Biotechnology is an interdisciplinary science which covers wide variety of subjects including Chemistry, Mathematics, and Engineering. The field is also associated with subjects like Health and Medicine, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Ecology, Cell Biology and Marine Biology etc.    

Biotechnology finds promising applications in four major industrial areas, including health care (medical), crop production and agriculture, non food (industrial) uses of crops and other products (e.g. biodegradable plastics, vegetable oil, bio-fuels), and environmental uses. The Biotechnology professionals are now involved in the areas of medicine, agriculture and related fields. It is now considered as one of the fastest growing and promising field of study which is progressing ahead through research and development.

In India, the scope for education in Biotechnology is no less encouraging. Owing to its wide application in various industries, the demand for trained professionals has also increased. Realizing its academic importance, some of the institutes and universities in the country have started offering a plethora of courses for the younger generations. The courses are offered mainly at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Courses Available 

Entry into Biotechnology is mostly at the postgraduate level. However, there are few Indian universities offering undergraduate courses in Biotechnology.  Candidates having excellent academic background in science at the intermediate level can take up the course in Biotechnology viz. B.Sc, BTech or Integrated MTech course offered by the IITs.

The following Professional Courses are offered by Indian institutes/universities: 

Undergraduate Program (s)

• B.Tech in Biotechnology

Postgraduate Programs

• M.Sc. Biotechnology
• M.Sc. (Agriculture) Biotechnology
• M.V.Sc. (Animal) Biotechnology
• M.Tech. Biotechnology, M.Sc./M.V.Sc. Veterinary Biotechnology
• M.Sc. (Marine) Biotechnology
• Medical Biotechnology
• M.Tech. in Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology.

Depending upon the aptitude and necessity, more advanced courses such Ph.D. and Post-Doctoral Research in Biotechnology can also be pursued from selected universities from India and abroad.

Areas of interest

Medical Biotechnology: The field deals in the health care and pharmacy sectors. Any discovery in this field pertaining to drugs, vaccines, diagnostics etc can take the entire industry on another platform altogether.

Medical Nanotechnology: This is a highly interdisciplinary field of Bio-technology dealing with atoms which are only a few nanometers in diameter. It is used for diagnostic and curative purposes.

Industrial Biotechnology: Industrial Biotechnology is the application of biotechnology for the environmentally-friendly production and processing of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, materials and bio-energy.

Agriculture Biotechnology: This is the most sought after job or career specialization for Biotechnology aspirants. Agricultural Biotechnology involves the application of modern Biotech techniques to improve plant health and productivity.

Marine Biotechnology: This is an emerging discipline of Biotechnology. The study of marine animals, researching and developing the drugs and survival mechanism for human are the core objectives of Marine Biotechnology. It also explores the possibility of using Marine life for transplants.  

Career Prospects

There is great career opportunity in Biotechnology as the demand for trained professionals is growing in the global scenario including India. The country has a global market worth $91 billion and there is scope for cheap R&D through bio-partnering and co-developing technologies mainly with Chinese and American companies.

Employment opportunity, both in Government and private sectors are available. The government institutes and organizations, such as Department of Biotechnology (DBT), several agriculture, dairy and horticulture institutes offer jobs to Biotechnology professionals. In the private sector, the job openings for biotechnologists are unlimited. Drug companies in biotechnology like Dabur, Ranbaxy, Hindustan Lever, Dr Reddy’s Labs that have their R & D units offer Biotechnology professional with handsome pay-package. One can also find jobs in food processing industry, chemical industry and textile industry.

In India, the major companies which hire biotechnologists are: Hindustan Lever, Thapar Group, Indo American Hybrid Seeds, Bincon India Ltd., IDPL and Hindustan Antibiotics etc.

The pay package varies from 10k-30k for graduates at entry level. However, candidates with postgraduate qualification can get more than this. Those employed in government research centres can start with Rs. 12,000 along with government allowances.

Institutes/Universities

AIPMT is conducted in two stages: Preliminary Examination and Final Examination. Only those candidates who qualify the preliminary examination will be eligible to appear in the AIPMT final examination. The preliminary examination is usually held in the month of April followed by final examination in the 1st week of June. The sale of information bulletin containing application form starts in the month of October or November.

Eligibility for Admission

Age Criteria: The candidate should have completed age of 17 years at the time of admission or will complete the age on or before 31st December of the year of his/her admission to the 1st year M.B.B.S./DENTAL Course and is an INDIAN NATIONAL.

