New Delhi: The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) has stipulated that the staff to student ratio for Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) courses should not exceed 1:20 in theory classes and practical classes.
The Council, which revised the relevant portions of its earlier circular initiating approval process for the pharmacy institutions for the academic session 2025-26, in this regard, also sought the institutions to submit the applications without waiting for the last date.
“Staff to student’s ratio is not specified in the Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) Course Regulations, 2014. Staff to student’s ratio should not exceed 1:20 in theory classes and practical classes in B.Pharm course,” said the Council in a circular.
Staff requirement for B.Pharm courses with 60 students has been revised from a total of 15, including four professors, four associate professors, and seven assistant professor/lecturer, has been revised to 12, including three professors, four associate professors, five assistant professors/lecturers, apart from the principal.
For B.Pharm courses with 100 students has been brought down from a total of 25, including four professors, seven associate professors, and 14 assistant professors/lecturers, to a total of 20 teachers including four professors, seven associate professors, and nine assistant professor/lecturers, apart from the principal.
For D.Pharm and B.Pharm with 60 students, the total number of teachers has brought down to 18, apart from the Principal, as against the previous strength of 21. Similar changes has also been made to the staff strengths advised by the Council through the previous circular, for B.Pharm courses with various student strengths.
It may be noted that PCI has in its circular on December 17, 2024, announced that its portal is open between December 18, 2024 to January 15, 2025 for pharmacy institutions for consideration of approval for 2025-26 academic session.
In its latest circular, the Council reiterated, “all the institutions are requested not to wait for the last date as crowding may slow down the server, hence application be submitted at the earliest within the stipulated date. The consequences of failure to apply will rest on the institutions as no further extension will be given by the Council”.
The institutions can apply for continuation of approval, introduction of new courses, raise in admission in the pharmacy courses along with various other services. The institutions which are looking for these approvals will have to apply on the PCI portal as per prescribed schemes under the tab procedure/forms, said the Council in its previous circular.
The approval process has been initiated for schemes including D.Pharm, Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm), Master of Pharmacy (M.Pharm), Pharm.D and Pharm.D (Post Baccalaureate), and Bachelor of Pharmacy (Practice).
During the approval process for the academic year 2025-26 for introduction of new pharmacy courses by existing institutions, the institution will have to apply on the portal along with requisite Pharmacy Education Regulatory Charges (PERC), which is non-refundable, along with Goods and Services Tax (GST) and submit prescribed documents mandatorily, it said.
For B.Pharm course, the institution should submit consent of affiliation of examination authority and No Objection Certificate (NOC) of the state government. In case the State Government has done away with the issuance of NOC for the purpose, the institution shall upload the communication from the government as documentary evidence.
For D.Pharm, Pharm.D and Pharm.D (Post Baccalaureate), new M.Pharm course and introduction of new M.Pharm specialisation and B.Pharm (Practice) course, the institutions must submit consent of affiliation of the examining authority and a copy of the MoU with 300 bedded hospital (applicable for Pharm.D course) in the prescribed format.
For requests for raise in admissions, the Council has clarified that the number of admissions are restricted with 60 seats for D.Pharm, 60/100 for B.Pharm, 15 seats per specialisation, 30 seats for Pharm.D, 10 for Pharm.D (PB), and 40 for B.Pharm (Practice). The admissions for which the raise is being sought shall be done only after the approval of the PCI and the examining authority.
Institutions applying for services such as change in the name of institution, address or location, examining authority, and hospital, closure of course or institution, change in the name of trust or society, contact details and usernames and institution merger, shall submit statutory documents as mandatory.
For the payment of the PERC, multiple payment gateways are available and includes payment through Bill Desk, (NEFT/RTGS) and SBI. The new institutions which are applying for the first time need to pay registration fee of Rs. 10,000 along with applicable PERC.
