Lydia College of Pharmacy, Ethakota: Admission, Courses, Fees, Placements

One of the reputed institutions in pharmaceutical education in Andhra Pradesh, India, Lydia College of Pharmacy, Ethakota was established in 2007. Situated along NH-16 in East Godavari District, this affiliated college has been granted approval from the prestigious Pharmacy Council of India. The institution is set amidst a compact 2.75 acres campus, within which Lydia College of Pharmacy offers different pharmaceutical programmes that include 3 undergraduate and 2 postgraduate degrees. At the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, the college has an enrolment of 349 students, with 41 faculty members, thereby maintaining a commendable student-to-faculty ratio, which allows the provision of personal attention and quality education.

The campus is built with many modern facilities to enrich its students' learning experience. A well-stocked library forms the intellectual hub of the campus. It subscribes to more than 7,150 books on pharmacy and 38 national and international journals, besides other audiovisuals. The library has a vast reading hall that can accommodate 200 students at a time. It has beneficial study and research activities. The college arranges various departmental laboratories where students will be able to test their theoretical knowledge in practicality. In the campus, there are separate boys' and girls' hostels, which provide an opportunity for comfortable living conditions to those students coming from outstation places. Extracurricular activities in sports are also encouraged in Lydia College of Pharmacy through available sports facilities and a gym, which keep the students physically fit while pursuing their academics. The college's IT infrastructure, with internet and digital resources, keeps students updated with innovations happening in the pharmaceutical field.

Lydia College of Pharmacy offers courses in all branches of pharmacy at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The existing setup in the college has 5 regular courses: 1 undergraduate (B.Pharma) and 4 postgraduate courses, namely, M.Pharma in Pharmaceutical Analysis, Pharmaceutical Technology, and Pharmaceutics, together with Pharma.D. The B.Pharma programme, being the backbone of the college's courses, has an approved allotted intake capacity of 100 seats. As specific postgraduate courses intake numbers are not available, the total student intake into this college is 349. There is no doubt it is adequately balanced in numbers across various courses. It offers a diverse portfolio of courses to make a student specialise in different aspects of pharmacy and allows them to branch out into various career opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry, research and healthcare sectors.

The Lydia College of Pharmacy admission process is inclusive and merit-based. The details as to the procedure are not given. The college probably considers academic performance in relevant subjects and scores in pharmacy entrance examinations while admitting students. In hindsight, the college has a unique gender-wise distribution of students on its campus, reflecting a greater enrolment of female students. The total enrolment breaks into 117 female and 50 male students, which presents a sex ratio of 1:2.34 in favor of girls. This gender diversity contributes to creating a balanced and inclusive learning environment. The college again depicted strong support for its students in terms of finance. For the academic year 2020, many students got reimbursed; 113 out of the total of 132 undergraduate students, and 30 students out of 35 who are postgraduate students have received financial support. This high percentage of their reimbursed students reflects the initiative of the college towards making quality pharmacy education available to larger sections of aspiring pharmacists.