Mrs. Swati Saxena is the Academic Head at Rajeev Gandhi College of Pharmacy. She completed an M.Pharm (Gold Medalist) in Pharmaceutics from Rajiv Gandhi College of Pharmacy, Bhopal. She has over 12 years of experience in the field of Academics. She is also a recognized book author and has published around eight books on Pharmacy and some book chapters in renowned publishing houses. She has published more than 15 research papers in National and International peer-reviewed journals. Recently She has published one Indian patent and one UK design Patent. Her area of interest is in Pharmaceutics, Biopharmaceutics, Industrial Pharmacy, Novel Drug Delivery System, etc. Presently I am working as an Associate Professor at Rajiv Gandhi College of Pharmacy, Bhopal.

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Being a Faculty of the Rajiv Gandhi College of Pharmacy, Bhopal, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

Being a faculty of RGCP, Bhopal it is my core responsibility to schedule classes for all courses according to the Academic calendar given by our university so that we can conduct our session smoothly throughout the year in coordination with all other faculty members. Our main aim is to enhance smooth learning by students for all subjects either by conducting blackboard classes or by providing video lectures to make students understand smooth learning for industry. The other aim is to enhance teaching efficiency for faculty members by conducting extracurricular activities and giving a proper appraisal system so that they can work and perform their responsibilities in a healthy environment.

How do you try to bring in a practical approach towards subjects and make it industry-oriented?

Being a faculty in RGCP, Bhopal it is my core aim to bring practical knowledge towards subjects by providing industrial exposure to students which helps them to understand the culture of industries. In our college, we provide students with an atmosphere to nourish their internal skills and qualities. A system has been devised so that every student gets an opportunity to freely think and develop his skills to the maximum. In our college, Professionalism can be cultivated only through rational ways of thinking and performing. Students come out with their creative ideas and suggestions in any aspect of education and especially be focused on innovative research. Most of our students are getting practical training in research labs and local industries so that they can develop a practical approach in their mindset. Students are also being trained to improve their presentation skills and their personality.

What are the best practices offered by the department to the students that help them gain necessary skills?

Our institute provides the following practices to enhance student learning: To develop conceptual skills, to identify & formulate and solve problems innovatively, students undertake Case Studies and Simulation Exercises. Case analysis develops decision-making skills under simulated conditions and highlights the fact that real situations are more complex than what the students learn in theory class viz. Debate/ Role Play/ Business Games/ PDPs/ Aptitude & Tech. Skill Dev./ Soft Skills Development/ Value Aided Courses/ Concept Classes/ Workshops/ Industrial Talk. In tutorial classes, students undertake group discussions, problems faced in the lecture room, quizzes, class tests, and work exercises, under the supervision of a faculty. These measures improve the knowledge of the subject and appropriate planning of any work for achieving the objective.

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Do you have any extracurricular activities/ programs to enhance the skills of the students or expose them to real-world challenges?

In our college, we used to conduct different types of extracurricular activities we celebrate World Pharmacist Day to make our students understand the importance of our profession as well as their roles and responsibilities in our society. We explain them by conducting Pharma rallies, Pharma quizzes, Drama, Poster and oral presentations, Medicinal plant exhibitions, Pharma Rangoli, Essay writing, etc. Then we used to conduct different seminars and expert lectures to provide our students with knowledge regarding different aspects and train them for future challenges by sharing our experiences in group discussions. Extracurricular activities help students develop problem-solving skills. These teach students the importance of teamwork. Extracurricular activities encourage superior academic performance.

How the curriculum of your department/college does ensure the best practice of the industry?

Our institute used to provide timely training to students in batches in different research labs so that they could learn how to operate machinery on a large scale in industry. We have signed MOUs in collaboration with different research labs present in the local city along with some small-scale industries that are undergoing expansion. These labs and industry provide time-to-time training to our students as per the demand of the industry. We also used to conduct industrial visits to provide basic training about the work culture of the industry so that our students get mentally prepared to excel in the field.

What are the interventions and approaches you bring in apart from the curriculum to train/ teach the students?

Being a good institute of Bhopal, Apart from the curriculum we provide a good environment for the students for studies, we provide practical training to students for encouraging industrial exposures, we provide training to students for getting their campus placements, we also encourage students to come along with their innovative ideas to take their career higher with the help of presentation, article publication and involve in research work.

What do you see as the department’s/ college’s greatest strengths and how can it be enhanced?

Some of our strengths, being a good institute are to have excellent management who used to support giving good quality education to different categories of students. They don’t use to differentiate between poor and rich financial backgrounds. In their mind, it is quite clear that we aim to give knowledge to all inequality. For this promotion, they have selected an excellent mentor (our Respected Principal Sir) to fulfill their requirements. We have good infrastructure, a good library book facility, good qualified and experienced teaching and non-teaching staff, a healthy environment, promotion for extracurricular activities, etc.