In order for the resource centre to carry out some important activities
relevant to their schools and teachers at local level, they can generate funds
locally. Some additionlil funds in the form of machining fund can be given to
them from the centre.
Community mobilization
The community is one of the very important partners in education. The
present model of community participation is confined to their contribution to
school construction, and their involvement in the school management
committee. By transferring school management to community, the
government has initiated to involve the community to a greater extent. But
the pace of progress in management transfer of school to community. is very
slow and the number of schools which are trying togo back to the previous
position of government support is also not less. In that sense, it is suggested
that the resource centre should be developed as a community centre so as to
involve the community in activities of the cluster schools and encourage the
schools to playa role in community activities. In this regard, the resource
centre should be guided towards initiating activities which will promote such
participation. At the same time, the people should be given awareness
training and orientation on education regulation so that they get clear
understanding of their roles.
A final important point is that the 'community' in Nepal does not
necessarily involve the parents. The active people of the community usually
take part in the affairs of the local school no matter whether they have their
children in that school or not. In many cases the leading parents send their
children to a boarding school far away, but still take leadership in the local
school management committee. It can be argued that community
participation only becomes effective when the people participating send their
children to the local school and when all parents become involved in the
school's activities. The resource centre can be a very useful centre to
promote this idea in the mind of the people.
100 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
Higher Education in Nepal
This chapter deals with the system of higher education in Nepal in general.
!U'tationship between higher education and development of the country will be
Iscussed. The changing functions of higher education will also be dealt with.
way the concept of multi-university came to Nepalese higher education and
it was implemented will also be discussed. The Multi-university concept
brought up after 1990 on the assumption that there would be competition
the universities and as a result the quality of higher education would be
!inhanced. The situation after the implementation of Multi-University concept
be critically observed.
Theoretical bases and international trends are taken in perspectives while
i~eaJing with the issues of Nepalese higher education. Major problems in the
rNepalesehigher education will be briefly discussed. In order for Nepal to
"j:;"nrove higher education, Nepal should initiate reforms in higher education
clear visions and strategies. For this purpose, new horizons in Nepalese
education will be presented so as to guide the future reform.
Visions of higher education
It should be appreciated that the very notion of higher education has
¢~nged from knowledge producing mechanism to human resource
development procedure. It is not easy to internalize this idea without
sufficient discussions especially for those who are· brought up and have
bc:en working in the university under a classical system of higher
education.
Higher education in particular and education in general is given to
youths for making them'able to cope with the future demands of the
Sbciety-. Education is imparted in anticipation of how the world would
emerge in the foreseeable future and what it would expect from the youths
in order to be able to cope with the emerging society. The education we
offer becomes useless· if it is not in consonance with the emerging needs of
the society. In order for education to be relevant, therefore, it should not
only be up-dated to address the present needs but also have full potential to
address the emerging needs. Therefore, it is necessary that our education
follows the pace of change as elsewhere in line with the world's education
so as to make our youths able to cater for the needs for the emerging
sooiety. If they are given obsolete education, it is just wastage of time and
101
New Horizons in Education in Nepal
 energy. We should therefore visualize in anticipation the future needs of
Because of research, experiment, and experience, the process of
our society and provide education to our youths so as to enable them to
learning in the future will be different from what it is today. Innovative
cater for those needs. After all today's young students are expected to lead
... works in the field ofeducation, psychology, and human mind are yielding
the society after a decade, that is why, they need the skills and abilities not
new ideas about how human brains effectively receive information and
only needed by the present society, but compatible to the society after a
retain that information. For example, experts in teaching argue that engaged
decade. As a matter of fact, the students who are in the university classes
leaming helps retention for long. These procedures will produce new means
today, no doubt, will have important responsibilities after some years.
.of educational delivery which will be used to make learning and teaching
Without enabling these youths to lead our future society, our future cannot
effective. As we see today, instead of chalk and talk, multi-media
be hopeful.
~!presentations are taking place in many classrooms. The teachers should be
There are two ideas emerging in our society regarding educational
!~epared to use different pedagogical skills in the future if they want to
visions: the changing concept of future needs and anticipating those needs
~J:)erform according to the demands of the time. The classroom delivery has
and changing education accordingly. The argument behind the idea is that
to interactive mode from lecture method. Because of technological
the world is emerging with new possibilities of human strengths and
lJ<ivancement, new mechanism for educational delivery is likely to appear for
capabilities. The world has demonstrated that the future is going to be more
teachers have to be prepared. In this way, there will be a change in
demanding and challenging for which· our citizens must have new skills and
!~thods of teaching in the future.
abilities to face them comfortably. It is prudent to argue that in another 10
similar line, because of several reasons like exposure to new
years' time, many new possibilities and opportunities will appear in the
media, mechanism, and comprehensible inputs available, most
market. In order for our youths to take advantage of those new opportunities,
, as the present learners are different from the learners in the past
our people would need to have new skills and abilities. Even the skills and
us, the future learners will be different from the present learners in terms
Iii!
abilities that we possess at present will have to be changed or updated in
what they bring with them in the classroom. Unlike us, a six year old child
order for us to be able to cope with emerging needs of the society. The
can have some knowledge of and exposure to new technology like
implication is that unless we update our present skills and abilities they may
information technology, international media like BBC, CNN,
not be of great use after some years. This is what the world has witnessed so
j!"nvery Channel, etc. through which they widen their understanding of the
far. The main function of our education, therefore, is to equip learners with
Before they go to school, they would get some vague ideas about
the necessary skills and.abilities keeping the emerging needs for the society
things through which they would widen their imagination, queries,
abreast. The quality of education, therefore, is judged on the basis of the
**oning, and understanding. In a way, it can be argued that the learner after
extent to which it gives them the knowledge, skills, and abilities the
years will be different from today's learner. I have no doubt that the
emerging society is expecting of them.
When visualizing the future education, it should be noted that changes
illUdents who come to my class at the university to day come with better
laderstanding of the subject matter and wide horizons than what I had when
in education are taking place in the three elements of education: i.e. content,
doing my university education. Therefore it is not only the content and
pedagogy and learner. Around this argument, it is said that the content of
llilldagogy that are changed today,the learners are also changed. The change
1\iii learning in the future will be different from what we deal with today. The
(lontent, pedagogy and learner will certainly put pressure on the teachers
explanation is that the world would have entered a new phase with new
in the way s/he delivers in the classroom. We need to understand
ideas, new contents, and new demands in some years. For example, many of
us did not hear about Family Planning, Aids, Computer, Environment, etc.
~omplexity of the situation if we want to develop new system of
for our future citizens. It is, therefore, necessary that for any
during our school time. But these things offer contents for school education
IIftnntrv to cope with the emerging needs, the system of education must
today. By the same token, it can be argued that there will be a change in the
in line with new changes in the respective areas so that the youths
contents of learning in the future.
competent with contemporary skills and abilities.

102 New Horizons in Education in Nepal

Horizons in Education in Nepal 103

Politics of change in education
Basically two factors influence change in education: internal and
external. The existing system of education changes when there is change in
the political system of the country so that the changed context of politics is
served by the system of education. Putting it another way, in order for
education to be compatible with politics, changes in education take place.
This is how the system of education moves towards achieving the goals set
by the national politics. The existing system of education changes also
because of external influence. For example, when new things appear in
education in any part of the. world through innovative works, they will make
impacts on our education as well. Many things are happening in education all
over the world. Through research and experiment, many new things are
coming up regarding how learning can be effective, how to produce effective
learning materials, what kind of classroom interactions are conducive for
learning, etc. Some new insights are established based on experiences as
well. All these exercises provide new insights to those who are involved in
policy making and management of education. People influenced by such
happening bring change in the existing system of education so as to make it·
more competent.
In this way, change in education is inevitable over a period of time. If
we appreciate it, things will move smoothly. Otherwise, we will have to
bring about change in education under pressure. In our situation, the time has
come for us to bring about necessary changes in education for both reasons:
as we have achieved Loktantra for which we need to change our education so
that our students appreciate democracy as their way of life for which they
need knowledge, skills and abilities compatible with democracy. Also there
has not been any change for long in our higher education whereas in many
parts of the world, tremendous changes have taken place in the contents and
pedagogy of higher education. Gaining insights from the world experience,
we need to bring about changes in our education. It is therefore prudent to
argue that our higher educ.ation as a whole is on the crossroads of change. If
the government gives it a visionary look with some kind of political
consensus, it will follow a right direction. If it fails to bring about reform in
the system of higher education, the individuals working in this field will take
a risk and do the reform works differently leaving the system behind.
104 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
Quality of higher education
Generally the quality of higher education refers to what is learnt
(contents) by the learners and the degree of internalization of what has been
learned. The quality of education is also seen in light of its relevance. What it
means is to what extent what learners learn from educational institutions is
relevant and useful for the learners in the world of work, academic work, day
to day life, etc. In other words, the degree of relevance of education is a
. major concern for determining the quality of education. Another major
component of quality of education is the level of achievement or the degree
of internalization of it. The learners should learn what they learn, at least, at
an acceptable level and internalize what they learn to a reasonable extent so
that they could use that knowledge or skill as and when they. need. The
quality of education is measured therefore on the basis. of what has been
received by the learners and how they use that knowledge and skills when
needed. This aspect of quality of education is called cognitive part of
education which is determined by the curriculum approved by the authority
concerned.
As a matter of fact, traditionally, we have been using teaching, training,
research and services to the community as the main criteria for evaluating the
quality of university. This approach to quality refers to the supply side of
education. The assumption is that once the quality of the supply side is
ensured, the product will automatically be of high quality. Some people tend
to put a question mark to this assumption and argue that without examining
the quality of performance of the product, we cannot be assured of the
quality of education. Based on this argument, the quality of education is
judged on the basis of what the learners can do and what not, and how they
~ope with the competitive world. Tl1is approach to quality refers to the end
product of education. The growing trend is that a system ·of higher education
should be evaluated from the both perspectives.
Furthermore, it is necessary that higher education should strengthen its
cJlpacity to enable its products to perform a critical analysis, to anticipate and to
have a prospective vision. Higher education institutions must adopt
organizational structures and education strategies that make them highly
dynamic and flexible thus enabling them to respond with both the timeliness
and. anticipation needed and to creatively and efficiently face an uncertain
f4ture. These are meta-cognitive qualities that an educated person must possess
110 as to be able to work in a democratic way. In this perspective, higher
education is seen as a contributing factor to promote sustainable democracy. In
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 105
.~
 other w<>rds, WI can achieve sustainable democracy by promoting higher
education _ But for this we need to have high quality higher education involving
meta-cogrtitive aipCct as well. It has been a matter of prime concern for all
countries.. develll!ling or developed, to revitalize the existing efforts seriously
directed "'t()war~ making higher· education more qualitative, relevant, and
innovative: in orh enrich the human resources as an invaluable economy. To
this end, higheullcation should be accepted and also practiced as an energizer
to activate: effdllve and enabling transformation of knowledge and skills to
individuaI s so !lit the emerging society benefits from capable citizens who
stronglyre:el thtsocialobligation to make significant contributions to further
empower flte so:ietyinaII aspects.
Bytbe samloken, in order for higher education to contribute to economic
growth, sc::::>cial &velopment and sustainable democracy, it has to be of high
quality. N""epal'se[ortstowards reforming higher education and adopting multi­
university strate~es could be considered as her desperate wish to improve the
quality or higher education. In this context, the present situation of Nepalese
higher edl.:u)ation IlouId be examined in light of the extent to which it has been
able to er:J.hance~ quality since the implementation of the multi-university
concept. rhe tenn"quality" obviously is relative in the sense that it is difficult to
define in absoluklerm. The quality can be gauged in relation to a set ofgoals of
our higher edUcaiiOIL Furthermore, the quality of the goals of higher education
to be ach:i.eved siJouId be seen in terms of their relevance. Thus the quality
relates to the degree to which an institution is fulfilling its goals, and relevance
relates to the. to which those goals are applicable to the needs and
demands of so:iety. Another important issue regarding this issue is the
mechanisr:r:l of IISlfSsment of achievement to ensure that students achieve what
they are slllpposealoachieve. For the purpose of this argument, quality of higher
education includes relevance as well because achievement of goals will make
less sense ifthe I~lls and abilities students leam are less relevant to the societal
needs. It is, therefore, argued that reform in higher education should assure both
quality and relevL1Ce.
The quality of our higher education should be examined in light of the
general ~nction! of higher education and the goals set for our higher
education at national md regional levels. The quality of Nepalese higher
for example, in light of the extent to which it is
achieving the fuiIowing goals as envisaged by High Level Education
Comrnissi<ln p~in BS 2055, (1998 AD). Putting all the goals together,
the major empbalis of our higher education will be on to produce citizens
with skills and alllities to:
106 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
• Promote national identity, patriotism, ethics
• Promote technology and skills for national development
• Create leading occupations and people for all round development of
the country
• Expand horizons of knowledge through research and innovation to
promote the quality of human life
• Be creative and analytical
• Respect human rights, strengthen democracy, and create just society
• Compete with the rest of the world.
What happens if the learners achieve the goals but they do not acquire
the skills and abilities they need to cope with the demands of the society and
do not contribute to the development of the nation? In this context, the
quality of higher education should be examined against the extent to which
the learners are capable of leading the country in all respects.
As the goals mentioned above are set at national level, they are bound to
be vague and philosophical. They can be further elaborated and made more
explicit in order for the higher education institutions to narrow down their
focus. No matter how vague they are, what becomes clear is that Nepalese
higher education is expected to contribute to the development of the country
by training people for different responsibilities, integrating higher education
with productive sectors, developmental activities, business, industry, and
strengthening democracy by producing people with reasoning, tolerance,
working culture, and so on.
It can be argued that the reason behind the adoption of multi-university
strategy to reform Nepalese higher education was to enhance the quality of
higher education so as to make it contribute more to the development of the
country. The extent to which the country has achieved what it intends to
achieve through the adoption of multi-university strategy should be
examined in light of what has been achieved so far towards this direction.
For example, the quality of the students from Institutes of Engineering
and Mepicine, TU is regarded as excellent not only at national level but also
at international level. But the question is whether or not the quality of TV
should be evaluated based on such cases. As TV is said to have been serving
more than 92% of Nepalese higher education, the quality of Nepalese higher
education is based on what TV produces in terms of the quality of the
students. It does not mean that other universities are not important. It should
also be kept in perspective while evaluating TU's quality of education that it
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 107
 is serving to a large population with a very limited resource. Historically, TV
being the only national university has been bestowed upon several
responsibilities. The point is that the contribution of TU to Nepal's
development cannot be underestimated. Nevertheless, its services should be
examined also in light of what the country needs in terms of human resources
for its future development.
The overall position ofTU is very different from what we can see in the
products of the Institute of Engineering and Medicine. Even today, for
example, no medical college in Nepal can be accepted as competent as
Institute of Medicine, TU. But the products of most of other campuses in the
field of humanities, education, management, science, etc., putting a couple of
institutions aside, have not been able to present themselves as the best in the
market. The Nepalese market would not put them on the top of the-list.
Another way of evaluating the quality of system of education is to see how
the products of any institution under that system get access to the reputed
institutions for the next level of education. If we examine the intake of BP
Health Institute, Dharan, Medical Colleges under TU and KU, MBA courses
in most reputed colleges in Kathmandu, it would appear that TU's products
are not the main choice. The job market in Kathmandu also determines the
quality of MBA, for example. In this context, it can be argued that TU is
under tremendous pressure to enhance its quality if it intends to meet the
emerging needs of the society.
As has been argued, TU is expected to produce competent human
resources for different responsibilities. An analysis of how the top ten of any
discipline under TU are welcomed by the Nepalese market could be an
indication of the extent to which TU has been able to perform well. The
experience of the Department of English Education, Central Department of
Education, Kirtipur, where I work, in this regard, has not been so
encouraging. There are good reasons to believe that many other departments
face similar problems. There could be many explanations for this. However,
employability of graduates is obviously the most important indicator of
quality of the institution. In this pretext, TU has not been the best choice.
Hence there is need for change.
The situation is not, in any case, satisfactory. There may be several
explanations for this. Whatever the explanation may be, a country cannot
afford to ignore this situation. But surprisingly enough, there has not been
any review of the situation keeping in perspectives the issues like what led
the students to fail in such a large number, how could the situation be
improved, and is. it the exam system or teaching that is responsible for the
108 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
failure rates. What emerges out of this discussion is that there is absence
the sense of accountability on the part of university authorities. Only a
..ruled study will provide us with sufficient evidence for determining the
of higher education at TU. However, the general comment on this
is that TU has not been able to offer quality higher education to
contribute to the social and economic development of the
.ion. Despite this fact, it should be noted that these days, students at TU
• putting tremendous pressure on teachers to award high marks while
_king answer sheets but not much on reforming the elements that
CiWntrihute to quality higher education.
What is getting even worse is that TU stopped administering Entrance
Exams in the Faculties- Education, Science and Management- in the year
2006, under outside pressure thus becoming perhaps the only university in
the world to abolish a system of student selection for admission.
The Kathmandu University (KU) is reported to have been successful, to
some extent, in providing quality education in the sense that the products of
some of its departments have a greater opportunity to grab jobs in the market.
The international acceptance of the products of this university is also
reasonable. Pokhara University and Purbanchal University are also
struggling to provide quality education. They have been successful in doing
so to a very limited extent through some of their affiliated campuses. They
have also been able to offer some new areas of studies because of the
flexibility in academic matters.
But the problem with these universities is that they are serving a very
limited number. of students and they are also adopting a liberal policy of
affiliating campuses. They lack monitoring mechanisms for quality,
mechanism for reviewing academic packages, exchanging professors for
quality, collaborating with business, productive and service sectors, etc. In a
way, being new in the field, some new areas of study are being offered, but
in a way" they are also following the path of TU in many cases. Examining
the quality of the new universities in light of the national objectives of higher
education, it would appear they are also not doing much.
What can be argued here .is that keeping the performances of the
universities established even after the concept of Multi-university was
implemented as well as the universities established before, the reform
process of Nepalese higher education has not been successful and does not
seem to follow a smooth path. It is therefore necessary to bring about
changes in the university education as a whole through policy intervention.
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 109
 he could himself create knowledge usable in other events and transform
Meta-cognitive aspect of higher education
skills and abilities in other situations as per needs.
In a way, it is true that our education has not been successful in leading
Meta-cognitive aspect of learning is equally important for the over all
learners to use the knowledge, skills and abilities as per the demand of
development as well as for the development of how the learner makes use of
situation. The main reason for this could be the way education is
cognitive aspect of learning in the real situation.
_livered and processed in the classroom through formal teaching. Perhaps
Worldwide, what is regarded as the crux of learning is how it makes
is what we need to reconsider in our future reform initiatives.
impact on the learner in learning to think and learning to learn. As the need
A university education is seen as an opportunity to develop a range of
of the society is changing, it is not possible for a person to remain equally
and social skills. According to Sir Graham Hills, Former Vice
skillful all the time once he acquires some skills. These skills need to be
Ihancellor of Stray University, Universities are no longer just knowledge
updated continuously to make those skills relevant to the needs. It is
IiHnrles. For him" give young people confidence and competence. There is
therefore necessary for a person to be prepared to keep learning and Updating
the skills and abilities already acquired. For this purpose, the notion of attention to people and less to subjects.
Further elaboration of these meta-cognitive abilities could be as follows:
continuing education- learning to learn- becomes very important. The meta­
Accessing, selecting, and evaluating knowledge in an information
cognitive aspect of learning has a very important role in this regard which
involves the following elements in general. soaked world.

