Punjab Newspaper

CHANDIGARH: October 23, 2009: A high profile executive group comprising of eminent personalities from all over the country kicked off the UGC Networking Resource Centre in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Panjab University, Chandigarh on 23rd Oct 2009. The centre has been created at University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences by UGC as a result of recommendations of the Task Force established by the MHRD to promote research in basic sciences. University Grants commission sanctioned a whooping sum of Five Crores for the establishment of this centre.

The objective of the Centre is to foster research and to provide training in furthering higher education in pharmaceutical sciences nationwide. The center will serve as a pool of trained professionals and modern facilities for researchers and faculty of other institutes of the country lacking in specialized facilities. Exposure to modern facilities, latest techniques and training to post-graduates, researchers, entry- and mid-level faculty in the frontier areas will be the central theme of this MHRD initiative. The programmes are open to candidates on all India basis and selections will be made on merit. Besides the in-house resources at UIPS, this project will also embark upon the on-campus centralized facilities at Central Instrumentation Laboratory (CIL), Centre with Potential for Excellence in Biomedical Sciences (CPEBS) and the allied departments on the campus.

The meet began with Prof. Karan Vasisht, coordinator of the centre and chairperson of UIPS, apprising the committee members about the various missions and goals of the centre. The Executive Group Meeting discussed the various points pertinent for the success of this first ever ‘Resource Networking Centre’ in the field of pharmaceutical sciences. Thrust areas for Summer/Winter School-Training Programmes and various strategies to be adopted to attract the researchers from all corners of the country were discussed in-length. The meeting ended with making valuable inputs for the successful implementation of the programme according to Associate Professor Ranju Bansal, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh.