Theme Paper for Pharmacy Syllabus to be implemented

from Academic year 2008 – 2009.

Introduction : Pharmacy Graduate ( Bachelor of Pharmacy) course as offered by
University of Pune is expected to prepare the student for mainly working in
Pharmaceutical Industry. However the Avenues open for a student in industry are multiple
and the skills required for different avenues differ substantially. To accommodate all these
skills in the under graduate syllabus an unspecialized degree is offered at graduation level
presently. The Pharmacy profession is divided in to multiple career paths as below

Pharmacy profession

Marketing and Health Care and

Industrial / Technical
commercial patient related

Due to this the mission for Pharmacy has to take in to consideration multiple
responsibilities the profession has.
 Societal responsibilities : Pharmacist is an expert in research, production,
marketing, handling, storage and consumption of medication. The advisory role of
the Pharmacist in this capacity has major social dimension. This is mainly
important in developing country like India , where , illiteracy is considerable.
 Professional responsibilities : Pharmacy is one of the major industry
contributing the national economy and the academic curricula have responsibility
to produce professionals dedicated to sustained growth.
 Patient related responsibilities : In India a large population lives under poverty
line and ironically the burden of medicine expense lies on the population and not
on the government. The pharmacist can play a role in making medicines available
to the population at affordable price by adopting rational drug therapy concept..

Bachelor Of Pharmacy
Taking the above points into consideration it becomes imperative that the curricula of
pharmacy education should be required to adopt multiple objectives. This should be
achieved by categorizing the outcome ( viz. The graduate Students ) of the Bachelor’s
degree into Core knowledge / skill requirements , Back ground skills and Allied
knowledge and skills.
1. Core knowledge / skill requirements ( CK) : The basic knowledge and
information about the Medicines.
 Chemical structure and Structure activity relations ship
 Pharmacology and therapeutics
 Formulation technology
 Alternative system of medicine
2. Background skills / Knowledge (BK) : The knowledge of basic science
leading to understanding and leading to proficiency in the core subjects
 Chemistry : Inorganic / Organic / Physical
 Biology : Anatomy and physiology / Botany
 Disease and Pathology
 Mathematics and Statistics
 Engineering principals
.
3. Allied Knowledge and skills (AK) : These are the skills that lead to
achieve proficiency in one specific or different fields.
 Communication and language skills
 Aptitude development
 Commercial and managerial skills
The list is not exhaustive and more details can be worked out during actual curriculum
development. The subject distribution

Class Ratio of BK : CK : AK
I B. Pharm. 6:3:1
II B.Pharm. 4:5:1
III B.Pharm. 2 : 6 :2
IV B. Pharm. 0:7:2
Apart from these knowledge of additional subjects shall be necessary.
  Research Orientation
o Referencing
o Database
o Patent filing / SMF, DMF preparation
o Managed Care
o Digital Technology and IT
 Recent advances :
o Pharmacogenomics
o Pharmacogenetics
o Pharmacoeconomics
o Teaching/ learning methodology
o Bioinformatics
o Proteomics

Master Of Pharmacy
There should be more research component at the Masters Degree. The specializations
should be made more specific and focused. As specialized career opportunities are
demanding very highly specialized knowledge newer topic like Validation Technology,
International regulatory requirements, Pharmaceutical Project management should be
imparted. Credit point system shall be useful at this level also.
Instead of Fixed duration courses, flexible duration system, Continuous assessment of
pre course and Post course for each credit point may be adopted.

Present status of the syllabus : The present syllabus includes many of the required
skills. But the syllabus appears to be vastly inclined towards the Industry Orientation. The
Societal and Patient responsibilities appear to take background seat and the related topics
are included only up to superficial level. The syllabus is adequate to cater the present and
past scenario of employment. During the past two decades the employment for the
pharmacy graduates was largely in Industry, then in marketing and lastly in patient
oriented services. After the economic reforms and globalization there is a vast change
focus. The marketing career has become more attractive and major employment
generator. The Technical jobs also have a changed direction. The opportunities in
research and Quality Assurance are exceeding the opportunities in production. The
orientation to wards Clinical research and community pharmacy, pharmaceutical care is
gaining momentum. These topics are only briefly included in the present curriculum.
As regards the Assessment pattern, the system of annual examination is grossly
inadequate. Assessing the understanding of the students of individual topic against the
expected outcome can not be determined with the present assessment system. Some
major reforms in this direction are required to be made. Credit point system may be the
answer. There is also a requirement of continuous appraisal of the teachers against
achievement of educational outcomes is essential. The teachers training in the upcoming
knowledge branches, field training of the teachers / students is inadequately provided for
in the present curricula.
Re-orientation and Changes : Adjusting All the above requirements in the present
course duration ( 4 Years ) may not be practically possible. Increasing the course duration
to 5 years like the Pharm.D. Course, may be considered. However it will be burdensome
for the students. Alternatively specialized B. Pharm. Degree may be considered. However
this leads to inadequately prepared students. Secondly it may restrict career opportunities
of the students. Introduction of Credit system subject wise may be a good option. Subject
wise credits and no of credits required to award a degree shall give the students a chance
to choose their options more flexible. In addition continuing education may be facilitated
to the students to add credits to their degree by taking alternative subjects.