Developing and applying forms of intelligence beyond academic

Unlike the past, the present world is full of information. We need to be

skillful in how to access the information available in print, electronic media, work.

and in other areas. Another skill needed is how to select and evaluate the Working in teams.

Facing, transforming, and peacefully resolving the conflict, which

knowledge and information we desperately need. Here the question is not

involves participatory and active citizenship skills.

about where to fmd the information. but the skill needed for selecting and
Creating, transposing (change position), and transferring

evaluating the information from a vast sea of knowledge and information.

Equally important is the ability to develop and apply skills and abilities or knowledge.

Dealing with ambiguous situations, unpredictable problems, and

intelligence beyond academic work. The problem with our learners is that
they have limitations in applying the knowledge they have gained in a unforeseeable circumstances.
vii. Coping with multiple careers by learning how to locate oneself in a
broader context. They may have the knowledge but they cannot use it as and
job market and to choose and fashion the relevant education and
when needed. The main reason for this is that they learn things only in an
academic setting which limits their ability to apply the learned skills and training.
abilities in a real context. This is what we need to improve. Due to limitation
There have been numerous attempts to defme core skills: generic
of learning only in academic setting, our learners find it difficult to work in a and personal qualities; which higher education helps to
team in practice. For example, as working in a team is not promoted through
_eIOO. They include obvious skills in writing and speaking both in the
our instructions. The absence of such an environment where learners face
tongue and foreign language, numeracy and use of communication
unpredictable situations, unanticipated problems, participation in difficult
.oDIW10gy. They also contain other intellectual skills like the ability to
circumstances, transforming already learned skills and abilities to resolve the
on and learn from practical experience; the ability to assimilate large
problems facing currently becomes hard for our learners. Therefure, our
of information quickly and to analyze issues from several
learners become unprepared to face unpredictable events. They become
~ctives; problem solving and decision making; evaluation of risks and
individualistic lacking participatory skills. In this enormous world, there is and an understanding of the nature of change and
no possibility for a learner to learn all the skills and abilities. What is to adapt appropriately. There are other social skills like
important for him is to learn some basic and important skills and abilities so
--."'ina effectively in groups or teams, and personal qualities including

