Al Ameen College of Pharmacy Senior Faculty: Dr. Salma Khanam Interview

Dr. Salma Khanam is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacognosy at Al Ameen College of Pharmacy, Bangalore. She completed her B.Pharm, M.Pharm and obtained a doctoral degree from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Bangalore. She has 33 years of teaching and research experience and has guided many M.Pharm , Ph.D, and MD (Ayurveda and Unani) candidates. Due to her credentials, she has research grants from AICTE and RGUHS. She has completed many Industrial/Institutional collaborative projects with Natural Remedies, IIHR, FRLHT, and Sami Chemicals, Bangalore. She is a state government nominated member of Karnatak state pharmacy council (KSPC).

What are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

“Helping students understand concepts, learn the applications, & improve their skills”

As faculty members, we have many responsibilities towards the students to guide them in the right direction. We have a role of a teacher, mentor as well as a facilitator.

My fundamental role is to make the subjects interesting and more involving. I believe in learning, consolidating, and testing the gained knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. To check the continuous knowledge flow I regularly conduct tests and evaluations. I participate in developing their skills including academic writing or research presentation

How do you tend to establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

“By having positive interactions and equally contributing to the decision making for smooth functioning”

I try to establish a healthy relationship with my students by creating a balance between being strict as well as being friendly. I encourage their enthusiasm, help them in building their skills, motivate them to participate in all the activities of the class and the college. I try to disseminate practical knowledge and soft skills to my colleagues as well as students. And I never hesitate in learning new things, especially technology-related from my juniors as well as my students.

How do you try to bring in a practical approach towards the subjects?

“Orientation towards research & innovation along with industry visits and training”

• For the subjects that I teach I have to orient the students to the research and development in natural/herbal drugs, global market of herbal drugs, & industrial production of herbal drugs.
• I make the students collect details about various herbal industries and research work going in the field of natural drugs and submit a report. 
• I ask them to follow up the reports with presentations about the same. These activities help them to get an update about the industries.
• Whenever possible we also plan industry visits. Moreover, during their final year, they undergo industrial training which has always benefited them to be industry-oriented

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What are the best practices offered by the department to the students, for necessary skills?

“Problem-based learning, assisted studies, seminars, and workshops for skill imparting knowledge”

The college and department offer various teaching and learning processes for the Cognitive, Active, and Affective domains. Apart from having conventional lectures and tutorials, seminars and presentations I encourage Problem-based learning (PBL) or inquiry-based Learning (EBL). I also encourage independent and peer-assisted study. Emphasis is also laid on the development of expression and communication skills. Real-world learning with examples and brainstorming as a part of cooperative learning is encouraged for the PG students. They are taught to “Think-Pair-Share". The PG students carry out research work to submit a dissertation to the university. They are encouraged to publish their research work in journals and present their work at conferences.

How does your College/department prepare students for placement and Higher education?

“A very efficient placement department that maintains a goal to develop the career of the students”

It organizes different kinds of job opportunities in various organisations. Many of our students are placed in some of the best organizations through the placement cell. To update the knowledge of the students we have a Quality Improvement Program (QIP) cell, which conducts regular guest lectures and workshops for the benefit of students. The UG students are given Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT) training by the faculty to help them qualify for the exam for PG studies with a scholarship. Orientation programs and guest lectures are conducted to make them aware about the various openings for jobs as well as higher studies.

How do you help your student to cope up with the competition being so high in the outside world?

“We organize orientation lectures by accomplished alumni and guest faculties for students motivation”

From day one we teach them the concepts they would require to be competent enough to sail through the challenges. Throughout the course, they are updated about different competitive exams and coaching classes. Several lectures and workshops are conducted to make them learn the memorizing techniques and develop soft skills. 

An orientation programme called PHARMA DISHA has been designed recently for fresh PG students of RGUHS as a collaborative project of KSPC (Karnataka state Pharmacy Council) and RGUHS. Students are given insight into the Pharma spectrum including curriculum, job opportunities, teaching and learning methods, research methodology, IT tools, and scientific writing.

What are the challenges you are facing to uplift the quality of education of your department?

“The challenge is to give adequate exposure to the students to be ready for industry and the community”

The curriculum needs to be updated regularly to include the latest advancements. In my opinion, teachers also need to have more Industry exposure. 

• Industry-Academia interaction has to become strong with more industrial collaboration. 
• Every institute must develop an incubation cell to help entrepreneurs.
• The challenge for the upliftment of Pharmacognosy education is collaborating with herbal research institutes and herbal industries. 
• Technology upgrading at the institute level and more grants/funds would help us to align better with the industry. 
• Setting up a small manufacturing unit in the college, launching start-ups in herbal medicine are some of the other challenges.

What do you see the department’s greatest strengths and how can they be enhanced?

“The college’s greatest strength is the dedicated and hardworking Faculty”

This strength has to be retained and rewarded suitably. The teachers have to be trained in accordance with the industry and health care requirements. Under RGUHS a successful program - Training of Teachers (TOT) for faculty has gained many applauds. Every year the new faculty of our college are encouraged to undergo this training. 

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What valuable advice would you like to give to the students for a prosperous career ahead?

“To be a successful pharmacist you have to be a learner throughout your career”

You must have passion, dedication, perseverance, attitude, and strong belief. You have to be interested and updated with new developments in the industry. My most essential advice to students while studying would be:

• Be a successful lifelong learner. Plan, schedule and manage your learning experience.
• Have confidence in yourself to be competent and always believe in yourself.
• Build a strategy to achieve, have a perception, and perseverance.
• Be disciplined and develop the right attitude.