ICRI plans campuses in UK, US and Singapore

The Institute of Clinical Research India (ICRI), which offers short and long duration programmes in the field of clinical research, plans to establish new campuses in India and abroad.

The institute has campuses in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and has recently opened one at Ahmedabad. In the next academic year or two, ICRI has plans to establish international campuses at UK, US and Singapore. For this, it is in talks with universities offering similar programmes in the respective countries.

"There is a growing demand for highly skilled clinical research professionals in India which we are trying to fill through our pioneering masters programme in Clinical Research which was started three years back.

"Top business houses like Ranbaxy, Pfizer and others are enthusiastic to hire our students and the feedback received so far from the industry has been positive. By entering into academic alliances with some of the best universities and research institutes, we plan to expand our presence nationally and internationally in the coming academic year, " said S. K. Gupta, Dean and Director General, ICRI.

A McKinsey Report states clinical trial outsourcing to India in the pharmaceutical industry is estimated to reach around Rs 5,000 crores by the year 2010, and there will be requirement of approximately 50,000 Clinical Research professionals here.

Further, owing to an alliance with Cranfield University, UK, a leading research led institution, the institute has started offering its students the option of studying at Cranfield for a period of six months or one year which was taken up by 25 students during the last academic year.

ICRI's expansion will continue in India with plans to set up a campus each at Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune in the next academic year. The campuses will have an intake of around 100-150 students.

At present, around 600 students study under the institute's programmes of which 400 are regular students pursuing their M.Sc in Clinical Research and the rest are part time students enrolled for a one year Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Data Management and one year Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research. Its latest campus in Ahmedabad has an intake capacity of 150 students and will begin its academic session from August 2007.

The institute has also started working on a framework for its education and research work now that it has been awarded a grant of £23,000 per-year over a period of five years from the UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) in tandem with Cranfield University, UK.

With the grant received from UKIERI, ICRI would initiate higher education programmes in India for translational medicine and molecular biology. It will also be setting up its own laboratory on clinical research at the cost of around Rs one crore in the next few months.

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Other research programmes in the country

Academy for Clinical Excellence (ACE), operating from Bombay College of Pharmacy, offers a PG Diploma in Clinical research and certificate courses

Bioinformatics Centre, University of Pune, offers a 6-month PG programme in Clinical research and clinical data management

Diploma in Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs offered at Manipal University