The upper age limit for All India Pre-Medical /Pre- Dental Entrance Examination is 25 years as on 31st December of the year of the entrance examination.

Educational Qualification: The candidate should have passed (at the time of admission) the Higher/Senior Secondary Examination or the Indian School Certificate Examination which is equivalent to 10+2 Higher/Senior Secondary Examination after a period of 12 years study, the last two years of such study comprising Physics, Chemistry, Biology (which shall include practical tests in these subjects) and Mathematics or any other elective subject with English at a level not less than the core course for English as prescribed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training after introduction of the 10+2+3 educational structure as recommended by the National Committee on Education.

The Intermediate/Pre-degree Examination in Science of an Indian University/Board or other recognized examining body with Physics, Chemistry, Biology (which shall include practical test in these subjects) and English will also be considered as qualifying examination.

Reservation of Seats

(a) 15% seats for SC candidates and 7.5% seats for ST candidates are reserved in 15% all India quota for MBBS/BDS courses. The reservation will be made as per the 2200 point reservation roster. The mode of implementation of reservation will be available on the website: www.mohfw.nic.in.

(b) In pursuance of the Honourable Supreme Court order reservation for OBC candidates will be made in phased manner on the pro-rata basis in respect of seats being contributed to the All India Quota by the Central Education Institutions only. Detailed information in this regard will be available on the website: www.mohfw.nic.in later on.

How to Apply

A candidate can apply for the All India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Entrance Examination in any of the following two ways:-

Offline

Offline submission of Application Form may be made on the prescribed Application Form. The Information Bulletin and Application Form costing Rs.600/- (including Rs.100/- as counselling fee) for General & OBC Category Candidates and Rs.350/- (including Rs.100/- as counselling fee) for SC/ST Category Candidates inclusive of counseling fee can be obtained against Cash Payment between 22-10-2008 to 01-12-2008 from any of the designated branches of Canara Bank/ Regional Offices of the CBSE.

Online

Online submission of application may be made by accessing the Board’s website
www.aipmt.nic.in from 22-10-2008 (10.00 A.M.) to 01-12-2008 (5.00 P.M.).
Candidates are required to take a print of the Online Application after successful submission of data. The print out of the computer generated application, complete in all respect as applicable for Offline submission should be sent to the Deputy Secretary (AIPMT), Central Board of Secondary Education, Shiksha Kendra, 2, Community Centre, Preet Vihar, Delhi-110 301 by Speed Post/Registered Post only. Fee of Rs.600/-(including Rs.100/- as counseling fee) for General and OBC Category Candidates and Rs.350/- (including Rs.100/- as counselling fee) for SC/ST Category Candidates may be remitted in the following ways:

1. By credit card, or
2. Through Demand Draft in favour of the Secretary, Central Board of Secondary Education, Delhi

To view the list of Canara Bank Branches from where Information Bulleting containing the Application Form can be obtained, CLICK HERE

Syllabus

The Syllabus is common to both Preliminary and Final Examination. To view the syllabus of AIPMT – 2009, click here

Exam Pattern

The entrance examination consists of:

Preliminary Examination: The Preliminary Examination would consist of one paper containing 200 objective type questions (four options with single correct answer) from Physics, Chemistry and Biology (Botany & Zoology) to be answered on the specially designed machine-gradable sheet using Ball Point Pen only. The duration of paper would be 3 hours.

Final Examination: (Only for those who qualify in the Preliminary Examination).
The Final Examination would consist of two papers each of 2 hours duration. Paper-1 would contain questions from Physics and Chemistry and Paper-2 would contain questions from Biology (Botany & Zoology). The Final Examination will have conventional (non-objective) type of questions to be answered in the Answer Book supplied.

Language of the Question papers: Candidates can opt for Question Papers either in English or in Hindi. This option should be exercised while filling in the Application Form. It cannot be changed later.

Test Centres

The Preliminary Examination of All India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Entrance Examination is conducted at the following test centres:

Itanagar, Agartala, Port Blair, Shillong, Imphal, Panaji, Puducherry, Guwahati, Trivandrum, Cochin, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Patna, Ranchi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Shimla, Lucknow, Noida, Dehradun, Chandigarh, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Bhopal, Raipur, Jaipur

The final examination of all India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Entrance Examination is conduct3ed at the following centres:

Cochin Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Ranchi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Delhi, Kolkata, Bhopal and Jaipur

Note: The test centres are liable to change. Please compare the list with the list given in the Information Bulletin.

