Curriculum on bio-technology will be redesigned: Minister

Hyderabad, Nov 9 (UNI) The curriculum on bio-technology in the universities across the country will be redesigned to meet demands of pharma industries for qualified employees, Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development D Purandreswari said today.

Speaking on the sidelines of ''Global Bio-pharma Conference-2006'' here, she said her ministry would hold talks with Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal on this regard.

Pointing out that Indian bio-tech firms faced lack of qualified employees because of ineffective curriculum, she said ''efforts are on to come out with a new curriculum.'' Noting that pre-clincal trial was easy in East European countries, she said the issue would be discussed with Mr Sibal and stressed the need for allowing pre-clinical trials on larger species.

She said the current global market for bio-pharmaceuticals were 25 billion USD and was expected to increase to 40 billion USD in the next couple of years.

India accounted for two per cent of the 41 billion global bio-tech market. In 2003, India was ranked third in the Asia-Pacific region, she said adding that 75 per cent of the revenues generated by the Indian bio-tech came from bio-pharmaceuticals.

India would solve its funding problem by attracting overseas investors and partners.

New centres of excellence in bio-technology should be set up and a national task force should be established to develop undergraduate and postgraduate courses in life sciences and bio-technology, she added.

UNI SM AJ SP BS1653