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NIPER to generate revenue internally from three depts
Private pharmaceutical companies will hold research at bioavailability, pharmaceuticals innovation centres; visitors will buy tickets to enter National Heritage Centre
Starved with cash crunch, the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in Mohali will generate revenue from its three departments – National Bioavailability Centre (NBC), Centre for Pharmaceuticals Innovation and Enterprise (CPIE), and National Heritage Centre (NHC).
An official privy to the matter told Hindustan Times that private pharmaceutical companies will approach NBC and CPIE to conduct various types of researches on their drugs which in turn will generate revenue for the institute.
“Both the centres conduct experiments on drugs having the same impact on humans. The firms can also study the effects of a medicine which costs less but has the same affect like its other alternatives,” he said.
The NHC will be open to the public who want to visit the centre, he added. “Visitors will have to buy tickets to enter its premises,” he added.
“The NHC has material which explains the development of ancient drug therapies and medicines leading to the current era of pharmaceuticals. Research materials, books, equipment, testing gadgets, portraits and artefacts having heritage status and related to the development of pharmaceutical or biomedical sciences are showcased at the centre,” the official said.
NIPER Mohali director Raghuram Rao Akkinepally had recently delegated the deputy registrar (finance and accounts) Jitender Chandel with the task to assess the financial state of departments.
NIPER had in the past held two internal and external budget resources meetings in New Delhi, each on making all NIPERs across India self-reliant.
“We have been asked by the centre to generate revenue internally and that is what we are doing,” Rao said.
Rao said the annual expenditure of NIPER Mohali is ₹45 crore. “We are expecting to save 30% of the total funds allocated to us by generating revenue through the centres and through other avenues,” he said.
NIPER management came up with these ways to generate revenue – tie-ups with private industries to involve them in research sponsorship programmes, short-term courses for industrialists, admitting foreign students, and renting out guest houses and swimming pools to the staff from other universities.
“The matter of fees of foreign students being made payable in foreign currency was discussed. It was suggested by the directors that such students could be charged a higher fees,” the official said.
“Students from developing countries pay a higher fees to pursue education in developed countries – they will readily pay the same to take admission in premier institutes in India,” the official said. “The fee structure of domestic students was also discussed – those falling in reserved categories are charged less, bringing down the revenue of the institution,” he added.
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.