Important Dates

Sale of Information Bulletin and Application Form at notified branches of Canara Bank / Regional Offices, CBSE: 22-10-2008 (Wednesday) to 01-12-2008 (Monday)

Sale of Information Bulletin and Application Form by post from CBSE, AIPMT Unit: 23-10-2008 (Tuesday) to 21-11-2008 (Friday)

Online submission of Application form: 22-10-2008 (10.00 a.m.) to 01-12-2008 (5.00 p.m.)

Last Date of receipt of filled-in Application Forms for both Offline and Online application at CBSE, AIPMT Unit: 04-12-2008 (Thursday)

Date of Examination

• Preliminary (AIPMT) 2009 - 5th April, 2009 (First Sunday)
• Final (AIPMT) –2009 - 10th May, 2009 (Second Sunday)

Declaration of Result

• Preliminary (AIPMT) 2009 - 3rd week of April, 2009
• Final (AIPMT) –2009 - First week of June, 2009

How to prepare for AIPMT

Students desirous of taking admission to MBBS/BDS course in some of India’s premier medical colleges should start their preparation right from their class 11th. As the general standard of the examination will be that of 11th and 12th class under the 10+2 pattern, hence students are required to have strong fundamental knowledge of physics, chemistry and biology of the same standard.

Joining a good coaching institute or subscribing to high quality study materials is always helpful to the students preparing for any entrance test. Many students are now taking the advantage of computer and IT in their test preparations. The concept of E-learning has emerged as a winning strategy for the test takers. The online test series and study materials developed by 100Percentile in partnership with Allen Career Institute are helping students to great extent in their test preparation.

100Percentile’s online medical courses include “AIPMT 2009” and “AIPMT 2010”. The courses are comprehensive in category and are ideal for class 12th and 12th Pass students who are appearing for AIPMT, AIIMS, AFMC, DPMT and other Pre-medical entrance exams in the year 2009 and 2010. For more information on 100Percentile’s medical test series, click here 
 
Contact Details

Dr. Sanyam Bhardwaj
Deputy Secretary (AIPMT Unit)
Ph: 011-22059683
E-mail: sanyamb.cbse@nic.in

Mrs. I Margaret Catherine
(Programmer)
E-mail: catherine.cbse@nic.in
Central Board of Secondary Education
2, Community Centre,Shiksha Kendra
CBSE Headquarters,
Preet Vihar, Delhi-110092

Regional Offices of the CBSE

1. Plot No. 1630-A, J -Block, Anna Nagar, Chennai -600 040
2. Rajgarh Road, Rajgarh Tinal i, Guwahat i -781 003
3. Todar Mal Marg, Ajmer -305 001
4. Sector -05, Panchkula-134 152, Haryana.
5. 35-B, Civi l Stat ion, M.G. Marg, Civi l Lines, Al lahabad-211 001.
6. Syndicate Bank, CBSE, “Shiksha Kendra”, 2, Communi ty Cent re,
Preet Vihar, Delhi -110 301

The MBBS entrance test conducted by AFMC is considered to be one of the toughest medical entrance examinations in the country. The test is usually held in the month of May and the notification for application comes during December or January. 

Eligibility for AFMC MBBS Entrance test

A candidate seeking admission to the MBBS course is eligible to take the entrance examination if he/she fulfills the following criteria:

• A candidate should be a citizen of India or be a subject of Nepal or Bhutan or a person of Indian origin migrated from Pakistan or any other foreign country with the intention of permanently settling in India.
• Must be unmarried. Marrying during the course is not permitted.
• Should be medically fit as per prescribed standards by the Govt. of India, Ministry of Defence
• Must have attained the age of 17yrs on 31st Dec of the year of application, but must not have attained the age of 22 years on that date (Not more than 24 years in case of candidates who have passed or are appearing in final B Sc examinations).

Academic Qualifications: Candidate must have passed all the subjects opted for in the first attempt of the qualifying examinations as a regular candidate with English, Physics, Chemistry and Biology taken simultaneously and securing not less than 60% of the aggregate marks in these 3 science subjects taken together and not less than 50% marks in English and 50% marks in each of the science subjects. They must have also passed an examination in Mathematics of the 10th standard.

Admission Procedure

Advertisement for AFMC MBBS Entrance Test is published in leading news papers of the country in the month of December every year. Candidates are required to submit their application forms in the prescribed format, along with other necessary documents mentioned therein.