111
110 New Horizons in Education in Nepal Horizons in Education In Nepal
 drive, self-motivation, self-assessment,. time management, ability to work
without close supervision, leadership potential, enterprise and initiative. It is
argued that university education substantially develops.these competences in
t,.presents this relation in a more explicit manner by publishing a study report on
the students. It is therefore necessary to promote these meta-cognitive skills
and abilities along with academic subjects and research.
ffigber education and national development
The stage of overall development of a country has a strong relationship
with the quality of its higher education. There is no debate on how significant
higher education is in the social and economic development of a country. To be
specific, it is basically the knowledge driven economic and social growth that a
country can achieve only with the advancement of its higher education.
In a way, higher education of a country stands as an indicator of its status
of advancement. Observing the functioning of higher education of a country,
people tend to make judgment on a country's stage of overall advancement. The
main reason for this is that it is through higher education that a country prepares
its graduates for positions of leadership and responsibility in a rapidly and
increasingly complex and competitive world. Furthermore, how a country
. advances largely depends upon what goes on in the university. It is, therefore,
widely accepted that the destiny of any country is shaped in her classroom. It is
in this context that university is accepted as a mirror of socio-economic and
cultural advancement of a country. Management of a university demonstrates
also depicts how the country is managed. Nepal became an example for this
statement when after the success of Loktantik Andolan, all the universities had
no authority for long and, were distributed among the influential political parties
for the purpose of appointing Vice-Chancellors, and other positions.
There is no doubt that, in order tor higher education to be able to
contribute to the desired level· of development, higher education institutions
need to be able to respond, in an effective manner, to changing education and
training needs of the country, and adopt more dynamic and flexible strategies
for the operation of them. It is, therefore, noted that only those institutions of
higher education which can appreciate the changes taking place in higher
education in the world and move towards responding to multi-dimensional
demands placed on them can achieve social advancement and economic
growth. It should be obvious that simply following the rhetoric past trends in
higher education would not lead a country to achieve social and economic
growth.
112 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
The relationship between higher education and national development is of
reciprocal type; one helps the other to grow. ASIAWEEK, June 30, 2000
;"'rhe Best Universities in Asia". The report was based on a large survey of the
:.iversities in Asia. The main criteria for evaluation of the universities were
~ltademic reputation, student selectivity, faculty resources, research, financial
tlesources, students per academic-staff member, number of graduate students,
in international journals and internet band-width per student, etc.
on these criteria, Kyoto University (Japan) was the first, Tohaku
(Japan) was second, and the University of Hong Kong was the third.
. the list of 77 best universities, there were the universities from Japan, Hong
Australia, South Korea, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Philippines, New
~i11i:Uld, Thailand, Malaysia and a couple of universities from India and Sri
Out of those 77 universities, only 3 universities from the SAARC region
the list. The universities from SAARC included in the list were
JQwaharlaJ Nehru University, the 41st, University of Mumbai, the 76th and the
University of Colombo, the 77th. There were no other universities from
,~SAARC Countries in the list. Let alone the universities from Nepal.
cursory look at the selected universities and their countries would
'Knnarently reveal a strong relationship between the quality of higher education
the country's stage of economic and social advancement. Based on the
it can be argued that the more the higher education of a country is
~VlUlced, the more it will contribute to achieve higher growth in social and
~n:omic sector and vice versa. The implication is that those countries which
not been able to improve their higher education or are not preparing for
hnproving their higher education will be left far behind in terms of
!Ilde:velopment thereby widening the gap from the advanced countries. The gap
eventually be converted into a threat for losing talented brains and
~erbating socio-economic life.
What was reported in the ASIAWEEK was an indication of the
!i,VnpOrtance of higher education in the social aftd economic development of a
So is the case with the role of economy in the development of higher
lllducation. Education is the cornerstone of overall development,. and higher
.ation in particular plays a key role. It is higher education in particular,
,is part and parcel of the human endeavor for more civilized existence. In
sense, it is also important to note that investment in education is made to
ilchieve overall advancement of the society. The contribution of education to
development, therefore, goes beyond economic returns. This is all about
quality of life in its totality, including individual dignity, self-respect, and
command over one's own life which is the true hallmarks of individual
113
Horizons in Education in Nepal
 freedom. The essence is that there is a fundamental democratic sense in which
education of every kind and level, therefore, should be made available to
everyone to the extent that slhe is capable of receiving it Here comes the
notion of access to higher education for all as long as they have the intellectual
ability to get it. Putting it another way, no body should be discouraged to get
higher education only because slhe has fInancial problem. The state should
work on different scholarship schemes to support those who have the merit for
doing higher education but face fmancial problem.
It is the responsibility of policy-makers, thinkers, leaders, managers and
the whole higher education workforce to make the higher education of a
country functional in line with the demand of the time. To move along with
this line, what is necessary for universities is to be prepared to challenge and
reassess their routine practices and conditions without any preoccupation in
order to develop new strategies conducive to teaching, training, research and
extension policies capable of stimulating creativity and fostering the
emergence of new forms of thought. The challenge is, therefore, how to
devise and implement innovative strategies to achieve a new order of higher
education, new structures and new practices without which no country can
make a progress.
It is frequently argued that knowledge by itself does not transform
economy of a country. It is basically the critical mass of human resource that
brings about changes in socio-economic strengths of a country. This is the
type of mass we need for sustainable democracy. For that we need to have
appropriate institutions of higher education and innovative academic
packages that keep contemporary changes abreast through pure and applied
research.
Functions of higher education: A changing concept
Higher education institutions are expected to perform several functions. As
we develop new technology and enter a new era, we face new challenges which
lead us to expect our universities to perform new tasks. Traditionally,
universities are associated with four major functions. The advancement of the
university and the quality of higher education it offers is examined in light of
how successfully it performs these tasks. That is why universities are regarded
as the main contributors to the existing civilization of the mankind.
Traditionally the four tasks of higher education are:
i. generation and transmission of ideology,
ii. selection and formation ofdominant elite,
114 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
Ill. production and application ofknowledge, and
iv. training of the skilled labour force.
Universities are considered to have an ideology free role. However, the
of mankind has given the university the role of formation and diffusion
ideology (ideology is defmed as a set of ideas or beliefs that form the basis of
economic or political theory). It is apparent that economic and political
visions provide the fundamental basis for national development
Universities are the institutions which, whether we like it or not, have
always been mechanisms of selection of dominant elite (best students and best
teachers). Universities also form a network by selecting elite. Cambridge group,
group, Harvard group, TV group, Edinburgh group, etc. are examples of
this sort. They have undisputed dominance in their societies as well as all over
world.
, The most obvious function of the university is the generation and
application of new knowledge. Universities perform this job by carrying out
riaorous research through its departments and research institutions. This role of
university has been becoming strong after science oriented universities in
the US brought technological revolution. Even in Europe, there was a tradition
using national scientific research centres for research purposes.
The fourth function of the university is to train skilled labour force needed
the country. To day, this role of university has become most important.
country tries to provide the information and training about new
to its professionals and bureaucrats so that they can actively
I'articipate in and contribute to the process of national development.
As society moves further, its needs and aspirations change so does the
iexpectations from the university. As the university remains as the sole
~,ihstitution for the creation of ideas through rigorous processes, it becomes
ultimate source for generating new process of development in accordance
the potentiality of the country. In this way, the university is emerging as
development leader. There is increasing belief in the way that the
university functions towards leading the society to advancement. As said
until some years ago, universities were expected to generate
and disseminate the new knowledge for public consumption. The
trend is that the university works by adopting collaborative and
processes with relevant service sectors which enhance
pilrticipants' deep-rooted experiences in the activities they. are involved, and
strengthen the existing stage of knowledge to a more refIned understanding
the processes and contents of the areas ofstudy. This process has created
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 115
more faith in university research and dependence in higher education as well
as led higher education to be seen as a development partner. For example,
American President George W. Bush, once announced his willingness to
offer as much money as needed to manufacture a car which consumes fuel as
less as possible. This is an indication that the President believes that the
scientists and researchers are capable of manufacturing a car which can work
very well while consuming very little fuel. In addition, modern higher
education is expected to produce youths to do the following tasks;
1. participate in the development works through extension programs,
ii. coordinate international cooperation, and
iii. apply knowledge and skills gained through research in a practical
world which is described as services to the community.
iv. supporting innovation by generating new knowledge, accessing
global stores of knowledge, and adapting knowledge to local use.
v. providing the foundation for democracy, nation building and, social
cohesion.
It should be noted that the function of higher education has shifted its
focus from ideological expansion and knowledge gain to national and
international development and sustaining democracy.
The emerging trend is that countries are beginning to largely depend on
research findings, consultations and recommendations of universities for
future planning and implementation of qevelopment works. For example,
Georgia University in USA once signed an agreement with Georgia
Municipality to provide all possible technical inputs in the area of
development and business. In return, the Municipality agreed to provide
necessary funds for the university both for internal management and carrying
out research and innovative works. The s~ength of university is that on
institutional basis it holds a large amount of useful and relevant information
which can be used for the. benefit of both the university as well as the
country. As an institution, it has a pool of experts and world-wide access to
the latest information on any area of study. Universities keep working on
finding new knowledge through rigorous research work.. It can be argued,
therefore, that if development plans and implementation strategies are
congruent with the recommendations and consultations rendered by the
university, the plans will be very likely to be successful because they are
based on rigorous research work and wide discussions. among the
professionals. In this way, higher education has emerged as an integral part
of development initiatives. The countries which appreciated such a paradigm
shift of the functions of higher education, and moved towards that direction
116 New Horizons ill Education in Nepal
made tremendous progress. Perhaps, Mexico (more than 700m US D), China
and Indonesia (more than 400m US D), were prepared to receive loans from
the World Bank because they were determined to work in this line of
development in the field of higher education. It should be appreciated that
investment in higher education is made keeping not only the national market
but also the international market in perspectives. This is a lesson that a
country like Nepal can learn from international experiences. Considering the
temperate climate and location between the two countries- China and India,
and other SAARC countries, Nepal can emerge as a destination for quality
education for millions of people of this region if we can provide quality
higher education and take care ofother relevant factors.
Overview of development of Nepalese higher education
Development of higher education in Nepal
The beginning of Nepalese higher education is dated back to 1918 (B S
1969 Bhadra 27) when Tribhuvan-Chandra College was established. Initially
it was affiliated to Calcutta University till 1980 B S. After 1980 BS, it got
affiliation from Patna University. They it was named Tri-Chandra College. It
was only after a long gap, Tribhuvan University (TU) was established in
1959 A D. Before its formal establishment, in B S 2005, Bhadra 10, First
University Planning Senate under Mrigendra Shamsher was constituted. It's
first meeting took place in Sarswati Sadan on Bhadra 14, 2005 B S. In BS
2016, Ashad 30, Tribhuvan University (TU) was formally inaugurated. At
the time when Tribhuvan University was established, there were only 29
colleges which were affiliated to Patna University, India. All those colleges
were brought under Tribhuvan University soon after its establishment. Since
the establishment of TU, the growth of Nepalese higher education has been
remarkable.
For a long time, TV remained as the single premier institution for higher
education. It was the only institution responsible for higher education all
over the country. TV had to take care of both quality of and access to higher
education. From the beginning of TU, it emerged as both teaching and
affiliating university though there were also arguments that it should not be
an affiliating university. It was responsible, therefore, for providing
affiliation to any new college initiated by either the government or by the
private sector in any part of the country eventually leading it to have its
colleges all over the country. The result is that now it has 60 constituent
colleges whereas the number of affiliated colleges is more than 400 in the
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 117
year 2007. The likelihood is that, in the given situation, the number of
affiliated college will grow every year.
The growth of higher education in Nepal passed through different stages
over the time. Mainly, the development of higher education can be described
under four stages: The expansion phase, the consolidation phase, the
reemergence of the private sector, and the multi-university phase.
Tbe expansion pbase (1918-1971)
The establishment of TU in 1959, after the establishment of democracy,
can be seen as the expansion .phase of higher education in Nepal. It was the
time when the Nepalese people had got a victory over the 104 year long
family rule of Ranas. The Ranas were heavily criticized for being against
educating the people. They were said to have a strong feeling that educating
the people would mean the uprising of the people against the Rana's
atrocities and hegemony. Once the Ranas were dislodged from power,
people's interest in opening higher education institutions reached
unprecedented height
During that time, people had a new spirit and zeal for all round
development of the country. Even though the people were not educated, they
could understand the importance of education for the development of the
country. With the new vision and new political mission, people from
different parts of the country started opening new institutions of higher
education in their own initiatives. An aggressive expansion of higher
education was apparent not only in higher education, it was also the case
with school education; the people were keen to open new colleges and new
schools where the government was not able to offer funds from the
government treasury. The result was that several new colleges were
established in a short period of time. It was the time when the community
people did not wait for the government to take initiative to establish new
colleges and hire teachers in their locations. In a way, those colleges were
community initiated colleges which received different kinds of contributions
from the community ranging from funds to land and local construction
materials. From the point of view of expansion of higher education in Nepal,
substantial progress was achieved during that period of time which would
not have been achieved without the initiatives of the community. Local
landlords and businessmen donated land and money and common people
offered labour and local materials for the construction and establishment of
education institutions.
118 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
There were some government colleges like Tri-Chandra College before
University was established in 195.9. From 1918 to 1971, higher
expanded in accordance with the people's initiatives. The
Rovernment supported the initiatives of the people without much trouble.
there was a lack of coordination among the higher education
there was a progress in terms of expansion and community
ioarticipation. What was common among them was that all the colleges were
the same examining board, i.e. TU Examination Board. TU was thus
the quality of higher education.
should be noted that during that time, the people who led the
development of Nepalese higher education were influenced by Indian Higher
'Education System which was influenced, to a reasonable extent, by the
Higher Education System. In addition, due to lack of Nepalese people
teach at higher level, many Indian teachers were involved in the Colleges
Nepal who also influenced the way the development of higher education
place. The effect was that the expansion of higher education had a lot to
on how higher education was managed in India. For example, the
academic stuff like subject combination, teachers' qualification and training
reauirements, pedagogy, examination, and the way Colleges were managed
highly influenced by the Indian system of higher education. It was
because of that, TU grew as an affiliating university from the
r:beginning though Sir Ivor Jennings who was working in India, and was
hauested to provide technical advice on Nepalese higher education during
inception of TU, had clearly expressed his view, based on Indian and
1t.merican experiences, against making TU an Affiliating University. There
some kind of technical support from India to the development of higher
Iducation in Nepal. Under a Colombo Plan, Professors from India used to
to Nepal to work at the Nepalese Colleges. Nepalese students also used
go to India for higher education either under the Colombo .Plan or on self­
ii.'t;"t;",." Th,e flow of Nepalese students to India for higher education is stilI
As many scholars from Nepal go to India for Ph.D., the Higher
mucation of India is still somehow influential for shaping up Nepalese
education
On the whole, the period between 1959 and 1971 was a remarkable
for the expansion of higher education in NepaL According to Royal
lOmmission for Higher Education, 1982, (BS 2040), there were 52 colleges
training centres all over the country and Centre for Economic
peveiopment and Administration (CEDA). All these education institutions
brought under TU.
119
Horizons in Education in Nepal
The consolidation phase (NESP 1971-1976)
A historic reform with the assistance of the US Government was
initiated in 1971 in the name of National Education System Plan (NESP).
The NESP started the reform process in the whole system of education from
Primary to University. The result of the NESP was that the whole system of
education was nationalized. All education institutions, except a few,
including those colleges which were initiated and managed by the
community, were also brought under the government control. As a corollary,
both the private and government colleges were brought under the
government system of management. Consequently, the colleges were
required to follow the guidelines of TU regarding both academic and
management procedures. The government took the responsibility for
. financing those community colleges also. Consequently, the property of
those (private) community colleges automatically became the property of
TV.
At the time ofNESP 1971, there were 53 colleges and training centres.
They were brought under TU. These colleges covered different parts of the
country ranging from the Terai to Mountains and Doti Campus in the West
to Ilam Campus in the East. Some of them could not continue afterthe NESP
for several reasons. Many colleges that are holding regional strength today
were established during that time.
Though the decision of the government to bring all the colleges under
TU was severely criticized for being political, through that intervention, it is
appreciated, the government was able to consolidate, to some extent,' the
academic aspects; teacher recruitment and salary procedures, examination
system, etc. all over the country which otherwise would have been very
difficult. Once the government took responsibility for running those colleges
under TV, it became hard for people to open new colleges mainly because of
Government's inability to provide financial support. The then Government
seemed to have the desire to bring the whole system of education absolutely
under its own control. As a result, there was a slow growth of higher
education institutions after the NESP. Many people blamed the government
for trying to control people from getting educated. It should be noted that the
Multi-party democracy established in 1950 was replaced by the direct rule of
the absolute Monarch in 1960. The demand for higher education was to be
met by the existing colleges which eventually led them to have more students
than what those colleges could actually accommodate.
120 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
Those who were politically powerful were able to establish some
in their locality with the Government's fund. The number of
~UlUCIll:; aspiring for higher education was much more than the capacity of
colleges. Then it became apparent that the existing colleges were not
fIiOUUl\;ient to cater for the emerging demands for higher education. The
was thus under enormous pressure to reopen access to new
as the demands for higher education grew up. Eventually the
.....vprnment could not resist the policy of having only the Government
i'~um:gcs because of the growing demands for it. The Government adopted
policy of allowing the community to initiate private colleges. Soon after
decision, there was proliferation of both for-profit and not-for-profit
colleges in several parts of the country.
This period of educational development in Nepal, as said earlier, was
. for being political for the reason that the political system based on
direct control of the King nationalized the system of education. The
behind the move could have been, as was mentioned in the national
of education, to produce young people with profound respect to
the absolute monarch. After the nationalization of education, it was difficult
open new colleges. The move was interpreted as the government's motive
control access to education. In line with this, the centralized system of
~ducation controlled teacher recruitment and curricular matters. Despite
these restrictions, what it did remarkably well was the consolidation of
education by introducing a national system of curriculum,
,examinations, teacher recruitment procedures, salary scales, and service
conditions of teachers, etc.
;Reemergence of the private sector (1980s)
It has already been argued that the Government took full responsibility
education after implementing NESP in 1971. But within a decade, scarce
and the pressure to accommodate more students in TU's colleges
pressure on government so apparently that TV alone could not
any longer as an exclusive provider of higher education. At the same
the Government was under enormous pressure to allocate as much
as possible to basic and primary education. It became thus difficult for
Government to put aside the money needed for higher education in order
address the youth population willing to go for higher education. As a
the Government decided, in 1981, to adopt the policy on granting
~ermission to private colleges by inviting the community back to participate
college management. Subsequently, in 1982, the Royal Commission for
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 121
Higher Education emphasized the greater role of the participation of the
people in the promotion of higher education. This is how the community as
well as the private sector reemerged as a competent partner in the Nepalese
higher education. Since then, there has been increasingly effective role of the
private sector in the Nepalese education.
As the decision of the government on inviting the private sector in
education was not based on any systematic study and rigorous thinking, the
government was not clear about how the private sector should be utilized as
a contributory factor and regulated as a supplementary partner of the public
system. The result was that the private sector began to function as it liked
since there was no regulatory framework developed by the Government for
dealing with the private sector. The private sector itself set the rule of the
game which was not objected by the Government. This situation obviously
provided impetus for the emergence of the two kinds of colleges under the
private initiative: first, the colleges initiated by the community the profit of
which would go to the college management so that the college would be able
to serve more people with quality education, and second the colleges
initiated by individuals of which a large part of the profit would go to the
founder's pocket. In this way, commercial types of colleges have emerged
since then. It should be noted that expensive private schools with for-profit
motive were already in place making education like any commodity that can
be sold and bought. Thus the notion of involvement of the private sector both
for institutional profit and individual profit entered the Nepalese education
system.
The involvement of the private sector in higher education tremendously
contributed to expand access to higher education. It has also contributed to
establish higher education institutions which offer quality higher education.
There are private colleges~ both community and individual funded- allover
Nepal covering mountains and the terai. There are 60 constituent colleges of
TV but the number of affiliated colleges is more than 400 in the year 2007. It
seems that every year the number is going to grow unless another decision
on affiliation policy is made. This is a clear indication of the expansion of
higher education once the provision made on granting private colleges.
In the 1990s, the Government became prepared to establish universities
with more focus on privatization. The universities established after 1992
established more private colleges when they have a couple of their own
colleges. It happened also with the universities which were established after
the restoration of democracy in 1990, e.g. Kathmandu University,
Purbanchal University, Pokhara University. Furthermore, it is learnt that
122 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
Ministry of Education and Sports has forwarded an Act to the Parliament
which has a provision for private university. The mOdality of operation of
private university has not yet been made clear. Nevertheless, it can be
understood that more freedom would be given to it in terms of autonomy and
academic matters. It would also be expected to be economically independent
in terms of resource mobilization.
The multi-university phase (1992-)
The term "multi-university" is found to have' been used to refer to two
situations: Having more than one university in a country, and a student doing
a degree course under two universities. In international arena, the latter
meaning is popular whereas in Nepal, because of having Tribhuvan
University as the only university for a long time, the former is popular.
Nepal adopted the policy of having a single university (e.g. TU) for a long
period of time- 1959-1986. (Mahendra) Nepal Sanskrit University (NSU)
was established in 1986 as the second university in Nepal. The nature of
NSU in terms of financing was the same as TU.
The concept of Multi-University was materialized only after the report
of the National Education Commission, 1992 which was formed by the
Government established after the restoration of democracy in 1990. The
National Education Commission, 1992 suggested the idea of establishing
Multi-universities in order to provide higher education to the qualified and
talented people living in all Development Regions of the country. The spirit
of the Commission towards implementing the concept of Multi-University
was to establish one university in each Development Region and bring under
this university all the TU's colleges in the regional. As it appears in the
report, the concept of Multi-university was initially brought up to provide
more access to higher education for those who would otherwise be left out.
The report envisaged a greater role of University Grants Commission in this
regard.
In line with this, in 1992, an Act was passed by the Parliament to
establish Kathmandu University as a Non-Government University though,
contrary to the suggestion of the Commission, the UGC was not given any
role in the process. Another provision made in the Kathmandu University
Act was that, unlike TU and NSU where the King was the Chancellor, the
provision had been made for the Prime Minister to be the Chancellor. After
the Amendment of the Education Act in 2006, the role of the King as
Chancellor of TV and NSU has been transferred to the Prime Minister.
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 123
Another important provision made in the Kathmandu University Act was that
the University was to be established outside the Kathmandu Valley.
Following this trend, two universities; Purbanchal University (PU) in 1993,
and Pokhara University in 1996, were established in Biratnagar and Pokhara
respectively. Altogether, there are now five universities. There are two other
degree awarding institutions in the field of medical science- B P Koirala
Health Science Academy and Medical Science National Academy- which
regarded as deemed university. Two years ago, Bouddha Lumbini University
was established in 2005 though there is a lot to do to make it a functional
university.
The idea of adopting multi- university strategy for the enhancement of
Nepalese higher education was recommended by the Royal Commission on
Higher Education 1982, National Education Commission, 1992, and High
Level National Education Commission, 1998. Higher Education Project
(HEP) which was implemented during 1993-1999 funded by the World Bank
also supported this idea. One of the basic ideas envisaged by the HEP was
the formation of two regional campus clusters in the western and eastern
development regions. For that purpose, a campus in each cluster was to be
identified to lead the cluster. The lead campuses of TU were expected to
initiate phasing out the Proficiency Certificate Level (PCL) and coordinating
the TU campuses in the satellite areas for bringing them under their
leadership. Funds under HEP were allocated to these campuses to equip them
with adequate facilities so as allow them to emerge eventually as competent
institutions with more autonomy finally taking a shape of university. It was
hoped that those institutions would eventually emerge as universities and
bring the campuses in the cluster areas under their jurisdiction. (Mahendra)
Morang MUltiple Campus in Biratnagar and Prithvi Narayan Multiple
Campus in Pokhara were identified as the lead campuses and they were
financially supported under the HEP project for that purpose. Funds made
available under that scheme were exhausted to improve their infrastructure,
library, equipment, etc. The two TU campuses had adequate number of
students, qualified faculty, infrastructure, and other facilities sufficient for
them to emerge as a university. But instead of promoting these colleges as
university, Purbanchal University in Biratnagar and Pokhara University in
Pokhara were established as new universities. As a matter of fact, the
international trend is that a university is not established as a new institution;
rather a competent campus with adequate independence and autonomy
emerges as university. This is what happened in UK in 1993 when 6 highly
reputed colleges were converted into 6 universities. In Thailand also, four
124 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
universities were established to stop over flow to the prestigious
,
in Bangkok some years ago. The establishment of Pokhara and
It,trbanchal University neither followed the procedures already worked out
did they receive technical and professional inputs from UGC and experts
their establishment. All what was seen was the prevalence of political
pel;ision on the establishment of the universities.
Reviewing the policies and strategies regarding the establishment of
-universities, it appears that they have not been established in consonant
what has been envisioned by the Government's policy documents also.
it looks that the development of higher education has been influenced
by a group of politicians and less guided by technical and professional
For example, the Ninth National Plan (1997-2002) maintains that in
to better manage the country's higher education, in order to make it
qualitative and competitive, and to make it serve the national and
,tej;donal needs of the country, multi universities will be established in all the
development regions. In order to expedite the matter, a coordination
committee for the establishment and management of university involving
MOE, TU, and UGC was to be constituted. The implication was that at
initial stage it was promised that technical and professional inputs for the
of a university would be sought before establishing a new
university. But it becomes obvious how such a process was bypassed when
reviewing the actual process of how the Act for the establishment of a
university was passed by the Parliament. Neither inputs were received from a
committee as said above nor was UGC involved in the process. What has
argued above is more than enough to show that political decisions
prevailed much in the process of implementing the concept of multi­
university while putting the technical and professional inputs aside. One of
the reasons for why our higher education has not been able to function as
expected can be attributed to over political interventions in all the affairs of
the universities.
It is also argued that in a professional setting, people do not want to
confine a university to a geographical region. The concept of regional
university may raise some issues. A university is universal; it works beyond
political and geographical boundary. We have universities in UK, USA,
Australia which have been running programs in Asia and in many other
countries. However, it can also be argued that a university has a geographical
locus and focus in the sense that it is expected to serve mainly the area of its
location with the focus on the needs of the society it is supposed to serve.
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 125
 Universities in Nepal 840 on daily wages. The position of the technical administrative staff is as
. follows; 1959 permanent, 312 temporary, 1315 on contract, and 878 on daily
There are 5 universities in operation in Nepal: Tribhuvan University, wages.
Nepal Sanskrit University, Kathmandu University, Purbanchal University, Nepal Sanskrit University (NSU) was established in 1986. It offers

and Pokhara University. There are other two institutions of higher education courses in Education, Science (Ayurved) Medical Science (Ayurved) and

in operation which award degrees: i.e. B P Koirala Health Science Academy Sanskrit. Balmeeki Campus, a TV's constituent campus was handed over to

and Medical Science National Academy. These two institutions are regarded NSU after it was established as University. This university has 12 constituent

as deemed universities which do not approve other institutions to run similar campuses and 17 affiliated campuses. There is only one campus in

programs like the five universities mentioned above. The two higher Kathmandu (Balmeeki). Its Central Office is in Dang. It has also covered

education institutions are under the Ministry of Health. It should be noted many parts of the country. It has started teaching other areas than Sanskrit

that Bouddha Lumbini University was established in 2005, but it has not yet like Education, for example.

