Dr. Bhupen Kalita has been working as the Principal and Professor of NEF College of Pharmacy, Guwahati, Assam. He has an amazing 15 years of work experience in the education sector. He has done B. Pharm in 2004 and M.Pharm in 2008 from Bangalore based Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and PhD in 2017 from Assam based Dibrugarh University as part of his education. Before entering the education sector, he worked at Glenmark Pharmaceutical Ltd. for a period of 1 year, and later on he joined Sri Subrahmanya Swami College of Pharmacy, Bengaluru as a Lecturer of D. Pharm program in the year 2006. Apart from this, he has also worked as an Assistant Professor at Varanasi College of Pharmacy for 4 years and as an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutics for about 10 years at Girijananda Chowdhury Institute of Pharmaceutical Science (GIPS), Guwahati. Additionally, he has also qualified and received a GATE fellowship in the year 2006 for higher studies. After this, he served at Varanasi College of Pharmacy as an Assistant Professor for 4 years.

During his journey in the teaching profession, he has published his research works in 10 international, 20+ national journals and also in the proceedings of ICPPS conference which was held in Zurich of Switzerland in 2016. In August 2017, he delivered an oral session at European Advanced Materials Congress organized by IAAM & Uppsala University in Stockholm, Sweden. He has also presented his research works in 20 different National seminars/conferences along with international conferences held in India. Dr. Kalita also has 2 patent registrations in his credit and he has participated in 15+ QIP, FDP, STTP and workshops. He was also invited as a resource person in many workshops, seminars and conferences. In addition to all this, he has received AICTE ATAL ACADEMY grant in the year 2020 and has guided 20 M. Pharm thesis and 2 PhD scholars. He is also a proud member of Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) and Association of Pharmacy Professionals (APP). Since 2015, he has been serving as General Secretary of IPA Guwahati Local Branch and in February, 2021, was appointed as nominee of CPCSEA by the Dept. of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Govt. of India. He has also been involved in different regulatory functions of PCI, NTA and AICTE.

NEF College of Pharmacy

What are the key factors that keep you connected with the education sector?

I always had the passion for teaching, mentoring, researching and lifelong learning. And it gives me immense happiness and satisfaction while I interact with young minds and teach them new things, because throughout the whole communication, I get to learn so many new things. Lastly, working in this dynamic education sector gives me self-confidence, self-esteem along with meaning and purpose in life.

In your opinion, what benefits will students get after enrolling in courses offered by your college?

We offer D. Pharm and B. Pharm Programs at our college and our curriculum is regulated and updated by the PCI regulated. And all this ensures that our students get necessary knowledge & pharmaceutical skills which are essential in drug production, QA-QC, drug distribution, R&D, patient care, etc. Last but not the least, we do have the best teaching facilities and faculties, hence a student after enrolling in our courses will get the best opportunities and environment to grow on both personal and professional level.

How is your institute more welcoming to students of different races and economic backgrounds?

We do have students from all of the north-eastern states as well as from northern India and we use English as the primary language of communication. And for the purpose of assisting and guiding every visitor who comes to our campus to explore our course, we have highly technical, instructional, and office staff. Also, any kind of inequality is strictly prohibited in our colleges and strict punishments are provided to those whosoever are found doing so.

In your viewpoint, what should be the institute's top priority for the next 10 years?

I strongly believe that we should focus on providing PG programmes in all pharmacy specialties to students and also establish research and development labs for PhD scholars. Along with this, our aim should be to place students in the top 10 pharmaceutical companies, collaborate with reputed universities along with national and international level business and health organizations. Apart from this, establishing a proactive innovation and technology transfer cell to aid students and teachers in copyright, patenting, and commercializing research findings.

What would you like people to know about your institution that makes it unique from others?

We do have the latest facilities in laboratories and highly educated and extensively experienced instructors to teach students. And we regularly conduct athletic & cultural events and field trips to provide an overview to students about the latest developments, trends and requirements of the corporate world and best internships opportunities are also offered to them in a broad range of private and public sector companies. Lastly, career counseling sessions are arranged for students from time to time. And all these together makes us college different and unique in comparison to other educational institutions.

What are some of the greatest strengths of your college?

Our state-of-the-art infrastructure located in the heart of Guwahati and world class facilities we have developed as per standards of regulatory organizations, for the benefit and growth of our adoring students and highly experienced faculty members is our biggest source of strength.

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What biggest challenges do you see for your institute in today's dynamic and competitive world?

In our region, Pharmaceutical Colleges are increasing at a very rapid pace and this in return may affect our admission statistics in upcoming time because every other educational institution coming from the same domain acts as a strong competitor for us. Hence I see this as a big hurdle for our college in present as well as future times.

How do you establish a healthy relationship and environment in your institute?

We have a very active mentoring programme and digital tools for communication, finance and teaching-learning for the purpose of addressing daily problems and making interaction between students and teachers seamless in nature. Also, all of our teaching and non-teaching staff members have a compassionate attitude. Last but not the least, we have modernized labs in every department to carry out experiments and give the best possible practical exposure to students so that they can learn in a better way.

And these are some of the top-noth approaches we all use to maintain a strong relationship with each other and a wonderful ambiance for everyone to learn and grow.

Any suggestions which you would like to give to the current youth and aspiring students?

As we all know that the government has recently introduced the New Education Policy to give a push to the existing education system, hence I would like to advise my dear adoring students and youths to make best use of available opportunities and learning windows that they will get post implementation of this policy. Also, focus on enhancing those skills that are aligned with your passion and interest areas.