NIPER Hyderabad, Ahmedabad bet on COEs, revamping pharmacy syllabus with AI, med-tech courses: Director

The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) are revising their curriculum and launching programmes to better align pharma education with industry, both domestic and international. Shailendra Saraf, director of both NIPER Ahmedabad and NIPER Hyderabad, speaks to Careers360 about the establishment of pharma hubs, centers of excellence, new courses, jobs and more. Edited excerpts:

The government announced Centers of Excellence (CoE) for NIPERs in 2024. How are they coming along?

The CoEs were announced in 2024 across NIPER campuses and are already strengthening India’s pharmaceutical education by creating specialised hubs. This initiative is building research infrastructure, fostering industry-academia collaboration, and positioning India as a global leader in pharma-medtech. These centers are working along three verticals – research and development, capacity and accredited testing facilities. In alignment with this objective, NIPERs are offering two-year MTech/MS programmes in relevant areas.

All seven NIPERs have specialised focus areas for CoEs, like

• NIPER Ahmedabad: Medical devices

• NIPER Hyderabad: Bulk drugs

• NIPER Guwahati: Phytopharmaceuticals

• NIPER Mohali: Antiviral/antibacterial drug discovery

• NIPER Kolkata: Flow chemistry and continuous manufacturing

• NIPER Raebareli: Novel drug delivery systems

• NIPER Hajipur: Biological therapeutics

As for the impact on pharmaceutical education in India, there are significant changes, including enhanced research infrastructure; platform for industry-academia linkages; manpower development and strengthening ecosystem for drug innovation, medical devices manufacturing, and phytopharmaceutical research. All this will play a significant role in reducing dependency on imports and boosting the “Make in India” initiative.

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In 2024, NIPER Hyderabad was allocated funds to establish pharma and med-tech centers. How has that progressed?

NIPER Hyderabad was allocated Rs 90 crore under the Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma MedTech Sector (PRIP) scheme for five years. Under the CoE initiative, NIPER Hyderabad was identified as a flagship center for bulk drug research and the construction of a research-and-development building for the CoE. The advanced laboratories and pilot-scale manufacturing facilities are being set up.

Plug-and-play facilities for the industry are under development with required infrastructural facilities, like high-end equipment, pilot plant, R&D, and quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) labs.

The National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories-accredited testing facilities are already developed and enhancing the need-based scope of the testing facilities in both the NIPERs. Industry collaboration with leading pharma and medtech companies to co-develop prototypes, support clinical validation, and facilitate technology transfer, have been initiated. The focus of COEs is to get early-stage projects in continuous manufacturing, biosimilars, and indigenous medical devices, aligning with national healthcare priorities.

Several NIPERs are revamping their curricula to make them more industry-oriented and interdisciplinary.

NIPER Ahmedabad and NIPER Hyderabad are actively revamping their curricula to integrate AI, biotechnology, data science, and regulatory affairs, making pharmaceutical education more industry-oriented and interdisciplinary. Ahmedabad emphasises medical devices, biotechnology, and bioinformatics, while Hyderabad focuses on bulk drugs, pharmacoinformatics, regulatory affairs, and medtech innovation. Together, we are preparing graduates for cutting-edge roles in pharma R&D, regulatory science, and digital health. The statutory bodies, academic planning and development committee (APDC) and the senate have representation from the pharma industry. On average, there are around 30% and 50% revisions every three and five years, respectively.

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NIPER Mohali recently highlighted a stronger push towards entrepreneurship and startup incubation. Are Ahmedabad and Hyderabad also witnessing a rise in student-led innovation?

Yes — both NIPER Ahmedabad and NIPER Hyderabad are witnessing a clear rise in student-led innovation and deep-tech ventures, supported by dedicated incubation centers, industry partnerships, and government-backed schemes. NIPER Ahmedabad’s biopharma incubation center and Pfizer collaboration are nurturing biotech and medtech startups. NIPER Hyderabad’s Avishkaran BioNEST and Pharma Innovation Center are accelerating pharma-tech ventures and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven solutions. Over the last few years, many students have shown interest in entrepreneurship, and a few have started their ventures through the incubation center.

In 2024, NIPER Hyderabad’s MBA in Pharmaceutical Sciences was under threat. Is it still running? How has the course progressed?

The MBA in pharmaceutical management at NIPER Hyderabad is still running as of 2026. Despite reports of discontinuation in 2024, the programme continues as a two-year, full-time postgraduate course, with admissions through Telangana State Integrated Common Entrance Test (TS ICET), Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT), and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Joint Entrance Examination (NIPER JEE). The course has progressed steadily, maintaining industry relevance and offering strong placement opportunities.

The students are highly sought after by reputed pharmaceutical industries, and the department has been achieving 100% internship and final placement with the highest package: Rs 27.6 lakh per annum and average package is of Rs 12.2 lakh per annum. The programme continues to grow in terms of placements, industry connections and student engagement.

What new courses or departments are in the pipeline?

Several new courses and departments are in the pipeline across NIPER campuses, reflecting India’s push to modernise pharmaceutical education. These include programmes in regulatory sciences, novel drug delivery, biological therapeutics, and interdisciplinary areas, such as biopharmaceuticals, transdermal drug delivery, AI-driven pharmacoinformatics, and medtech innovation.

Courses like MTech in medical devices and MS (Pharma) in pharmacoinformatics and process chemistry were introduced a few years ago. The NIPERs are introducing the MTech in biopharmaceuticals from the current academic year onwards, that is, 2026-27.

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How have the placements been for NIPER Ahmedabad and Hyderabad?

Placements at NIPER Ahmedabad and NIPER Hyderabad have remained strong over the past few years, with both institutes consistently achieving nearly 100% placement rates. The students of NIPER-Ahmedabad and Hyderabad have been getting placements in top-tier pharma companies and multinational corporations.

What are the biggest gaps you currently see between India’s pharma education ecosystem and industry expectations?

This is a sharp question because despite the progress NIPERs and other pharma institutes have made; there are still some clear gaps.

The biggest gaps are: regulatory science and compliance; industry expectation entrepreneurship and commercialisation; interdisciplinary exposure, soft skills and industry readiness. In my opinion, India’s pharma education is strong in fundamentals but needs deeper integration of several industry-relevant subjects, regulatory science, entrepreneurship, and global standards to fully meet industry expectations.

The CoEs at NIPERs are a step in this direction, but scaling these reforms across all institutes will be critical for bridging the gap.

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How are NIPER Ahmedabad and Hyderabad strengthening industry partnerships to improve student employability and research?

They are doing it through formal memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with leading pharma companies, incubation support for startups, and translational research collaborations. These initiatives are directly improving student employability by offering advanced industrial training, internships, and access to global research platforms, while also accelerating research translation into commercial products.

NIPER Ahmedabad is leveraging incubation and biotech partnerships, while NIPER Hyderabad is deepening collaborations with major pharma companies and regulatory bodies. Together, we are building a robust academia-industry ecosystem that enhances student employability and accelerates research translation into impactful healthcare solutions.