started academic programs. In this way, altogether there are 8 institutions of As of 2005/6, there are 3104 students studying under this university.

higher education with a university status. Universities like Agriculture and There are 372 teachers working in different areas. There are 429

Forestry University and Open University are in the pipe line. administrative staff (both administrative and technical) working at this

Tribhuvan University (TU) was established in 1959. It is regarded as a university.

national or state university since it gets government funds for its operation. Kathmandu University (KU) was established in 1991 by an A~t passed

TU is the largest and oldest University in Nepal. It has 60 constituent by the parliament. It offers courses in the area of Science, Management,

campuses and more than 400 affiliated campuses. The constituent campuses Law, Education, Arts, Engineering and Medical Science. It has 6 constituent

are fully under the control of TV. The affiliated campuses receive a nominal colleges and 11 affiliated colleges. It has set "Quality Education for

fund from the University Grants Commission. They are privately managed. Leadership" as its mission statement. It has its own constituent colleges in

Their quality of education is controlled by TU through curriculum and Kavre, Dhulikhel and Lalitpur. It has affiliated colleges in the Kathmandu

examinations. Valley. There are five Medical Colleges affiliated to this university out of

It has five technical institutes and four faculties which are led by the which three are out of the Kathmandu Valley. As of 200617, the university

Deans. The technical institutes are: Institute of Engineering, Institute of has 2476 students in constituent colleges and 2686 students in affiliated

Medicine, Institute of Forestry, Institute of Science and Technology, and colleges. It has 193 full time teaching staff and 69 part time teaching staff.

Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science. Under these institutions, there The number of non-teaching staff is 139. (UGC 2005/6, Pocket Pal 200617)

are 36 central departments (UGC 2005/6). As of 2005/2006, there were Purbanchal University (PU) was established in 1993. Its Central

20612 students studying under these technical institutes. Office is in Biratnagar, Morang, the Eastern Development Region of Nepal.

The faculties are: Faculty of Education, Faculty of Humanities and As reported by UGC 2005/6, it has three constituent colleges and 86

Social Science, Faculty of Law, and Faculty of Management. It has also affiliated colleges. The number of students studying under this university is

research centres in the areas of Education, Economics, Asian Culture, and 8812. It offers courses under Science and Technology, Management, Law,

Science. As of 2005/6, there were 132504 students studying in these Medical Science, Education, Arts covering courses like Computer

faculties. There were thus 153126 students under TV in the year 2005/6. Application, Rural Development, Fashion Designing, Information

According to UGC 2005/6, altogether there are 5907 teachers working at Technology, etc. Under its constituent colleges, it has only 43 teachers, and

TU. Out of them, 4909 are on permanent status, 114 on temporary, and 947 122 administrative staff.

on contract. Looking at the number of part time teachers struggling for Pokhara University (PU) was established in 1996. The Central Office

contractual service, it seems that there are many teachers working at TV on of Pokhara University is in Pokhara, Kaski, the centre of the Western

the hope that they will have a permanent job. Similarly, there are 3574 Development Region. It has 3 constituent colleges and 23 affiliated colleges

permanent administrative staff members, 161 temporary, 276 on contract, out of which 14 are in the Kathmandu Valley. It offers courses in the area of