Admission to MBBS course is based on written examination. The written examination is held on 1st Sunday of May. Successful candidates in the written examination are called for interview in June for the courses starting in July. Admission is subject to medical fitness.

Number of Seats

A total of 130 seats (105 boys & 25 girls) are available in MBBS program. 

How to Apply 

Prospectus and application forms can be purchased on payment of requisite amount (for 2008 the amount was Rs. 250/-) in cash at the General/Head/Central/Main Post Offices located at the places mentioned in the information bulletin.

Prospectus and application forms can also be obtained by post from Officer-in-Charge (Admission Cell), Armed Forces Medical College, Pune - 411040 on payment of the same amount.

Pattern of Examination

Generally, written test for MBBS courses of AFMC consists of the following pattern:

There will be total 200 objective type questions: 50 each of Physics, Chemistry, Biology and 25 each of English, and Intelligence, logic and reasoning.

For each correct answer 1 mark is awarded. For each wrong answer 0.25 marks is deducted. Use of calculator is not permitted in the examination.

How to prepare for the Test

Students desirous of taking admission in to AFMC should start their preparation right from class 11th. As the general standard of the examination will be that of 11th and 12th class under the 10+2 pattern, hence students are required to have strong fundamental knowledge of physics, chemistry and biology of the same standard.

Joining a good coaching institute or subscribing to high quality self study materials is always helpful to the students preparing for any entrance test. Many students are now taking the advantage of computer and IT in their test preparations.

The online test series and study materials developed by 100Percentile are helping students to great extent in their medical test preparation. The courses like “AIPMT 2009” and “AIPMT 2010” offered by 100Percentile are equally important for AFMC MBBS Entrance examination and other state level medical entrance tests. For more information on 100Percentile’s medical test preparation series, click here

Tentative Dates of AFMC Entrance Test

• Notification and sale of application forms: December/January
• Written Examination: 1st Sunday of May
• Results of Written Exam: End of May
• Interview: June
• Final Result and selection List: Approximately in the 4th week of June 
• Commencement of Course: August

Contact Details

For further information you can contact:-

Officer-in-Charge Admissions
Admission Cell
Armed Forces Medical College
Sholapur Road, Pune - 411040
Admission Cell Tel. no 020 - 2682 0028, Fax no. 020 - 2687 4759
Website: http://afmc.nic.in/

Please Note: The information given above is for general guidelines only. Refer to the prospectus issued by AFMC for exact details.

Originally established in 1823 as a school called “Ecole de Medicine de Pondichery”, the college was subsequently upgraded to a Regional Centre and was named after the 1st Prime Minister of India - Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru.

JIPMER is located towards the western side of Pondicherry city on the highway and spread over 195 acres of sloping land, known in vernacular as ‘Gorimedu’. Pondicherry is well connected by rail, road and air from various parts of the country.   

JIPMER MBBS Entrance Test

This is an All India level entrance test conducted by JIPMER for admission to M.B.B.S course. The entrance test is usually held on the second Sunday of June every year for which the announcement is made during February.

Eligibility

Indian nationals who have completed 17 years on or before 1st July and passed Higher Secondary Examination (+2) under 10+2+3 pattern with 50% marks in English and 50% marks in Physics, Chemistry and Biology taken together are eligible to appear in the Entrance Examination. 

Selection Procedure

Admission to M.B.B.S course at JIPMER is made through an All India level entrance examination for which announcement is made during February. Only merit in the Entrance Examination is the criterion for selection to 46 seats (including 20 reserved for locals). 

No. of Seats

The total number of seats in JIPMER for MBBS program is 75. The distribution of seats is given below:-

For Pondicherry natives: 20 (3 for Scheduled castes + 17 for UR)

For students of other states: 26 (8 for Scheduled castes + 6 for Scheduled tribes + 12 for others)

Common All India Entrance Test by CBSE (AIPMT): 11

Central Government Nominations: 18

Test Pattern

The entrance test is objective type, comprising of 200 multiple choice questions, of one best response type with four alternatives, equally distributed among English, Botany, Zoology, Physics and Chemistry.  There is no negative marking for wrong answers. 

Contact

For more information, please visit the official website of JIPMER - http://www.jipmer.edu/ .

What must be going through the minds of all those who got ranks now “which college can I get?”, “will I get the college of my choice?” The following table provides the information about the opening and closing ranks in the various colleges basis the AIPMT 2007 results. This can be a good indication as to what you may expect for your rank.

