Jalpaiguri, June 3: It is a time to rejoice for the staff and the students of Jalpaiguri Pharmacy College. After years of struggle, the college will introduce a Bachelor’s degree course in Pharmacy from the next session.

Principal Mihir Chatterjee said the college had received the All-India Council of Technical Education’s nod on the course.

A lecturer of the college, Jayanta Das, said: “We have heard that a B. Pharm. course will be launched in the college from the next session and hope it will soon begin.”

A professor of the college Kaji Ekramul Haque said: “Some formalities are being completed. We are sure that it will start in this session.”

Assistant general secretary of the college’s students’ union Pradyut Mondal said: “We welcome the initiative. Along with the teachers, the students of the institute had also worked towards introducing the B. Pharm. course. We feel opportunities for students of the next batch will increase.”

According to college sources, there will be 60 seats in each batch. Das said: “They will now get the degree of a technical graduate. This is better than the two-year-and-three-month-long D. Pharm course.”

A professor, however, said there are vacancies in the college, which have to be filled up to run the B. Pharm. course.