126 New Horizons in Education in Nepal New Horizons in Education in Nepal 127

'lillil
·~lH
Management, Arts, Science and Technology. It has 408 students in its
!il I ! I
, I! constituent colleges and 5207 students in the affiliated colleges. It has
l,.
.1
initiated Computer Application Courses, Business Administration,
Engineering, Health Care Management, Biochemistry, .etc. The number of
teaching staff working in the constituent colleges of pO is 44 and the number
of administrative staffis 85.
Boudha Lumbini University (BLU) has not yet done much on teaching
courses. It was basically expected to pursue studies on Buddhism- Buddhist
philosophy, research on Buddhism, Search literature in the relevant areas,
etc. But being a university, its Act passed by the parliament may allow it to
pursue independent academic works like any other university. The future
course of development of this university is, by and large, dependent upon
how the government supports it in terms of operationalizing its activities.
The other two degree awarding higher education institutions are B P
Koirala Health Science Academy, Dharan, and Medical Science National
Academy, Bir Hospital, Kathmandu.. They have been offering courses at
Proficiency Certificate Level, Bachelor and Maser's Level in Medical
Sciences. Tl;lere are 125 students studying in Medical Science National
Academy, Bir Hospital, Kathmandu, and 721 students studying in B P
Koirala Health Science Academy.
Multi-university strategy for access and quality
Worldwide higher education has moved from class to mass. More and
more people want to do higher education. It is argued that no body should be
barred from getting higher education for-fmancial reason. In a way, now the
concept of higher education for all is emerging.
Nepal adopted a multi-university strategy for reforming higher
education for both quality and access. Not much discussion took place at
national level on why Nepal should have many universities, apart from
reports prepared by different Conimissions on different occasions suggesting
that the multi-university strategy should be followed in order to provide
more access to higher education. Dwelling upon the Report of the
Commission of 1992 for understanding the reasons for why multi-university
was proposed, it would be obvious that access to higher education was the
priority. However, several ideas can be devised from the proposal of the
Higher Education Project to establish lead clusters and later to promote those
clusters as regional universities. Keeping in perspective the HEP approach to
establish lead clusters with sufficient autonomy, it would be apparent that
I
128
New Horizons in Education in Nepal
was perceived to be unable to provide access to and quality in higher
It was therefore proposed that multi-universities should ~
-established by promoting TV's large campuses initially as lead campuses and
allowing them to emerge as university for the enhancement of
both the access and quality. It looks that the planners intended to provide
higher education by breaking TU into several small universities on a
regional basis. Taking into account the international trend, it is so clear that
most universities famous for quality in the world have students in a
manageable size, say 20·30 thousands. In terms of coverage of area also,
most of them are confined to a limited area. Many of them are confined to an
area and are called University Campus. What seems emerging is that for
quality of higher education, among many factors, number of students and
geographical coverag~ can have a significant role. Looking at the problem
from this point of view, it could be argued that quality was another prime
concern for the reason for why the concept of multi-university was proposed.
TIle trend in higher education is that universities are moving towards
becoming result-oriented. This notion has certainly led them to avoid
expansion, and concentrate on quality products. Worldwide, universities are
struggling for becoming "Knowledge Empire" instead of "Territorial
Empire". It should be noted that universities with 20 to 30 thousand students
under a single campus have been most successful in offering quality higher
education in the world. In this context, it can be argued that Tribhuvan
University should be restructured allowing the large campuses emerge as
autonomous universities so that they can provide quality higher education.
At the initial stage, Prithvi Narayan Muliple Campus and (Mahendra)
. Morag Multiple Campus were identified for this purpose. Later on, other
campuses like (Mahendra) Multiple Campus, Nepalgunj, Ram Swaroop Ram
Sagar Multiple Campus, Janakpur, Thakur Ram Multiple Campus, Birgunj
. were also put in the list for the same purpose. It could be argued that had the
idea of regional cluster been implemented successfully, by now, these
campuses would have emerged as university.
TU emerging as a strange university
Tribhuvan University, Ii synonym of Nepalese higher education, has :Jj
emerged as a strange university in the world. There are several oddities ,II
,!,
accumulated in TV over time which are unusual in a modem institution of
"
:'11
higher education. These oddities are the results of the continuity of
visionless leadership, over politicking of universities, higher education
,,,.
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 129
~
 without national priority, etc. The most unfortunate but striking thing is that
the poIiticalleadership of all the time never realized that without developing
higher education, no country can develop its socio-economy. As higher
education has become a development partner of a country, the persistent
poor performance of Nepal in the field of socio-economy is attributed to the
poor quality of Nli1'alese higher education. Most politicians think that
political settlement is the most crucial thing for a country but how can it be
achieved and sustained without insightful leaders and committed and
competent citizens for which development of quality higher education is
essential.
TV is a very large university in terms of its number of students and
coverage through constituent and affiliated colleges. It has a very large
number of students which is unusual for a modem ~iversity. It is a very
large university also in terms of number of campuses it has. TV has 60
constituent campuses scattered all over the country and about 400 affiliated
campuses locations of many of which the TV authority is unknown about.
Since there is complete absence of clear ideas about how to deal with the
issue of affiliated colleges, there is likelihood of approving many other
campuses in the years to come. The paradox is that on the one hand, TV has
not been able to offer quality higher education in its own campuses, on the
other hand, it is affiliating more than 400 private colleges without any plan.
TV is a university where the students have to wait almost for a year for
exam results. This is very unusual because this is a very long period of time
for students to keep track of an academic matter. Obviously the students
have to lose one academic year for going on to the next level. In many other
. IPld who do not. Campuses are under pressure to certify that all the students
universities in the world, it does not take mo~tl. than a couple of months , time
for bringing out exam results. Even inNli1'al, the SLC Board publishes
results of about 3 hundred thousand students within two months. HSEB also
used to publish exam results in a short period of time. TV is a university
which offers courses on testing and examinations but cannot improve
efficiency and quality of its own examinations. The pass rate of TV and
absence of accountability makes another story. Amid these oddities, now-a­
days, students at TV have started putting pressure on teachers for high marks
instead of putting pressure on the authority to bring about reforms in the way
teaching and learning takes place, exams are conducted, instructional
materials are developed, classroom interaction takes place, entrance exam is
administered, etc. The TV authority looks enthusiastic to reward students in
the name of internal assessment but has no courage to move towards
reforming educational delivery.
130 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
Another strange thing about TV is that it has several teachers and
ilrofessors who do not teach even a single period in the whole year. They
not seen a classroom for years. This is unusual in the sense that
a university teacher cannot continue his job without doing
'P,",UlIlg or research, but here in TV, it is those teachers who constitute an
:mfluential power centre. Worldwide, it is unusual for a university to have
professors on payroll. But in TV they are the ones who influence most
,secu;ions including the appointment of the Vc. In addition, higher education
Nepal has gained another oddity this year by introducing the system of
tlmDointing the VC with a political party tag.
Modem higher education has high correlation with the costs incurred in
education and its quality. One of the reasons for why the quality of
s education is questioned is because TV spends very little money on
that contribute to quality education. The obvious explanation is that it
.Iets money from the government only for salary and it raises very little
tDoney from students. The apparent reason is that TV students pay less than
• dollar a month even at Master's level making TV as one of the cheapest
universities in the world. The paradox is that TV has no money for quality
education but it offers almost free higher education. One wonders whether it
is enhancing students' competence level or killing their potential.
Another interesting thing about TV is that a large number of students sit
in the final exam as regular students without attending even a single class in
the whole academic session. They do not who the teachers are in the
department. No university in the world entertains such students. In TV there
is no difference between the students who attend a class on a regular basis
bl\ve attended at least 70 % classes. Student leaders feel proud of being able \.I.lli"
"
allow these students to sit in the exam as regular students.
A modem university performs several functions. But the three
fimctions- teaching, research and community services- are essential for
. becoming a competent university. From this point of view, TV is not a full­
. fledged university, rather it is merely a teaching university in the sense that
all what it does is teaching; it does not carry out research and community
services. It has become necessary for it to initiate other two major functions
to become a full-fledged university.
Based on papers, discussions, reports, it is therefore not difficult to
understand why professionals and scholars were in favour of promoting TV's
large campuses into regional universities. The size of TV was becoming very
large causing problems in managing it, and the coverage was sO wide that it
was virtually difficult for TV executives to visit all campuses during their 4
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 131
years' term. It is hard for them to know the Chiefs of those campuses, put
aside the issue of knowing teaching staff and the students. I would like to
recall here that the President of an American University once said that he
could can fifty percent of his students by name. TU is growing as one of a
very few largest universities in the world. The size of the students and the
given facilities may have negative impacts on the quality of the higher
education it offers. This situation led TU to be unable to compliance with its
calendar of operation, manage academic activities well for quality, use
examinations for quality improvement, publish exam results on time, etc.
The size of TU was also a problem for being flexible in academic matters. It
had to postpone its set programs including final examination quite often
causing problems for many students. Since it has its central office in
Kathmandu, it was also not practicable to ask all campuses to come to
Kathmandu for every kind of administrative work including marks sheet and
transcript for the students. All these factors contribute to quality one way or
another. Keeping these views in mind, it was proposed that TU should be
brought under a manageable size so that it could sustain its leading role in
the field of Nepalese higher education as well as contribute to establish more
universities in a professional way. It was in this line, the concept of Multj­
university was put forward for operation.
The 10th National Development Plan document also puts emphasis on
improving .the quality of higher education and making it relevant to the
societal needs. The action plans developed for implementing the
recommendations of the Education Commission Reports 2049 BS and 2055
BS also gave importance to both- quality and access. The international trend
is that every time when any change in hi~er education is proposed, it is the
quality that comes in mind. Further argument for multi- university with
regional distribution is that, based on international experiences, universities
enhance developmental activities in the region which will be helpful for
Nepal to achieve balanced growth all over the country. It could have been
one of the reasons for why Multi-university concept was proposed. In the
Nepalese context, it can be argued that the idea of multi-university was
conceived for both quality and access. It would be interesting to look
empirically into the extent to which Nepal accomplish quality higher
education after establishing multiple universities.
Problems in Nepalese higher education
Examining the performance of our higher education in light of the
functions as discussed above, it would appear that on the whole it is guided
132 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
the traditional roles of higher education like ideological dissemination,
~ll.::hing for knowledge, providing training for human resources, etc. The
of higher education is also not satisfactory both in terms of the
of the academic packages as well as the quality of delivery. The role
Nepalese higher education in contributing to the country's social and
growth is limited. Most of our universities are of teaching and
nature. Weare accustomed to the traditional way of higher
~ucation in such a way that responsible people in TU- e.g. the Senate
leaders of university teachers', organization, student leaders,
do not ask, for example, why TU is opening more than 400 private
~olleges instead .of it givi~g pr?p:r a~tention to its. own 60 c?nsti~.ent
l.eolleges for quahty educatIOn. Similar IS the case With other UnIversIties.
universities have almost no role in research, innovation,
~ommunity service, etc. The education programs of the universities are not
in and collaborated with the productive, business and service
Putting a couple of private colleges aside, there is no integration
i.Mtween higher education and business sector. Even though these colleges
established some kind of integrative relation with the business
what they are doing is simply giving the students some exposure
work, there is absence of genuine integration of education with the
~l.,roductive or service sector. All these universities expect full funding from
government.
There is no doubt that the trained personnel and the labour force needed
the country are produced by the universities. However, the quality of
has always been in question within and outside the country. It is
,~"t:I.Oi:1Use of this the problem of unemployment is growing. It is also true that
has not been able to produce a good number of entrepreneurs and
environment where someone would be encouraged to initiate business
his own initiative at his risk. In this situation, economic growth of the
country is hindered.
There could be many reasons for why our higher education has not been
to be associated with national development. The statement made earlier
the advancement of higher education is a mirror of the social and
~nomic advancement of the country and-vice versa makes sense here.
Apparently, there are several problems in our higher education. It is
pmcult to deal with all the problems here. However, some problems are briefly
~scussed below.
133
{--­
 Lack ofpolitical consensus and visionary leadership
Higher education is, no doubt, a very powerful political center because it
has highly educated mass (e.g. professors and students). Universities of any
country cannot function well unless there is political consensus among the key
players like the political parties, government, students, teachers, etc. It is
impossible to get politics out of a university, what is possible is achieving a
consensus among the key players on how to depoIiticize university
management. For long, Nepal has been passing through different stages of
political turmoil which had impacts on the growth of higher education. Every
time, Nepalese higher education became victim of political interest of the
leaders and political power centres due to the political potential of it. One of the
problems of Nepalese higher education has thus been the political interference
from the government in the overall management ofuniversities. In the Nepalese
universities, the Senates, for example, never had an opportunity to have a say in
the selection of their Vice-Chancellors. Every time the Vice-Chancellors were
imposed to universities by the government. Unfortunately, most VCs happened
to be more loyal to the political masters and less to the university. In most of the
cases, they also happened to lack visions of higher education in Nepal. What is
very important is that there should be political consensus on putting a visionary
leader in the position of the VC of a university rather than distributing
universities among the political parties and appointing their cadres as VCs.
Once a visionary VC is appointed through a political consensus and academic
procedure, the VC can manage the rest of the issues.
Jrinancing higher educadon
Nepalese higher education has always been· associated with financial
problems. The main reason is that government appoints a VC on the basis of his
political loyalty, not on the basis of his strengths in leading the university to be
fmancially independent. Such a VC always looks at the Ministry of Finance for
funds. He does not look for ways to generate funds utilizing the university's
physical resource. It is said that lack of stable scheme for resource mobilization
is a big problem of Nepalese high education. On the top of this, Nepalese
government never gave a high priority to higher ed~cation. It allocates a very
small amount of money to higher education. How can the higher education of a
country function well without sufficient funds for physical development,
instructional materials, research, publication, professional growth of teachers,
etc.? Shortage of fund has always been the problem of Nepalese higher
education.
134 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
~ 14
and relevance
The higher education in Nepal has problems in terms of quality and
-''''''ance also. For a university to ensure quality higher education, it must
quality faculty, committed and well-prepared teaching staff, sufficient
resources for instructional materials, quality students in a manageable size in
classroom, quality control mechanism in place, etc. These elements have
very weak presence in our higher education. Weak linkage is there between
higher education and productive, business, and service sectors. This
C.!... _.: __ has given another problem to our higher education. As there is
~mplete absence of collaboration between our higher education and productive
both quality and relevance becomes the problem. On the top of that, lack
flexibility in programs, continuity of the old packages for long, absence of
exams, research, and community service, etc. have compounded the
There is no well-defmed standard in our higher education. By the absence
a mechanism for accreditation, quality has suffered. From the point of
there is absence of sense of accountability on the part TV
iluthority, and the authority in the campuses. Selection of quality students is
problem in our higher education. In most cases, it is the students who
how students should be selected for higher education. Absence of a
entrance examination for selection of students has been another problem.
for example, has no choice; it has to accept whoever with minimum
comes to join it in the area of humanities, education and
jnanagement. How would it be possible to delivery quality higher educatiori in
~:.lnstitutional problems
Our higher education has problems also in terms of institutional
~arrangements. As TV covers more than 92% of the Nepalese higher education,
problems become the problems of the whole higher education in general.
!Compared to many mtemational universities in the world, TV looks gigantic
has about two hundred thousand regular students, 60 constituent Colleges
400 affiliated colleges. It has more than 10 thousand teaching and
inistrative staff on pay roll. The new universities like KU, Pur. U and PU
adopted affiliation policy like TV focusing in Kathmandu. University
Commission has been established to coordinate higher education. In
it is completely non-existent. In absence of an effective institution to
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 135
accredit and coordinate, the whole higher education has suffered. For example,
there is none to take into notice of use of unethical means in exam centres.
Problems with reform efforts
Nepal made efforts to bring about reforms in higher education by
adopting multi-university strategy, by developing 20 years' strategic vision
for TU, and by implementing Higher Education Project (HEP) I (Loan) and
Higher Education Project (HEP) II (Grants) with the World Bank. It was
already argued that the multi-university strategy did not contribute much to
improve the higher education because it was guided by politics; instead of
allowing TU's competent colleges to emerge as university, new universities
were established without adequate preparation. The first HEP did something
but because of political interference, and also because of a large size of TU,
very little visible reform was accomplished. The 2nd HEP has already been
delayed because of political situation. The absence ofVCsin the universities
for long led this project suffer a lot. Even after along time of the
appointment of the Chairman and Member Secretary of the University
Grants Commission, VCs, and other positions, nothing significant as the
reform initiative has been brought out for our notice. It is difficult to say
whether it is, because of the nature of the job or because of the appointment
of the wrong people, the higher education is still suffering. In short, it can be
said that there are problems with the reform strategies as "ell in our higher
education. / lievelopment of higher education. The countries which manage to handle this
International cooperation
University is universal in the sense that it goes for finding truth. Truth is
universal. It also implies that it should work in collaboration with other
universities for reducing digital gaps with developed countries, gaining support
from them through exchange programs for both teachers and students, and also
to bring back the students who go to US, Australia, UK, and other countries for
education and stay there. Ifiooked at the list ofthe universities in the world that
TU, for example, has established linkage with, it would be along list, but it
seems that TU has not accomplished any significant gain mainly because the
linkage is weak. This should be reviewed to ensure that these linkages are
converted into collaboration for the benefit of the Nepatese students and
teachers.
136 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
...
'New Horizons in Higher Education in Nepal
"
It is crystal clear that in the existing set up of TU and other universities,
is very little chance for them to make expected improvement in the
of quality higher education. The whole higher education in Nepal
to be guided by new visions and missions of modem higher education.
this purpose, it is necessary to appreciate the new changes taking place
higher education in the world, and to develop implementation strategies
reforming our higher education. For this purpose, the following
~uggestions are put forward.
changing trend of higher education
Higher education in the world has been changing fast. It is frequently
that in order to enjoy full benefit of higher education, it is necessary
a country to bring about necessary changes in it. Failing to appreciate the
iNlanges taking place in higher education will lead a country to lose both and
and physical resources- brain drain and money going out in the name
education.
The world of higher education faces a unique paradox of tension
ktween the old and new and between tradition and innovation. Getting
happed into such tensions generates both strength and inertia for further
move beyond the tradition, but those countries which cannot escape
the traditional trap apparently get overwhelmed and continue the status
By nature, university is classical, traditional and conservative.
IfnivPTsity professors are also the same though they tend to be different from
traditional while working outside the university as consultants or
I.hri~nrs to other institutions:What is hard to understand is why a professor
ultra-modern when advising others- e.g. Ministry of Education and
or International donors, the private sector, etc, but is found too
ItIn~prvative when the reform of hislher department is in question. That
be why many of the universities established at the initial phase of
education, for example, say 15 th century, are in the same locations,
doing much the same things- teaching through lecture, and being
lMnaged in the same way. Some changes in those universities can be
~h!i:prvf'rl but the core functions are pretty much the same.
Horizons in Education in Nepal 131
 Universities are facing several challenges created by internationalization
of politics, finance, technology, population explosion, job market, etc. Thc
process of democratization of the world politics has an impact on university
management which is leading us to accept the notion of participation,
hearing voices of the stakehQlders, and allQwing participatiQn of
stakehQlders in the process of making decisiQns which have an impact on
their future. This process has forced the university tQ review its academic
aspect, financial arrangements, and management part from different
perspectives.
The financial challenge of university has led it to do more things with
few resources .or look for ways to generate resources itself for its regular and
developmental activities. World-wide after 1975, there is budget cut in
higher education. To survive in this situation, universities are under
tremendous pressure to search for· alternative ways so as to avoid or reduce
over dependence on government allocations. Different ways of generating
funds could be adopted like providing technical inputs t.o the government
and n.on-government sect.ors and research and management issues. It is also
possible for a university to go f.or a joint-venture with business sectQr .or
initiating business on its own, etc. Other alternatives are fee, d.onatiQns,
end.owments, external assistance, etc. Generating funds through different
schemes pr.ovides .opPQrtunities for a university to .offer quality educatiQn.
The presence of effective technQlogy for doing things in a different
paradigm has also been a challenge f.or cQnventiQnal ulljYbrsities tQ adjust
their way of educational delivery. The new technolQgy .of infQrmati.on and
c.ommunicatiQn has been SQ effective that it has nQ barrier .of distance and
time leading t.o create knQwledge-based ec.on.omic gr.owth strategies- higher
education institutions are cQnfronting with the need tQ adjust tQ new
circumstances. This is h.ow it has been PQssible f.or many individuals t.o
.obtain higher educatiQn degrees fr.om virtual universities through electrQnic
media like internet and audi.o and visual means.
The university classroQms have als.o changedby the use .of technolQgy.
Instead .of chalk and talk, many classes have multi-media project.ors with
enQugh flexibility in managing teaching and learning effectively. The
university educati.on has changed in such a way that there is gr.owing
pressure .on the teachers t.o ad.opt new techn.ol.ogy requiring them to undergQ
new .orientati.on and training. The distance and .open system .of learning have
br.ought the nQtiQn .of life IQng learning pushing teachers and learners f.or
learning to learn rather than mastering s.ome skills .once and remaining the
138 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
..
f.or l.ong. In this way, rapid changes are taking place all .over the w.orld
the field .of higher educati.on.
The implicati.on is that the relati.onship between higher educatiQn and
state has changed. NQW higher educatiQn instituti.ons are becQming m.ore
than direct. The state has m.ore supervis.ory rQle than interventiQnist.
a way, it appears that m.odern higher educatiQn has m.oved a IQng way
becoming independent, self-sufficient, flexible, innQvative, realistic,
ied-type, needs-based, creative, visi.onary, anticipative, participatQry,
cQst-effective and recQvery, c.ompetitive, etc. It has als.o moved
mass frQm class thQugh class has still been the main centre fQr
ng. In this pretext, the g.overnment cannQt direct .or cQntr.o1 the way
educati.on changes. Rather it shQuld be happy with the role .of a
~IlCllmUQr. The role .of the state, as a matter of fact, is tQ prQvide enabling
framework t.o co.ordinate, regulate, accredit and provide guidance and
for both private and public higher education institutiQns s.o that
meet natiQnal training, research and services needs .of the c.ountry as
as the emerging demands .of the international c.ommunity. As a result,
education is forced to move towards more .open and flexible path .of
fQr its growth and fQr being able to address the emerging issues
bQth financial independence and providing higher educatiQn to all on
basis.
A cursQry look at the issues .of higher educatiQn presented above
!lPParently gives the impressi.on that the present position of Nepalese higher
is not functiQnal in terms .of policy, politics, financing,
access, and quality. Nepal, therefore, must mQVe tQwards
pwlULUlg new hQrizons in higher educati.on SQ that they provide us with
guide for the future reform in our higher education. These
ilWdelines will work as a framework fQr decision makers tQ form policy .on
education. To define p.olicy, I f.oll.ow Haddad (1994) "An explicit or
decisiQn or grQUP of decisi.ons which may set .out directives f.or
future decisi.ons .or initiate, sustain .or retard action, .or guide the
ImPlementatiQn .of previous decisi.ons" in .order t.o lead the discussi.on
In a br.oad way, fQur majQr p.olicies, as follQws, can be put
f.or the refQrm .of Nepalese higher educati.on:
Diversify increasingly higher educatiQn programs and structures tQ
increase their responsiveness to labQur market and sQcial demands.
Keeping the class or elite approach active, itshQuld movetQwards
mass and class.
Horizons in Education in Nepal 139

