Entrance test for M.Pharm. courses

Updated on: Tuesday, February 09, 2010

The Kerala State government will conduct its Common Entrance Examination (CEE) for admission to M.Pharm. programme on February 14. It will take place at Government Vocational and Higher Secondary School for Girls, Manacaud, Thiruvananthapuram, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

M.Pharm. admission to two government pharmacy colleges and to the 50 per cent government seats in certain private pharmacy colleges in Kerala will be on the basis of the State government's entrance examination.

According to the State Entrance Exam Commission, as many as 56 M.Pharm. seats in four colleges in the State, including Thiruvananthapuram Medical College (26), Kozhikode Medical College (20), Al Shifa College of Pharmacy (5), and Nehru College of Pharmacy (5), will be filled by through the State entrance test.

However, the admission to all other seats of M.Pharm. programme in private pharmacy colleges in the State as well as major pharmacy institutes across the country will be on the basis of a Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT) to be conducted by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on May 2.

Similarly, pharmacy institutes with deemed university status, including Amrita School of Pharmacy, Kochi, will conduct their own entrance examination. But all of them will give weightage up to 50 per cent to GPAT, a separate screening test introduced this year for M.Pharm. programme (instead of old GATE).

The separate entrance exam by the State government and the AICTE has left many M.Pharm. aspirants in confusion. Academicians say that it is high time that the State government streamlined its policy on pharmacy courses.

Kerala is the only State in the country offering no weightage to GPAT or GATE score for admissions to M.Pharm. in government seats. GPAT score (formerly GATE score) is necessary not only for admission to M.Pharm. in most reputed pharmacy institutes across the country but also for eligibility of AICTE scholarships and grants.

“Thus, by not considering the GPAT score, the State denies a good number of students the opportunity to claim the Central government scholarships,” says Dr. K.G. Revikumar, principal of Amrita School of Pharmacy. “Of course, the State offers its own scholarships,” he adds.

With more and more pharmacy colleges coming up in private sector, the popularity of GPAT is also set to go up. Although the State government offers scholarships to M.Pharm. students, it is limited to those studying at Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode Medical Colleges.

No postgraduate pharmacy student in either Thiruvananthapuram or Kozhikode Medical College has claimed AICTE scholarship since M.Pharm. was introduced in Kerala in 1982. Initially, there were only a few seats for the M.Pharm. course in Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. At that time giving scholarships and grants to pharmacy postgraduate students did not burden the State.

But the discrepancy became obvious when the State began denying stipend to M.Pharm. students admitted in government quota in private colleges. Now, irrespective of government or management seats, no student in private college gets State government's stipend. It is pointed out that the State government, by recognising the GPAT score, could not only save money but also provide wider opportunities for M.Pharm. admission seekers.

Apart from Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode Medical Colleges, Grace Valley College of Pharmacy, Palakkad, Al Shifa College of Pharmacy, Perinthalmanna, Mahatma Gandhi University's School of Medical Health, Amrita School of Pharmacy, Kochi, Devaki Amma Memorial College of Pharmacy, Chelembra and Nehru College of Pharmacy, Pampady, offer M.Pharm. programmes. The M.S. University of Baroda, on behalf of AICTE, will hold the GPAT 2010 exam on May 2 in 61 cities across the country.

Entrance test for M.Pharm. courses

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