Mangaluru: Biotechnology Finishing School (BTFS) is the novel initiative of the department of IT, BT & Science & Technology, government of Karnataka supported by the department of Biotechnology (DBT), government of India, recognized by association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE). This programme aims at imparting industry specific skills thereby ensuring to meet the trained manpower needs of the Biotech industry. It also focuses to create a start-up ecosystem within the academic set-up and ensures nurturing and mentoring students towards entrepreneurship in their expert areas of biotechnology and healthcare domains.

Having successfully completed the first phase of the Biotechnology Finishing School (BTFS; 2011-15) programme, department of Post Graduate Studies and Research in Biotechnology, St Aloysius College Mangaluru has been selected for the second phase of this programme renamed as ‘Biotechnology Skill Enhancement Programme’ (BiSEP) on Fermentation and Bioprocessing.

As a part of this program, Dept. of Post Graduate Studies and Research in Biotechnology of SAC provides opportunity in the field of Fermentation and Bioprocessing domain. The students will be trained on fermentation, upstream and downstream processing, production/manufacturing, quality control/quality assurance and facility management and applications of fermentation. In addition, regulatory requirements of different countries and cGMP requirements for the production area of biopharmaceuticals will also be covered.

The trainees graduated for the past five years have 100% internship placement with over 80% job placements in industries like Biocon, Carlsberg, Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Amnion Biosciences, Himalaya Drug Company, Bhat Biotech etc.

The curriculum of Post Graduate Diploma in Fermentation and Bioprocessing is employer-driven which has more emphasis on skill development. The course is one year, split into six month academic training by industry experts and in-house faculty experts followed by six month internship in industries. The students are provided with a fellowship of Rs. 10,000/- per month, during programme.

The eligible candidate must have passed either Bachelors / Master’s degree examination with a minimum of 50% in Master’s degree in Life Sciences, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Bioinformatics or any other Life Science related courses OR Minimum of 50% in BE/BTech – Biotechnology or Bioinformatics, Bachelor of Pharmacy, Agriculture and Veterinary or 4 year degree courses in any branch of Life Sciences. Fifty per cent of the seats are reserved for resident students of Karnataka.

The last date to apply online is 10th February 2018. Please visit http://www.bisep.karnataka.gov.in for further details.

Fr Dr Praveen Martis, principal, St Aloysius College, Dr A M Narahari, registrar, Dr Jiji George, coordinator, BiSEP, Dr S N Raghavendra, backup coordinator, and Sushma Patrao, head, PG, Biotechnology were present at the press meet.