i ~:
Develop sustainable resource mobilization schemes for higher
I
education institutions to improve their resource base necessary to
provide quality teaching and research.
Integrate higher education with productive and service sector for
making education qualitative, generating resource, and relevant.
Develop appropriate implementation strategies with the
involvement of the stakeholders to ensure the success of higher
education refonn, (e.g. political consensus).
Based on the broad policy framework as presented above, the following
policies and strategies, though they are not the only ones, are suggested for
the refonns in the Nepalese higher education. It should be noted that as TU
holds 92 % of the Nepalese higher education, most of the suggestions may
give the impression that TU is on the focus.
Because of research and innovation, academic programs at university
level in terms of both contents and methods have been changing frequently
all over the world so as to meet the demands of the society and the market.
For this purpose, the following issues should be kept in perspectives while
bringing about refonn in higher education in Nepal.
Academic reform: World class teaching
For any educational institution to grow, it is necessary that the academic
programs it offers must be of high quality. One of the reasons why we are
arguing for refonn in TU is that the existing package of higher education
being offered need improvement so that they become able to equip our
students with necessary skills and abilities. For that purpose, the future
refonn must make universities offer high quality higher education and also
carry out high quality research. It is only after offering high quality
education, it is possible to get support of students to raise fees and obtain
high recognition from the society. For this purpose, it must have excellent
faculty, talented and committed students, and excellent teaching and leaming
environment including physical infrastructure and facilities.
The first and foremost responsibility of an education institution is to
strive for providing best possible- world class education to its leamers. For
this purpose, it should make efforts to take care of all the elements that
contribute to offer the best education possible. The elements that deserve
proper attention for providing high class teaching and training could be like
clear course objectives, appropriate leaming materials, proper classroom
instructions with appropriate pedagogical processing, and the involvement of
140 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
4\
I~chnology, effective evaluation system, use of examinations for educational
refonn, etc. In addition, selection of students, review of curriculum based on
:teaching and examination on a regular basis, integration of research into
~aching, competent selection of staff, and stable scheme for their career
development, etc. are also equally important. It is also necessary for an
.institution to have full time staff committed to teaching. Teachers must be
-.vailable for students for consultation. Otherwise, they do not get full benefit
of formal education. The institutions must assure teachers of timely
promotion, job security, and opportunity for enhancing qualifications for
.career development.
In case of TU, there has not been a review of its academic package for
years, selection of students has suffered a lot due to over pressure from
student unions, exams have not been refonned for long due to lack of
. involvement of exam experts and unwillingness of the authority to refonn
~ern, research has not been an agenda for the authority in TU, etc. In this
situation, unless some strong steps are taken, refonn in TU can be just a wild
(iream. In this context, it is necessary for TU campuses to have freedom for
a.cademic refonns like bringing about refonns in curriculum, text materials,
exam, teacher training and staff development (pedagogical skills - both short
tenn and long term training), strong mechanism for students' selection, etc.
Without such provisions, quality higher education cannot be delivered. In
this situation, it is necessary to develop new visions for the refonn of higher
education in Nepal with the involvement of all stakeholders. The refonn has
to be comprehensive in nature- reforming all components together. There
will be no effective refonn if it is only a piece meal operation.
University governance: Visionary leadership of the VC
Many people seem to believe that one or two persons in an institution
Q:annot do much regardless of· the person's capability in making the
institution serve as expected. What is important, for them, is the overall
. situation in which the institution has to work and the support of all those
who work for the institution at different levels of responsibility like
professors, administrative staff, students and outside agencies. One could not
agree more with the importance of the context and the role of the people
working as subordinates in an institution to make it work efficiently. One
would also argue, however, that from the point of view of governance,
bdership of an institution is the most important, and the chief executive
makes a big difference. It does not mean that there is no role left for others,
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 141
.~
they are also equally important. The point is that how subordinates
contribute to make the institution work efficiently depends largely upon how
the chief of the institution (VC in this case) creates conducive environment
for them to work either by making formal decisions or by the way slhe
functions. In other words, if the chief is a competent one, slhe determines the
role for others, if not, others will find their roles on their own which wi11lead
the institution to a mess. This is how the future of an organization, by and
large, depends upon the functioning of the chief executive. Similar is the
case with the govemance of university.
Visionary leadership and political support of the govermnent are said to
be the two main contributing factors to the successful development of a
university. As Vice-chancellor (VC) is the chief executive of the universities
in Nepal, it is thus essential for a university to find a visionary leader. What
is popularly said about the university is that once a university puts a
visionary and committed leadership in place, the rest is almost done. The
explanation is that the visionary leadership knows how to put the system of
the university in order, how to keep the stakeholders and the cooperating
agencies in good sense of humour, and how to handle academic matters in
order to keep up the university. The appointment o.f.1he VC, therefore, is so
crucial for the development of the university.
In most advanced universities in the world, the selection process of the
VC is different from how it is done in Nepal. Genemlly, the Governing
Board of the University first visualizes the future directions of the university
through its long and short term plans which provide, in a way, a framework
for determining what kind of person with what general and specific skills
and abilities is appropriate for the position of the VC. The Governing Board
or the Senate constitutes a "Search Committee" to look for such a person and
determines the processes to be followed for the selection. For this purpose,
the committee invites interested and competent individuals to indicate their
willingness to serve in the position. Furthermore, the committee also
approaches to the most appropriate persons, if there are such persons, for the
responsibility. What is crucial is the perfect matching between the kinds of
person the university needs and the person the committee recommends for
the approval of the board.
In the process of selection, the potential candidates can be asked to
present to a group of competent professionals involving a wide variety of
audiences their visions and commitments to demonstrate that they have the
knowledge of the pertinent issues of the university, they have plans for the
development of the university, and they know the strategies to implement
142 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
II
those plans. Furthermore, the search committee can examine the track
records of the possible candidates to ensure that they do what they promise.
Such a process, no doubt, facilitates the search committee to present to the
board appropriate persons for the position of the Vc. The Senate/Governing
Board gaining insights from the search committee makes the decision on the
appointment of the Vice-Chancellor. After following such a process, it does
not matter much who appoints the VC since who is going to be appointed
already becomes obvious. The VC selected through such a process must
have political support from the government. As he is accountable for what he
does, the VC has full-fledged authority to make his team, set his priority,
visualize the future of the university, determine policies, and develop
strategies for implementation. It is prudent to expect good delivery from the
VC selected through a competitive process. The VC should demonstrate a
sense of accountability and comply with his promises. Failing to satisfy
those conditions may lead him to quite the job.
One of the major problems in the development of higher education in
Nepal is the way the VC is appointed. Unlike the above procedures, we have
a legal provision in the Act of some universities like TU to adopt a political
approach by forming a search committee headed by the Minister for
~ducation (pro-chancellor), irrespective of his academic background, to
search for a person for the position of the Vice-Chancellor. Even when the
Prime Minister, as the Chancellor, appoints the VC, the process of selection
is essentially political. Nepal's experience is that the board headed by the
Minister does not genuinely search for an appropriate person, because it does
not carry out any exercise to find out what kind of person is needed for a
particular university at that time, and who can perform well in that particular
situation. The committee neither publicly invites individuals to indicate their
willingness nor does it approach to those who are appropriate. Rather the
. committee waits for a signal from a power centre- the Prime Minister .or the
Party Headquarters- depending upon which is powerful- both of which are
obviously political. The sad thing about the selection of VC is that even the
Loktantrik government did not follow a standard process. What happened in
the year 2007 was that the universities were distributed to different political
parties having a major role in the parliament for the purpose of the VC's
appointment. The major political parties- the Nepali Congress, Nepal
Communist Part (UML), and Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) appointed the
VCs for the universities they got without any academic and professional
criteria. Perhaps Nepal stands as the first country in the World to appoint the
VC tagging the party's name. The VC appointed by following this process
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 143
~
may be some one very intelligent and loyal to the party, but there may not be
a good match between the person appointed and the person desperately
needed for the development of the university. One wonders whether the
parties are interested in promoting their influence in the university or in the
development of higher education in New Nepal.
A VC must possess several skills and abilities depending upon particular
situations of the university. If the VC is appropriate for the situation, things
would move forward, otherwise no matter what reform is initiated, it would
not happen. This is one of the reasons why, despite enormous efforts in the
past, the reform process of the Nepalese higher education has suffered a lot.
This issue needs proper response if higher education reform is a priority.
Different universities follow different procedures for the selection of the
VC. What is common' in most advanced universities is that they follow
competitive procedures using transparent criteria mostly academic.
Generally, the Governing Board of the University/Senate first visualizes the
future directions of the university through its long and short term plans
which provide, in a way, a framework for determining what kind of person
with what general and specific skills and abilities is-~propriate for the
position of the VC. It constitutes a "Search Committee" to look for such a
person and determines the processes to be followed. The potential candidates
can be asked to present to a group of competent professionals involving a
wide variety of audiences their visions and commitments to demonstrate that
they have the knowledge of the pertinent issues of the university, they have
plans for the development of the university, and they know the strategies to
implement those plans. On the basis of the overall performance, candidates
are selected for the position of the VC.
For example, Oxford University, appoints the Vice-Chancellor on the
basis of the election performed by Congregation (on the nomination of a
committee consisting of the Chancel10r and representatives of Council,
Congregation and the Colleges) from among the members of Congregation.
In Lancaster University, a VC search committee is formed by the University
Senate. The committee invites applications openly from competent
academicians not confining to the university. Following competitive
processes of selection, the committee recommends 2-3 candidates to the
Chancellor for appointing the vc. University of Edinburgh maintains a
glorious history of electing the Rector, a very popular position in the
university, by all the teaching and . administrative' staff and students. The
Prime Minister of UK, Gordon Brown, was once the Rector of the
University. In some Scandinavian universities, the VC is selected on the
144 New HQrizons in Education in Nepal
..
basis of his/her presentations to competent audiences involving senior
academicians.
In order to search for appropriate persons for Nepalese universities, as
happens elsewhere, each university should constitute a competent
recommendation committee involving Senate members with sufficient
:twademic background, immune from politics, and clear visions of Nepalese
education. The committee should follow standard procedures for the
~llNUon of appropriate persons for the position of the vc.
f·!Pnllti..",1 consensus
At this point of time, we must accept that without political consensus,
no possibility of reforming higher education in particular and
education in general. If we want to reduce political costs of
it is essential that we all agree on what we should do and what
not do in the name of reform of higher education, and how we
it. Without political understanding, as happened in the past, many
initiatives may go wrong. It should also be noted that we should learn
can accomplish what we propose to accomplish. It has been
that without reaching an agreement with all political forces
of their strengths and size, there is no way to implement any
package. For this purpose, it is necessary that we all agree on basic
!procedures and contents of the reform of higher education in Nepal.
We can learn a lot from international experiences as well. It has been
inh<tp.rvp.rI in a largest public university in Mexico, the National Autonomous
of Mexico that without political consensus on both sides -
Jtakeholders and political parties- no reform is possible in higher education.
1999 the university faced tough time, even closure of the University for a
a strike supported by the majority of its students when the tuition fee
raised from US D 8 to US D 100 a year. The authority of the university
not implement the reform plan of the university due to lack of political
tonsensus. The same country offers an example of the reform in higher
Iktucation by rising tuition fees when there was political consensus before
decision on the fee was made. In Northern Mexico, in the University of
the University was able to collect US D 300 from each student as
contribution in 1993 when it shared the proposal for raising tuition
with the students and teachers. The university authority clearly
Insented its idea about why it needed that much funds and how the funds
be utilized. When the university teachers and students were convinced
Horizons in Education in Nepal 145

abO.ut the prO.pO.sed refO.rm, the process of raising fee was successfully
implemented. Since then, the students have been paying the agreed amO.unt
to' the uni:versity.
The lessO.n is that we need to' know hO.w we can get things dO.ne with the
support O.f all stakeholders. For this, in the Nepalese case, politicai consen&us
is the crux. The issue of political CO.nsensus is even more important in
Tribhuvan University where it is the students who set the rules for refO.rm. It
is therefO.re necessary to work on achieving pO.litical consensus involving
stakeholders first, and then initiating necessary refO.rms.
Financing higher education
Modem higher educatiO.n is trapped into the paradox of quality and
access. Because O.f internatiO.nalization O.f higher education- worldwide
access to higher educatiO.n- there is growing competition in higher educatiO.n
institutiO.ns. No matter where an institutiO.n O.f higher education is situated,
there will be influx O.f international students as long as ~ is knO.wn for
quality. It is thus the quality of higher education that deterqrlnes the future O.f
an institution of higher education. Put it another way, there is a little value O.f
an institution of higher educatiO.n unless it offers quality higher educatiO.n.
At the same time, it shO.uld also be appreciated that higher educatiQn has
moved towards mass frQm class O.r elite. Putting it anQther way, there is a
grQwing realization wQrldwide that higher education shQuld be accessible fQr
all prO.vided that they have the merit to' pursue it irrespective of their
c;apability to afford it. As higher educatiQn has become an essential aspect O.f
natiO.nal development, financial situatiQn Qf an individual shQuld nO.t be a
barrier for doing higher educatiQn. If any Qne has financial prO.blems, there
should be provisions for schQlarships, grants or loan schemes O.r any sort O.f
SUPPQrt so that he finds his way to' higher education. For this purpose, either
the state has to' support higher educatiO.n to a considerable extent in terms Qf
public subsidy in higher educatiO.n O.r it should come up with a competent
pO.licy framework so. that private institutiQns of higher education emerge
with a provisiQn of differentiated fee structures and scholarship schemes.
This provision will ask those who can affO.rd higher education pay more and
those who cannot affO.rd will pay much less or will get scholarships.
Furthermore, it is not PQssible to' prO.vide higher educatiO.n to' mass unless the
delivery modality is diversified. In O.rder for the state to Qffer higher
education to' mass, open O.r distance mode Qf education, therefO.re, will have
to be explored.
146 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
...
In fact, it is well knO.wn that modem higher education is very expensive.
The quality Qf higher educatiO.n is, in a way, determined in terms of the
either generated by the institutiQn itself or made available fO.r it by the
state. As was discussed abQve, it was Qnly those rich cQuntries like Japan,
KO.rea, SingapO.re, Hong KO.ng, etc. could have high quality universities
~cause of their affluence and the schemes fQr resource generatiQn. In a way,
appears that the more the resources are available for teaching staff,
.~:tr"h equipments, technO.logy, learning materials, infrastructure,
the better the higher educatiO.n is. In this sense, SQme people tend
equate funds with quality Qf higher educatiQn thQugh funds may nO.t
be a guarantee O.f quality O.f higher education unless Qther factQrs
management, teaching staff, infrastructure, etc. are taken care of. Many
things like participation Qf teachers, administrative staff, students, etc.
alSo. resPQnsible fO.r that.
There are different sources O.f funds fQr higher educatiO.n. The public
~ ••1.._:-'_. is a majQr Qne. The sQcialist cQuntries tend to O.ffer 100w CO.st
il:UUCanQn and health care by providing as much funds as PQssible from the
treasury. In the name Qf providing equal educatiQn for all,
'lI'UI.aausr cQuntries tried to' give public subsidy in educatiO.n but, in most
their educatiQn at higher level suffered. The world has witnessed that
subsidy for higher educatiQn is necessary but for sustainable grO.wth
higher education, competent and sustainable scheme ofincO.me generatiO.n
necessary. It is also. argued that subsidy to higher educatiQn serves the rich
the CQst O.f the pO.Qr.
In the Nepalese case, O.ur higher education started with a scheme Qf high
\Subsidy. Tribhuvan University was established as a State University where
the mO.ney needed fO.r salary of the teaching and administrative staff
be the resPQnsibility Qf the Government. It is here where a student at
level pays less than a DO.llar a month whereas a child at preprimary
pays about 5 times mO.re than that to.day. It WQuid have been alright
the subsidy scheme had the government been able to provide adequate
to the university, but as after 1975, government subsidy gQt reduced
.over the wQrld, TV also. started getting budget cut every year. In this
Nepal must review its financing policy Qn higher educatiO.n. It
and should not offer low quality higher education in the name Qf 100w
with gO.vernment subsidy. Since TU holds high responsibility fO.r higher
l<JucatiQn, if its quality suffers due to' lack of necessary funds, in fact, the
education of the cO.untry as a whQle suffers.
Horizons in Education in Nepal 147
 Gaining insights from such experiences, many countries tried to find
out, through research and analysis, alternative methods of financing higher
education, particularly cost recovery and the redistribution of the financial
burden of investing in education. The idea behind it is that once multiple
contributors are found for higher education there will be less pressure on
public funds. The possible alternative methods could be like fee, donations,
endowments, income generation scheme of higher education institutions,
collaborations with business, productive and service sectors, external aid,
etc.
There is no debate on the need for public subsidy in higher education. A
university like TV which is serving, by and large, the middle income people
with modest or low income must be given sufficient funds for its
development and day to day management. But there is also an argument that
public subsidy in education involves a transfer of income from poor or
average income taxpayers to the children of the' rich or to those who may
become rich as a result of their education. So runs the argument, and at first
sight, it appears that education subsidies may indee{ redistribute income in
the wrong direction from the point of view of equity, that is, from the poor to
the rich. In this context, Nepal must revisit the existing public subsidy
scheme in higher education and look for ways to alternative methods. It
should be noted that without stable financing schemes, no university can
offer quality higher education. TV must learn a lesson from the discussions
above to be financially sustainable.
Collaboration for resource mobiUzation and quality
Any institution' of higher education needs schemes for stable financial
provisions. Every institution of higher education complains that there is
scarcity of resources for the activities it wants to carry out to promote
teaching and research. Part of the reason is the historic dependence on the
public exchequer. The challenge for the institutions is how to make
substantial efficiency gains through improved management and innovation
in resource gain. It is widely recognized that additional alternative sources of
private funding and other means of income generation must be pursued,
although considerable caution is expressed in relation to means, especially
the contentious issues of fees and to other charges falling directly on
students. In this case, higher education institutions should be prepared to
explore the possibilities of mobilizing additional resources in their own
initiatives.
148 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
...
There are many ways of resource mobilization. Apart from private
, two main sources have been identified: income generation through
'the sale of services; and support by industry and commerce including access
facilities, donations and grants. Saleable services might include
, continuing education courses, fee, renting facilities and
and the sale of support. Other sources are expected to come in the
,lIform of research funding, scholarships, work placements for students, and
:Ictirect grants. It is also possible for higher education institutions to
itcoHaborate with business and productive sectors in business and production.
involvement of students in the service, business and production
'ACtivities yields both resources and rich experiences in real works eventually
:1eading to achieve quality education.
For this purpose, our higher education has to be aware of the
potentiality of the country, national needs and aspirations. If our higher
education becomes relevant to the society, invesbnent in higher education
:becomes justified and resources can be generated for further development. In
rline with making our higher education relevant to the emerging needs of the
ICOuntry, we should work with relevant agencies in a collaborative manner
and strive for making the delivery of our higher education in consonance
With the needs of the relevant sectors. To make our higher education relevant
,and meaningful, we should be prepared to work with our line Ministries and
1heir Departments. For example, Faculty of Education should be prepared to
review its programs in order to make them relevant to the development of
~ucation in Nepal. It should play, in collaboration with Ministry of
,Education and Sports, a very important role in carrying out research studies
~ecessary for the Ministry and bringing about changes in the whole system
".f education. Whenever the Ministry of Education and Sports intends to
lmake a decision on educational reform, Faculty of Education should make
,available technical inputs based on rigorous exercises. In other words, it is
the Faculty of Education, the Central Department of Education where highly
'qualified professionals work and it is the place where education at high level
is practiced. lf policy decisions are based on the back up of such a centre
'there would be a high possibility of success in the implementation of new
changes in education. In the same way, involvement of our students in such
activities enriches our delivery mechanisms by exposing students to real
activities which enhance effective learning. In a nutshell, the argument is
that the Faculty of Education should work as a technical wing of the
Ministry of Education and Sports. In return, the Faculty of Education will
gain funds for its development and upgrade its faculty members.
Ne'<'<' Horizons in Education in Nepal 149
 But unlike this, the Ministry of Education and Sports has been training
its teachers through National Centre for Educational Development (NCED)
with the financial support from external donors. It seems that the Ministry
runs such programs as long as there are external funds available. When
donors stop funding the government, it will ask the University, Faculty of
Education to train school teachers. What is debatable is whether the Ministry
should work with the university to get its human resources trained or should
provide training by itself. This is one of the areas where the university
authority should initiate discussion with the Ministry of Education and
Sports so as to initiate collaborative approach to involve the Faculty of
Education in the Ministry's work. In the same way, Institute of Agriculture,
Institute of Forestry, Medicine, Engineering and other institutions should
serve as technical wings of the relevant Ministries. To be more specific, for
example, Central Department of Economics should work as a "Think Tank"
of the Ministry of Finance. It can be argued that the economic policies of the
country to be adopted by the Finance Ministry can first be widely discussed
involving the professors and students if. the Central Department of
Economics. Then they can be refined for nlaking these policies yield better
results. This is where students from the whole country with rich experience
in their local issues and Professors with high qualifications and international
exposure work together for academic improvement. Collaborations with
business, productive, and service sectors will give us ample opportunities for
making our higher education relevant.
The emerging trend is that there is no national boundary for higher
education. We should learn from what happens elsewhere regarding resource
management for higher education. As a matter of fact, Universities in USA,
UK and Australia have been managing quality higher education not fully
depending on the resources received from their national budget. Rather they
are generating funds by offering quality education to students who come
from Asia and Africa and providing. technical inputs to national and
international business centres and industries. It is learnt that Warwick
University (UK) earns over 54% of its income from non-public sources. City
University (UK) and Cranfield School of Business (UK) generate nearly half
of their income from the private sector. It is also learnt that Australia earns
about 8 billion Australian Dollars every year from education. USA's case is
growingstron~r in this regard. There was 25% increment in the number of
students going to USA in the year 2006, and 28% increment in the year
2007, making almost 7 thousand students heading towards USA for higher
150 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
"
. This is how these countries are taping through education both talents
and financial resources from outside.
In our case, there is a lack of coordination between the government and
Ute universities for utilizing national experts for professional inputs within
!lJld outside the country. Nepal should initiate collaboration with
biternational universities for inviting international students to Nepal so that
it can emerge as a good place for learning. Nepal with its natural beauty and
temperate climate has enormous potential for succeeding in this endeavour.
Collaboration with international universities through exchange programs for
both teachers and students is necessary for the reform of our higher
education. TV has signed agreements with many universities for exchange
programs but the agreements seem to be very weak as they do not involve
.tudents and teachers in the exchange programs.
Keeping the importance of resource mobilization in mind, our
universities should establish resource mobilization unit at the centre as well
as at the campus level so that it gets due recognition. To promote the idea of
resource mobilization, the centre can allocate certain amount as a matching
fund so as to encourage those campuses which effectively work in this
direction.
TU campus has a lot of land within its compound along the ring road.
:Balkhu site along the ring road can be presented as an example for
·promoting University's land as a business centre for the purpose of both
·resource generations as well as for collaborative work with business centres
)by involving students in real learning activities. It can be a good place for
· developing a business-corn-academic centre. TV Campus can initiate joint
·business with different business agencies. For example, Auto Centre in
'collaboration with Institute of Engineering, (Mechanical Engineering) -for
developing Parking lots, Fuel selling, Motor repairing, Hotel management,
.~tc. Many of the students and teaching staff can be involved in the
,management of these business activities. On the top of that, TV Campus can
offer education in real context and generate funds and employment. TV has
already initiated such kind of scheme at Tripureshwar (e. g. World Trade
). It should be noted that there are several universities in the world
which offer employment to their students in a good number. They generate
: both employment for students and resources for quality education through
'isuch schemes. TV Campus also can do a lot about it. It can present itself as
'In example of growing fmancial independence. It can also look for ways to
maximally use the university facilities by running evening and morning
classes in proper locations, classes at weekends, etc.
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 151
,~
III111
Mechanism for quality control: Accreditation
I ii. The institution has effectively organized the human, financial and
1,1.1 Quality of higher education has been the concern of all. Quality of
,I
'1'
1 education is defined as the achievement of skills and abilities by the students
as set by the system. The achievement of students is examined by carrying
out assessment by institutions in light of the set standard and objectives.
Before we had multi-universities we used to depend solely on Tribhuvan
University for evaluating whether or not the students achieved the expected
level of competence, In this regard, what happens in other universities in the
world is that they involve competent experts from another university as
external examiners who in collaboration with the internal evaluators
examine whether the achievement of the students is up to the acceptable
level or not. Unlike international practices, in Nepal, even after establishing
five universities, in most of the cases, there is very little involvement of
external experts from other universit~ in the assessment of student
achievement. Kathmandu University and Tribhuvan University, for example,
can exchange their professors as external examiners while assessing their
students in Science, Education, Management,. Medicine, Engineering, Law,
etc.
Perhaps University Grants Commission may take initiative in leading
the universities to follow this process for ensuring quality. One would
otherwise ask how the quality of higher education would be ensured and the
set standard would be maintained when only the same individuals and
institutions are involved in teaching and assessment all the time. It is,
therefore, suggested that our universities start involving experts from other
universities in external evaluation.
In this regard, setting a board for accreditation has become essential.
After the accreditation board is established, institutions of higher education
should 'be encouraged to be a member of the board. These members should
allow the board to examine the standards of education they provide and the
faciIitiesthey have. Basically, the accreditation board is essential for
ensuring the public, the students, and the employing agencies that an
institution has been meeting the necessary requirements for higher education
and will continue meeting the criteria in the future.
The Board can be interested, not confining to, in the following criteria
in general:
i. The institution has clear and publicly stated purposes consistent
with its mission and appropriate to an institution of higher
education.
152 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
...
i
;,'I;. ".
1
physical resources to accomplish its purposes. ~
iii. The institution is accomplishing its educational and other purposes.
Course of study, contents, teaching methodology, interaction
between teacher and faculty, project work, research, appropriate
assessment of students' academic achievement in all its programs,
documenting: proficiency in skills and competencies essential for
college students, mastery of the level of knowledge appropriate to
the degree granted, control by the institution's faculty of evaluation
of student learning and granting of academic credit. Also, staff and
faculty service that contributes to the institution's effectiveness·.
iv. The institution can contribute to accomplish its purposes and
strengthen its educational effectiveness.
v. The institution demonstrates integrity in its practices and
relationships.
After the establishment of the accreditation board and asking the
institutions to be a member of the board, every institution will have the
responsibility to ensure that the student evaluation is carried out with due
processes. Institutions unable to perform ethically will be under pressure to
seize to work because the board will not recognize the degree from such
institutions. The institutions should also be prepared to allow the board to
supervise its facilities and the way it functions. This process will tremendously
help achieve quality education.
Department of higher education
The development of education in general and development of higher
education in particular has witnessed several changes worldwide in terms of
contents, pedagogy, management, resource mobilization, etc. Whoever
makes policy decisions and manages higher education institutions, it is
prudent to assume that they have .some understanding of the' nature and
:evelopmental trends of higher education. Policy and management decisions
made by those who have no basic understanding of the nature of higher
education and the changes undergone can cause problems in the
development of higher education. For that purpose, many universities in the
world have already commenced the teaching of higher education related
issues under the department of higher education. Appreciating the
significance of the knowledge of higher education for dealing with its issues,
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 153

