Human Resource Support

The number of public and privately funded institutions offering biotechnology and related courses has been growing in the country and there are at least 300 quality institutions in the country. These will be a key driver to fuel the growth of the biotech sector in the country.

India is one of the first few countries in the world to initiate an integrated program of human resource development in biotechnology comprising of post graduate teaching programs, short-term training courses for upgrading skills of mid-career scientists, faculty involved in undergraduate and post graduate teaching, training in leading overseas laboratories, in gap areas where expertise does not exist in the country.

Currently, the department of biotechnology (DBT) which is the nodal agency for overseeing the development of this niche sector in India, is supporting post graduate biotech educational programs in about 74 universities across the country, which nurtures about 935 post graduate professionals annually in the biotech arena. In addition, there are an increasing number of private institutes venturing into biotech education with a variety of undergraduate and post-graduate programs.

The DBT supported post-graduate courses were initiated way back in 1985 in six universities in close collaboration with the University Grants Commission, ICAR and the department of ocean development. The programs were conceived as collaborative, inter-departmental and inter-institutional programs. Later, these were expanded in the areas of general, medical, agricultural, marine, veterinary, industrial and pharmaceutical biotechnology. These programs served a catalytic role and many other institutes later initiated these programs.

Number of institutes running DBT supported PG Programs (area-wise)

DBT's HRD Support

• Ph.D. (JRF): 43

• (Each year w.e.f 2004-05)

• Post Doctoral Fellows: 150

• Overseas fellowship: 25

• Bioinformatics Centers of Excellence: 05

• Distributed Information Centers: 11

• Sub-Distributed Information Centers: 49

The DBT has set up seven autonomous institutes in modern biology. These are:

• National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi

• National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune

• Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad

• National Brain Research Centre (NBRC), New Delhi

• National Center for Plant Genome Research (NCPGR), New Delhi

• Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal

• Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar

The DBT supports 25 biotech facilities and centers of excellence.

DBT Program Support for promotion of excellence

• Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

• Bangalore University, Bangalore

• Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram