also decided to generate revenue from its three departments – National Bioavailability Centre (NBC), Centre for Pharmaceuticals Innovation and Enterprise (CPIE), and National Heritage Centre (NHC).
It had then said NBC and CPIE will conduct the various types of researches on their drugs which in turn will generate revenue for the institute. While NHC was planned to be thrown open for the public over minimal amount.
“The other plans are also in the pipeline. We are working over it,” the official said.
About NIPER
NIPER is the first national-level institute in pharmaceutical sciences and has seven centres across the country – in Mohali, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Hajipur, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Raebareli.
The Mohali institute has been built on around 146 acres and has around 1,000 students enrolled. It has 10 departments including biotechnology, medicinal chemistry, natural products, pharmaceutical analysis, pharmacology and toxicology, among others.