Nepalese universities should establish Department of Higher Education so as
to offer courses in higher education. It is good to have teachers and
managers of a university to get good understanding of the nature of higher
education and its developmental trends. Once the courses are offered, the
university can make them obligatory for those who wish to lead tertiary
education institutions as chiefs and heads. The courses can include contents
like development of higher education, resource mobilization in higher
education, pedagogy, world trends in higher education, research in higher
education, etc. It is also useful to establish resource mobilization unit in each
Campus and a Central Unit at the Central Office of the university. This will
help the university to generate funds for research, infrastructure, publication,
exposure, etc. Some kind of matching fund can be allocated to encourage
institutions to generate more funds.
In addition, it should be appreciated that there haye been changes in the
nature of the contents of learning, process of learnin~ and the nature of the
learner in higher education. Because of the advancement through research
and diversification, higher education has become a discipline in itself. The
nature of higher education as a core area for learning can be useful for all
those who deal with higher education no matter whether some one teaches it
or manages it. In this respect, it is logical to suggest that all those who teach
at higher education level need some pedagogical orientation to higher
education. For this reason, the university should run courses for all
university teachers on pedagogy for higher education including evaluation,
research, preparation of text materials, etc.
Globalization: Cballenge and opportunity
Globalization has been an opportunity as well as a challenge for Nepal.
Our present society is facing many challenges. It is very likely that it will
face more challenges in the future. No mater whether one would. agree or
not, it is widely observed that there is increased internationalization of
production and trade, integration of global economy and enhanced mobility
of capital, intensified environmental and political inter-dependency, and
socio-cultural transformations causing new information and communication
flows. Capital resources make a move round the world at the click of a
button. Human resources are also not confined to political and geographical
boundary rather every body has access to opportunities anywhere in the
world if he or she has useful knowledge and skill. Even in a country like
Nepal, the daily turn over of foreign exchange in the name of education is
154 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
...
It is very likely that the turn over will go up as the number of students
abroad for study is incredibly growing everywhere. It could be in the
of education or trade or tourism.
In this context, it is obvious that if Nepal becomes competent enough
its human resource capability to compete with the rest of the world, it
have ample opportunity to take advantage of the access to the world.
if it is left behind in terms of equipping its human resources with the
itnecessary skills and abilities, the opportunities available even within the
will also be grabbed by others let alone getting benefit fro~
tr8!Ooauzation. What is becoming clear is that even the opportunities presently
ravailable in the country are requiring new skills and abilities for which our
need to update their existing skills and abilities. The
internationalization of politics and extensive use of information technology
and electronic media has made the world open for all.
The effect of globalization on us is that our students who are
academically high performers and able to afford expensive education are
highly interested in joining universities abroad. Every year, a good number
9f students go to USA, UK, Australia, India, Europe, and the Philippines for
higher education. It is, no doubt, a good sign of internationalization of our
society. However, it is not without a problem for the country. The
explanation is that we spend money on our children's education up to higher
secondary level in the country which is said to be more expensive than
university education but when they go abroad for higher education many of
them do not come back because of unavailability of opportunities as well as
political and economic reasons. This is how we have been losing good brains
every year. It is impossible to stop the youths to go abroad. We cannot bring
them back unless we improve our overall working situation by improving
our education system, socio-economic situation, and the opportunities to use
the skills and abilities they learn there. The countries like India, China, and
Malaysia, for example, had similar problems until some years ago. Now they
have been able to bring their skilled people back from USA, UK and
Australia after improving the socio-economic and working situations in the
country. This is the lesson that Nepal must learn.
The advantage of globalization for the universities in the developed
countries is that they have been able to run offshore campuses in different
countries in the world and generate resources for their development. In other
. words, they have been able to extend t~eir services throughout the world.
For example, several universities in the USA and Australia have been
running courses in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. Some international
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 155

courses are being run even in Nepal. The Nepalese Government is under
enormous pressure to allow Nepalese colleges (already established or to be
established) to offer foreign university courses for degrees. At the same time,
it should be noted that many courses of universities of USA, UK and
Australia and other foreign educational institutions are in operation in Nepal.
Some institutions are running foreign courses to be partly done here in Nepal
and partly in the respective countries. This process is facilitating our students
to go outside either for jobs or further education. If we do not look for ways
to compensate these loses we are likely to lose both money and talent.
It is therefore necessary to look for ways to make our higher education
compatible with the higher education offered by international institutions
and enter the global context for exchange of students, and develop strategies
to take advantage of the opportunities generated,Ahrough globalization of
education. / Another thing that we need to do is to work with Non Resident Nepali
Exchange programs
The quality of an institution of higher education depends also upon the
extent to which it has been able to establish its linkage with other higher
education institutions in the world based on genuine partnership, mutual
trust, and solidarity. Especially in the field of higher education, because of
research and technological advancement, economic and political integration,
the growing need for intercultural understanding and the global nature of
modern communication, and consumer market, an institution must have
relation with other universities. International cooperation is a goal shared by
the world academic community; it is a sine qua non (must) for assuring
quality and efficiency in the functioning of institutions of higher education.
The strength of an institution is examined in light of how it has been able to
diminish the phenomenon of brain drain and brain gain through this process.
Broader international intellectual exchanges should stimulate an overall
improvement in the flexibility, range and quality of higher education and
help to remedy some of the causes of external brain drain. A scheme for this
may need the country to adopt different policies. However, steps like the
arrangements whereby' students follow part of their courses at a foreign
institution, inducements (incentives or TOR) by the country of origin to their
nationals to return home after completing their studies, increased research
and library facilities and easier access to scientific data bases will be helpful.
Our higher education must consider these issues while reforming it in the
future.
156 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
...
For this purpose, some kind of exchange programs with the universities
are attracting our students will have to be initiated. In this connection,
decisions or schemes will have to be thought of to encourage our
f(students to come back after they complete their education. Some kind of
'inducement can be introduced to bring them back. This issue deserves
investigation. It is also urgent to assess our situation so that either we
be prepared to offer similar kind of quality higher education or
develop schemes to attract students from outside. It is necessary to
;IIlUUlllze our diplomatic channels and responsible agencies to explore the
.possibility of expanding contacts and making policy decisions to facilitate
process. Our universities should be prepared to establish exchange
[programs in collaboration with universities from USA, Europe, Japan, and
which will offer opportunities for both exposure and resources.
7community to bring about changes in different fields in Nepal so that they
back with money and skills. It is learnt that Malaysia, India and China
been able to bring back its people to the country for good reversing the
drain. In this case, we will be gaining brain instead of losing it.
In order for institutions to do something about it, they need freedom at a
degree. They should initiate strong exchange programs both for
teachers and students with international universities involving joint research
programs, exposure and updating in academic matters.
blstitutional autonomy and responsible accountability
Universities must be accountable responsibly to those they receive
from and th~ service they provide to. It must be noted that
iUtonomy should not be taken as uncontrolled interference, but it certainly
the notion of evaluation of the works the universities do in light of
they are supposed to do. Furthermore, universities are required to
the actions they initiate. They should also be prepared to examine
and failures in a transparent manner so that the rest of the world
tftderstands how things in the university are taking place.
For example, in some years, exam results of TU were so disappointing,
there were no explanations for why the results happened to be so, and
measures were taken to improve the situation. On many occasions, we
vandalisms in the University Campus, Kirtipur due to low pass rate in
exam. The TU authority neither took action against them nor gave any
regarding the vandalism. It ignored the case as if nothing
Horizons in Education in Nepal 157

