In a country where merit-based academic pursuits are touted as the cornerstone of excellence, the recently released information brochure of the NIPER Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) 2025 by NIPER Mohali raises troubling questions about transparency, planning, and institutional responsibility. The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali — the designated Organizing Institute for this year’s JEE — appears to have fumbled on the most fundamental expectation from any body conducting a national-level entrance exam: providing clear, comprehensive, and relevant information to aspirants.
There are seven NIPERs across India: in Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Hajipur, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mohali, and Raebareli. Each of these institutes offers Master’s and Ph.D. programmes in the pharmaceutical sciences, forming a critical part of India’s higher education ecosystem in this domain. And yet, the 2025 JEE information brochure, issued under NIPER Mohali’s stewardship, fails at square one.
The Vanishing Numbers: No Seat Matrix in Sight
The 62-page Information Brochure issued for JEE 2025 lacks one of the most basic components — a breakdown of available seats, either course-wise or institute-wise. This omission is not a minor oversight; it is a fundamental failure that jeopardizes the aspirant’s ability to make an informed decision.
How are candidates supposed to assess their chances or make rational preferences without knowing how many seats are available in NIPER Hyderabad versus NIPER Kolkata? How does one evaluate the competitiveness of a programme when there is no data on how many seats exist in M.S. (Pharm.) versus MBA (Pharm.)?
This glaring absence has prompted uncomfortable but necessary questions: Is this simply an administrative lapse, or is there something being concealed? Is there a deliberate attempt to withhold information, possibly to mask a planned reduction in seats across institutes or courses? If seats are being cut, does it also mean that the stipend disbursed to students, which is based on enrollment, will also decrease?
Transparency isn’t just a virtue; it is an operational necessity in any national-level examination.
Lack of Data: Leaving Aspirants in the Dark
In a well-run system, students expect — and deserve — a comprehensive report that helps them make informed decisions. This includes:
- Number of candidates who appeared
- Institute-wise and course-wise preference patterns
- Competition intensity (applications vs. available seats)
- Rank-wise course selection patterns
- Highest and lowest scores
- Region-wise performance
- Percentile-based analytics
- Qualifying marks required for each course
None of these have been made available. NIPER Mohali has shown a stunning disregard for this basic protocol of transparency, leaving candidates to operate in an information vacuum.
Fee Hike Without Justification
Adding insult to injury is the steep increase in application fees. The application fee for Ph.D. programmes has been raised to ₹5,000, while the fee for M.S. (Pharm.), M.Pharm., and MBA (Pharm.) courses has jumped to ₹4,000. Such a hike might have been justified had it been accompanied by increased services, better documentation, or improved systems. Instead, it comes bundled with fewer answers and more disclaimers — including a prominently displayed “NO WARRANTY” clause in the brochure.
Is this the new norm? Charge more, deliver less, and absolve yourself of all responsibility?
Director in Court: Legal Clouds Gather
Adding to the chaos is the fact that the Director of NIPER Mohali was recently summoned by the Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court. On April 22, 2025, the Director appeared before a Division Bench in two separate legal cases:
- CM-2525-LPA-2025 and CM-2526-LPA-2025 in/and LPA-1025-2025 (Mohd. Shahid & Others vs. National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research & Others)
- CM-2520-LPA-2025 in/and LPA-1022-2025 (Nisha Sharma & Others vs. National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research & Others)
The court took an additional affidavit submitted by the Director on record and temporarily exempted his presence, though it noted that he may be called again if necessary.
While the cases are unrelated to the JEE process, they reflect a troubling distraction at the leadership level. When an institution’s top official is preoccupied with legal battles, the ripple effects are felt in operational performance, as we are seeing with the JEE 2025.
What Message Is Being Sent?
The message being sent to students — the very lifeblood of India’s future scientific workforce — is disheartening. When one of India’s premier pharma education networks cannot even provide clarity on the number of seats in each programme or a basic performance analytics report, it breeds cynicism and disillusionment.
More importantly, it betrays the trust of thousands of bright young minds who pin their hopes and futures on these institutions.
What Needs to Change
It is time for the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, under which NIPERs operate, to step in and demand accountability. Immediate steps must include:
- Publishing a detailed seat matrix by institute and by programme
- Releasing previous years’ data to help aspirants understand competition and patterns
- Justifying the hike in application fees with transparent cost breakdowns
- Ensuring that organizing responsibilities are not handed to institutes that are embroiled in legal distractions
NIPERs are not just educational institutions; they are engines of national growth in pharmaceutical sciences. Mismanagement, opacity, and misplaced priorities at this level are not merely administrative failings — they are systemic threats to India’s scientific future.
Until accountability becomes as important as academic merit, the question will continue to echo: Is the NIPER JEE 2025 a test of knowledge or a test of patience?
