As per the new National Education Policy (NEP), the next 15 years will see all Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) of India going through a graded accreditation and autonomy process in a phased manner with an aim to become independent institutions focusing mainly on innovation and excellence. NEP specifically emphasises that India must take lead in preparing professionals in cutting-edge areas that are fast gaining prominence such as biotechnology, genomic studies, nanotechnology, neuroscience, etc, with important applications to health, environment, and sustainable living. Greater emphasis will be on preventive healthcare and community medicine in all forms of healthcare education.
These areas will be woven into higher education for enhancing employability of the youth. Higher education will be re-engineered so that the duration, structure, and design of the educational programmes match the skills and role requirements that graduates will play, both in industry jobs as well as entrepreneurs. The policy is also focused on creating job creators than job seekers by focusing on the application of innovative ideas. This is of paramount importance to the biotech/life science sector. Currently the sector is posing a good growth through expansion, merger and acquisitions and outsource model. It is very important to create a strong talent pool in this sector to convert this surge to a quality growth and sustain.
Although biotechnology is an interdisciplinary product of the life science sector, the key for its success was due to the ability to embrace tools and techniques from other branches of science, engineering and technology. Since the advent of biotechnology in the early 1980s, it has grown by leaps and bounds in this century encompassing every possible application and outcome seen by mankind covering the areas of food and agriculture, medicine and healthcare, energy and environment so on. Biotechnology has given solutions to those problems that were not possible to resolve by other areas of scientific endeavours.
There are more than 300 universities, colleges and institutions offering various biotechnology and other life science allied courses in India. The following is a list of some of them divided under government and private institutions.
Government colleges: IITs — Madras, Delhi, Mumbai, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Roorkee, etc; NITs — Surathkal, Rourkela, Delhi, Warangal, Durgapur; IISERs; IIITs; HCU; Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology; GGSIPU; Panjab University, Anna University, JNU, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, NDRI Karnal, Jamia Millia Islamia, BHU, University of Calicut, Jadavpur University, Delhi Technological University, Madurai Kamaraj University
Private universities/colleges: Amity University, VIT, SRM, Manipal Uni, Shoolini Uni, BITS, LPU, SASTRA, SRMC, Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering, Sathyabhama, Jaypee Uni, Karunya, Vels Institute, KIIT Bhubaneswar, RV, MSR, PES, BMS,
Which are the preferred courses?
Most commonly preferred courses are B.Sc and M.Sc in Biotechnology, M.Sc in Life Sciences (Biochemistry, Microbiology, Genetics, Bioinformatics etc.), B.Tech in Biotechnology, Genetic Engineering, M.Tech Biotechnology, Biochemical Engineering, Integrated M.Sc/M. Tech Biotechnology, etc.
What are the career prospects?
Given the confidentiality, high cost and long-term nature of projects, biotechnology industries are very cautious in choosing and hiring the right candidate. Majority of the students coming from Indian universities and colleges although are good in theoretical knowledge, they are not thought to be poor in practical skills and hence not industry ready owing to several reasons like lack of quality infrastructure, Instrumentation, qualified and trained faculty etc. This makes it difficult for a fresher to easily gain entry into industry roles.
It is a common feeling that pay brackets for a biotechnology fresher are not so good in comparison to other industry standards. However, it is very important that one understands the reasons discussed above for the same. The pay package mainly depends on type of industry (biotech, pharma, CRO, start-up, clinical etc.), role and qualification. Startup companies generally pay in the range of 1.8 to 2.4 lakhs for a fresher. Medium scale companies pay in the range of 2 to 3 lakhs and established national/international companies pay in the range of 2.8 to 4 Lakhs.
Government entities including Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL) through Biotech Industrial Training Programme (BITP), state level initiative like Biotechnology Skill Enhancement Program (BiSEP) and private sector initiative like Biocon Academy are playing a key role in providing a finishing school experience and make the passing out graduates ready for industry jobs. Though novel, the scale of these initiatives constrains them suffice to cover a larger population of the students even put together or will take a long time to do so. Reforms in the policy level are certainly welcoming which will impact a larger set of the student population in making them research, academic or industry professionals.
The author is the programme dean at Biocon Academy, Bengaluru.