609 students receive degrees at Mohali pharma institute

The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) held its 16th annual convocation at NIPER Convention Centre today, conferring degrees to graduation students and awarding medals to academic achievers.

Sengupta Debjani Debdatta, MTech (Pharm), and Divya Trehan, MBA (Pharm), received the gold medals while 11 candidates from the MS Pharm, M Pharm and MTech (Medical Devices) received the silver medals.

During the convocation ceremony, a total of 308 candidates (seven PhD, 178 MS (Pharm), 26 MPharm, 29 MTech (Pharm), 20 MTech (Medical Devices) and 48 MBA (Pharm) received the degrees. All the degree recipients donned Indian attire for the convocation.

Dr Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and Family Welfare, Directorate General of Health Services, was the chief guest and Yugal Sikri, RPG Life Sciences was the guest of honour. Dulal Panda, officiating chairperson, Board of Governors and Director, NIPER, presided over the function.

In his welcome address, Panda congratulated all the degree recipients and their families and their mentors for their support, guidance. He also briefed about initiating a one-year Executive Post Graduate course in regulatory sciences with specialisation in chemistry, manufacturing, and control (CMC) for working professionals. Further he mentioned that more than 85 per cent of the students were placed on campus, with the highest package being Rs 29 lakh.

Nineteen faculty members, including five former faculty members from the institute, have been included in the 2025 Stanford–Elsevier list of the world’s top 2 per cent scientists, with eleven securing positions in the career-wise rankings, which evaluate research impact across an entire academic career.

Raghuvanshi, in his address, mentioned that whatever success India got in pharma was by staying grounded in science. “Now, the game is changing from volume to value. Therefore, we have to lead in innovation and entrepreneurship,” he said, further advising the students to try to get as much as possible knowledge beyond their domain. He urged them to keep recalibrating themselves, adding that personal ethics were the most important.