Happy Counceling!

Students aspiring to take up medicine as career very often face the dilemma as to which medical college is better equipped to provide them with these necessary knowledge and skills. In India the dilemma at the first level is whether to study in a government college or a private medical college. By default in India government medical colleges are preferred by students over private medical colleges. The primary reason is the fee structure. But besides that there other reasons why government colleges are preferred? Important among these are

1.   These colleges on account of very high volume of patients provide ample and rigorous clinical practice and experience, a key requirement for any MBBS course. In this regard private colleges face the limitation as the volume of patients in  affiliated or attached  private hospitals is significantly low and in some cases where they have affiliations with government hospitals theses arrangements are inadequate

2.    The level of education is also higher in government colleges; there have been cases where students studying in private colleges had to seek extra tuitions from outside.

3.     The economical fee structure as mentioned earlier of government colleges vis a vis additional fees, development fees, special contribution, capitation fee etc charged by the private institutions.

4.     Latest equipment and gadgets are generally available in all government colleges providing students with exposure to the latest advancements in medical sciences.

But having said above on one count where in general private medical colleges score above the government colleges is the students facilities- classrooms, hostels, mess, labs etc.

Though above comparison is largely true there are obvious exceptions like Kasturba Medical College, Manipal or St. John’s Bangalore. These and some other private colleges are on all counts better than most of the government colleges. Also there has been a change which is coming by and private medical colleges are improving and the gap between private and government colleges is fast disappearing. We hope that they will soon be at par and better.

Although there is no official ranking system for medical colleges in India, surveys have been conducted by number of private agencies taking into account factors like facilities, patient volume, past placements, faculty etc. One such survey was conducted by DoctorNDTV last year. The ranking of medical colleges basis this survey is as below

  Ranking of Medical Institutes

Source: www.doctorndtv.com

My suggestion to students is that rather than looking at above data from the point of view of ranking and relative positioning, look at it to identify the top twenty medical colleges in India.

AIIMS was originally created in 1965 using a grant from the government of New Zealand, following Nehru’s vision to create the leading institute for research, teaching and patient care. Every year, AIIMS accepts only 33 students in the General Category, and 11 in the reserved category. Based on the number of applicants who take the entrance exam (close to 80,000) – that makes it probably the most competitive examination in the world. The acceptance rate is only about 0.06% or so, compared to the IITs – which have an acceptance rate of about 2%. It is consistently ranked as the top medical college in India by a survey annually run by the magazine India Today.

It is not difficult to pinpoint the exact reason why AIIMS enjoys such high rankings among medical institutes in India. Most experts point to the clinically targeted teaching, the overall facilities, the small class sizes and overall exposure to research, as being the main factors. The high selectivity of the entrance exams ensures that the brightest students get into the class, thereby ensuring that the educational environment is kept at the highest caliber.

What is certain, however, is that India needs many more institutes like AIIMS, both to provide quality medical care to people who cannot afford to go to expensive private hopitals and also to provide the kind of quality education opportunities to many more students.

The graphical description of AIIMS’ courses is from the institute website - http://www.aiims.edu/

-VG

After successfully establishing ourselves a the leading portal offering comprehensive online assessment, performance analysis , guidance and information resources in the IITJEE and engineering entrance examination space , 100Percentile aims to extend the  same value proposition  to students targeting Medical entrance examinations like AIPMT, AIIMS, JIPMER ,AFMC and others, through this new offering.

Students will find online assessment courses consisting of topical and cumulative syllabus tests that are designed to highlight key concepts and accelerate learning, and are developed by experts from our partners ALLEN Career Institute, the established leaders in Medical Entrance preparation space.

Students can avail the facilities at our “Medical Forums” for sharing knowledge, discussing issues and almost anything which is of interest to a medical aspirant. There are dedicated sections on the forums where a panel of experts will answer the questions posted by students and provide the required guidance.

Like our IITJEE and engineering offering we are pleased to announce that we are also starting our Q-Challenge feature on the new Medical website for the students to test themselves by answering a daily question and earn points which can be redeemed for exciting prizes.

Through our continual R&D efforts and collaborations we would be bringing more information resources and innovative online educational services and products which would help pre-medical students to assess themselves, get their problems answered, concerns addressed, concepts strengthened and skills sharpened. So join in and expect more from us in coming days.