happened. Similarly, there have been vandalisms several times in other
campuses by the students showing dissatisfaction to exam results, and
procedures and several other issues related to teaching and leaming. But we
rarely see .the authority responding to those concerns. Instead they made
decisions on Internal Assessment, for example, without knowing how that
would be handled and what would be its impact on the teaching and learning
situation at TU. People need assurance from the authority that such matters
will be taken care of in a reasonable manner. Absence of analysis,
explanations and remedial measures is an indication of the authority not
being accountable. We need to promote TU and other universities as
institutions with a reasonable degree of responsible accountability. The
leniency of the university authority to award high marks without high
academic performance led students to expeaC~ore marks with low
performance.
Institutional autonomy is considered to be one of the important elements
for the promotion of an institution. This part has been ignored in TU. If we
want to improve the financial situation of our higher education institutions, it
is necessary that they are given more autonomy. The notion of autonomy has
also to do with admission of students. Putting Institute of Engineering and
Institute of Medicine and other Institutes aside, it is the Students' Unions
which govern students' admission. Until an institution is free to select the
students for admission, the institution never exercises institutional
autonomy. The year 2006 has been even worse for TU regarding admission
of students due to external pressure, TU enrolled students without following
any selection procedure. It could not stick to the mandatory provision made
by the Senate on entrance exam. Entrance exam is an inherent element of a
university if we accept university as an autonomous institution. Nalanda
University, one of the first great universities in the recorded history used to
administer rigorous entrance exams for selection of students for admission.
How can we ignore it in the 21't century? In this respect, this issue has to be
addressed with the involvement of all stakeholders in the future.
Examining TU's performance on the basis of some recent cases, it
would clearly indicate that it already has some declining syndromes. The
introduction of internal assessment with 20% weighting without any
professional exercise but with the intention of increasing students' marks
without enhancing academic achievement level has seriously damaged the
academic integrity ofTU. It has also put the teachers' life under a threat. If
the present situation persists, no doubt, TU's credibility will be at risk. In
that case, what would be the credibility of Nepalese higher education when
158 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
...
TU with a large number of students and more than 11 thousand teaching and
administrative staff, the one bearing 92% responsibility of Nepalese higher
education, loses basic characteristics of a university? Let alone the problems
that students are facing about exams and their results, teachers about
academic reform, promotion and development, retirement, etc. Who should
take the responsibility for leading the university to such a mess?
It is therefore necessary to make legitimate and moral provisions for
institutions to be responsible and accountable for their performances.
Obviously the student's role in the making of university is very crucial
though many of us believe that one of the main reasons for why TU has not
been able to perform as expected so far is because of the politics that the
students bring in the university with them. The power of the instructions they
receive from their political sources looks more effective than the power of
the instructions the professors offer. It is true that TU students are unusually
. strong to influence not only the TU executives but also the government. It is
very difficult to say whether students' supremacy over university
management is good or bad. The reason is that it is the strong force of the
students that can pose a threat to the regime. They are the ones who played
and are playing an instrumental role in sustaining democracy. As the student
force is emerging as a creative and powerful partner worldwide, it must play
and be given to play an active and constructive role in bringing about
positive and equitable changes in the system of higher education. Decision­
makers and institutional heads, therefore, must place the interest of students
and their needs at the centre of their concerns. Students should also keep it in
mind that the time they spend at the university is the most precious time in
their productive lives. They should be reasonable, accountable and
responsible to what they do. Their future, therefore, depends largely upon
how they utilize the time when they are in the university. It is necessary to
make both the students and those who are responsible for Nepalese higher
education feel how precious it is for the students to be at the university.
The role of higher education, traditionally, is to provide wisdom and
Jexpertise which equip young people with skills and abilities needed for their
future roles as professionals and social leaders. In the process of making
capable, their involvement in the university affairs is crucial.
i,Furthermore, they can· also make things work better .if they are properly
iinvolved in the activities of their strengths. Their involvement in the university
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 159
affairs can itself be a kind of training for them. Another argument is that if they
are given a proper role in decision making processes, they are likely to
minimize external political influences.
It is essential to involve the students in the university affairs in a more
constructive way so that instead of they become a problem of the authority,
they will be the strengths of the university who would have continued
dialogue with the government and political power centres for depoliticizing
higher education and improving teaching and learning situations. The
involvement of students can be contributory to develop policy on selection
of students and faculty, selection of Vice-Chancttll0r, determining fee
structure, and developing schemes for resource generation, sticking to
operation of calendar and regularizing exams, depoliticizing university
administration, implementing curricular reforms, etc. The university
authority should be able to convince the students that they are the young
people who invest both money and time in higher education, and it is their
voices that should prevail in the reform of higher education. It can be
believed that TV authority can improve the situation with the involvement of
the students in policy making. Similar is the case with the tuition fee
structure at TV. On the one hand, TV's financial crisis is such that it has no
money whatsoever for instructional materials, and on the other hand, the TV
authority has not raised its low tuition fee for long. The university should
learn lessons from elsewhere to gain consensus on the major issues. It is
evident that if the authority is competent, students are not a problem in
sorting out many problems of the university including the issue of raising
fees.
What is important is that, like any stakeholder, they should be
responsible. After all, it must be noted that they are one of the important
stakeholders in the future development of the society. As they are the future
leaders, it is important that their views are brought out amongst the
development partners. Universities should be prepared to involve students in a
creative way so that many things which the university could not do for fear of
students' persistent disagreement could be sorted out by converting the trouble
making force into a powerful resource for making university perform well.
Chile offers another example of a country which appreciated the
contribution that students can make to reform higher education. After a
detailed analysis of how development projects in education can be
contributed by stakeholders' involvement, it involved students in the
preparation of the WorId Bank projects.
160 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
...
The students at TU have already increased their share of educational
cost based on the initiatives of the colleges. Many colleges collect more than
the fixed tuition fee from the students during the time of admission. The
fund collected thus may not be used for the teachers' salary, but it can
certainly be used for purchasing books and instructional materials.
Department of English Education, Kirtipur, for example, collects additional
fund from M.ED. students for books and thesis writing. Similar is the case
with other departments. It is an example of students being co-operative if the
case is made strong. Most students understand that they can create their
future through university education. They know that the time lost at the
university is irreparable. We can make their time most productive by making
the university equip them with the most useful skills and abilities. There are
good reasons to believe that students support such endeavors. For this, it is
important that the university authority initiates dealing with the students.
Role of University Grants Commission
It is necessary to have a central organization to coordinate all higher
education institutions and set policy and criteria for funding and
development. Apart from setting policies for funding and coordinating
institutions of higher education, the central coordinating institution can be
made responsible for several other important functions like quality assurance
through accreditation process, making its consultation mandatory for
establishing new universities, reviewing higher education policies to update
.contents and delivery mechanisms of higher education, funding based on
performance, initiating new areas of studies and research, etc.
The University Grants Commission has been established for several
. ." ~~4~ One of the reasons for why Nepalese higher education is not
.....
iJ1Wlctlonmg well is because of the weak role of it. Some times, it looks as if
does not exist. It does not seem to have been doing more than like a post
office- receiving funds from the Government and releasing the funds to
respective Universities. It has not been effective in many of the tasks
,assi~ned to it. Even after its establishment, for example, new universities
established without its involvement. The impression is that this
iJnsumtion has not been very effective in doing what UGC is created for. It is
,difficult to judge whether this is because of the roles given to it or because of
leadership of the UGC. Whatever the reason, in .order for higher
;Mucation to serve the country, its role is very significant for which it ShDUld
given to play necessary rDles without any hindrance and the leadership .of
Horizons in Education in Nepal 161

UGC should also have courage and knowledge to lead Nepalese higher
education. For this to happen, strong legal provisions should be made so that
it becomes able to coordinate higher education and ensure quality. In
addition, people with insights, visions, dignity and courage should be
appointed as leaders to this institution.
Another thought regarding coordinating higher education is also
floating. If UGC cannot playa significant role in the development of higher
education in Nepal, perhaps the establishment of an institution like Higher
Education Policy Council (HEPC) may b7 necessary where the policy
framework for higher education can be deb~ted and formulated. The debate
on establishing HEPC with necessary pro~isions for coordinating higher
education institutions has aroused. It is also useful to establish a department
of higher education policy under the UGC. But what is important is no
university should lose its autonomy and academic freedom in the name of
creating any apex institution to coordinate higher education institutions.
Higher education should not be the victim of emerging politics as it has
already witnessed a dirty game of politics when appointing the Vice­
Chancellors for different universities. People involved in higher education
would always welcome any change aimed at facilitating higher education to
contribute to the development of the nation.
Restructuring higher education: Affiliating and deemed university
The Nepalese higher education needs restructuring. There is no doubt
that higher education in Nepal is growing enormously, but the growth is
unplanned. At present, TV has 60 Constituent colleges and about 400
affiliated colleges. The number of affiliated colleges is likely to increase
every year. Perhaps TV is the first University in the world to have such a
large number of affiliated colleges. As a matter of fact, it is ridiculous to
have so many affiliated colleges scattered all over the country under TV
alone when it is becoming unable to take care of its own 60 constituent
colleges in a proper manner. It happens when TV gets visionless leadership.
The number of students is also growing every year causing delay in
publishing results.
Affiliating University
In this context, it can be suggested that Nepal government should
establish some affiliating universities on a regional basis or as per the
162 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
...
interest of the affiliated co lIeges and transfer all the affiliated colleges from
TU to these universities according to their convenience and interest. It is also
necessary that TV stop giving affiliation to any new college. By doing this,
TV can concentrate on its own campuses to help them provide quality
education and publish exam results within a reasonable period of time. There
so many things that TV should have done like reforming curriculum, text
and exam system, improving teachers' skills in handling large
;~1i:l:S:S\::S, generating reSOurces for its infrastructure, and academic matters, etc.
it has not been doing any thing apart from giving affiliation to new
... v ....:ges. TV cannot and should not continue affiliating colleges. It should
over how to consolidate its works and initiate the process of
laecentralization so that its competent colleges could offer quality higher
feducation by themselves. For this it must be prepared to review its affiliation
Another thing that TV can do in order to reduce its gigantic size is to
iftrovide the status of deemed university to its large and competent colleges,
least 10 for the first time, indicating them that after some years they will
a university status. They should be given five years or so for
iPreparation. They should also be given all sort of technical and other helps
need to emerge as university. The deemed universities should be given
kinds of help to act as university. In addition, TU must promote the T U
IiJampus, Kirtipur, as centre of excellence in genuine Sense so that it will
full autonomy to function as a lead institution.
Jleemet/ Univel'$Uy
Giving "Deemed University" status to an institution of higher education is
way to give it more autonomy for development Deemed university
be interpreted as an institution with the following characters though this
limited to the criteria listed below. There can be other points as well.
i. It is autonomous in the sense of setting its own educational agenda
(courses, syllabus, teaching methodologies, exams, etc.)
ii. It is administratively autonomous in the sense that it does not need
to abide by the rules· and regulations of any other university on
administrative matters. It can develop its own system and rules of
management.
It can award degrees under its own name, instead of that of a
university to which it is affiliated.
Horizons in EdUcation in Nepal 163
 IV. It cannot be an affiliating university in the sense of allowing other
institutions to affiliate themselves to it.
v. It cannot be a purely teaching institution. Research has to be an
integral part of its activities.
The University Grants Commission should work on this policy and
bring the blue print out for the provision of deemed university. It has been
almost a decade since UGC started talking about deemed university, but
there has not been any sign oflegitimate ~rovision for it.
If the provision for Deemed UniverSity is going to take a long time, a
provision can be included in the existing University Grants Commission Act
that the institutions which have unique and distinct character of their own
and self-sufficient in teaching staff, financial matters, students, and other
important areas, could enjoy the privilege of a university without losing their
distinct character and autonomy.
TV Campus, Kirtipur: Centre ofexcellence
For the educational institution, a commitment to Center of Excellence
program distinguishes it as being advanced in its use of information
technology. It further provides the institution with expanded opportunities
for partnership with international institutions of higher education and
research groups. This might include, but is not limited to, senior-level
relationships, recruiting opportunities, joint event participation, etc. A Center
of Excellence may experience increased leverage with funding agencies as
business and education partnerships are increasingly becoming prerequisites
for grant funding. As a Center of Excellence, the institution can participate
in a web-based community of institutions doing work in similar areas. This
community will foster communication and further enhance relations between
institutions. It will provide a unique opportunity for TU to demonstrate how
autonomy, decentralization, openness, flexibility and mutual cooperation and
use of technology can improve learning in the classroom and/or the
administrative functions of an institution. Ultimately, the Center of
Excellence will serve as the producer of content for public consumption
ultimately contributing to the national development. It will solve also some
of those problems related to unemployment.
It has been a long time since the establishment of Tribhuvan University
Campus, Kirtipur. There have not been competent reviews of its performance in
light of its efficienty, requirements, expectations, etc. when there has been
164 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
....
enormous change in the way higher education is delivered in many countries.
Now the time has come for us to examine whether the present structure or set up
of TU Campus is appropriate or not in light of the expectations of it and work
':On how to bring about reforms in it so that it becomes a functional institution as
expected of a University Campus for the delivery of quality higher education
according to the emerging needs of the society. For example, take the case of
:.the infrastructure created for College of Education during 1963- 1996 which is
how the Central Department of Education. There has not beerl significant
'1!:xpansion of the infrastructure but the number of students coming to this
institution every year has incredibly increased. In this situation, we tend to say
there is unnecessary pressure on the Campus to enroll more than it can
;accommodate whereas we do not talk about the fact that the number of the
Students is logical keeping in mind the population expansion and increment in
·the number of higher education aspirants since then. The pressure on admission
,became a problem because no more classrooms have been built since then. In
~this case we need to look at the problem from a different perspective. How can
i·the infrastructure ofthe Campus remain as it was for 45 years when the number
;ofCampuses that produc~ B. Ed. has become more than 200 and the number of
;.students joining education courses has enormously increased?
In this pretext, it is necessary to examine the existing set up and operation
·of TU Campus so that the things necessary for improving it can be identified. It
is needless to argue that TU as a whole needs changes because of contemporary
thinking on higher education, the changing trends of higher education, potential
of higher education to collaborate with productive and service sectors, and
Nepal's expectations ofTU in the present time. The need for change in higher
I~ducation has 'also'been felt because the higher education in the modem age
; largely depends upon the resources it generates itself rather than dependence
the government allocation. As a matter of fact, without sufficient
~sources, quality higher education is not possible. When the government
, I eannot provide necessary resources, the institutions responsible for higher
7.1Mucation are forced to generate resources on their own. In other words, higher
feducation must adapt the structure that is conducive for doing these activities
j like resource generation involving all kinds of schemes- fee collection from
IClollaboration and consultancy, decentralization, . accountability, quality
· improvement, academic reform, efficiency in exam' results and management,
(data base, staff development, etc. For this to happen, cooperation of students
and teachers is essential for which communication with them and preparation of
•~mpetent schemes for reforms are essential.
, New Horizons in Education in Nepal 165
 Head ofthe celltre ofexcellence: Pro-Rector
One of the problems with the present set.up of the TU Campus is its
administrative structure. In all other Campuses under TU, it is the Campus
Chief who becomes responsible for overall management of the institution.
But in the TU Campus, a different position called "Principal" as the chief of
the institution is created which does not seem to have a strong role in the
overall management of th\ TU Campus as there are different Central
Departments which are in \ a way given financial and administrative
autonomy and have direct communication with the Central Office of TU.
This provision has made the "Principal Office" trivial. On the one hand, the
TU rules do not explicitly mention the role and responsibility of the
Principal and on the other hand Central Departments handle most of their
cases on their own making the whole Campus run without any coordination.
In this situation, the Principal becomes just a coordinator for physical stuff.
It is hard to understand what the Principal Office does except taking money
from students and cleaning the garbage. It is therefore necessary to think of a
. new position with strong academic and administrative leadership as the
leader of the University Campus for doing all the necessary things. Keeping
the size and significance of the centre of excellence, it would be wise to
create the 'Pro-Rector' position for the leadership of the TU Campus,
depending upon the structure we adopt.
Diversify higher education! Open University or distance education
It has been quite sometime, since Nepal initiated discussions on
establishing Open University in line with higher education reform. Attempts
were made in the past to develop documents for the conceptual clarity of
Open University, form a committee to work on this issue, work on the draft
act to be submitted to the parliament for approval. The need for Open
University is long standing. Most people support the idea .tO$t the private
students who sit for TU exams should be directed towards the Open
University system. The argument is that Nepal like several other countries in
the world needs Open University to offer education for those who cannot go
for face to face classroom learning as well as for the improvement of TU.
This is how TU can get rid of a huge number of non-enrolled (Private)
students.
It is very difficult to understand why the process of establishing Open
University has not been given priority. There was mention of establishing
166 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
Open University in the budget speech of the Minister· of Finance in the year
2007, so far, there has not been any initiation from the Ministry of Education
and Sports. For people who have some kind of involvement in the initiation
of the idea of Open University in Nepal, it cannot be any thing but the
negligence of the Ministry of Education and Sports in the reform process of
higher education. The Ministry has taken several steps to deliver school
education and teacher training through distance mode. but none in the higher
education sector.
The last phase of 20th and the beginning of 21 st century made
unbelievable advancement in the communication sector. Even the
conventional universities are increasingly becoming dependent on electronic
media for teaching, testing, research and communication. It is the
government's foolishness not to go for the Open University to enhance the
nation's capacity to offer more access to and quality in higher education. It
must be noted that Open University with its rich publications and
strengthened communication channels will contribute to provide quality
higher education even through conventional universities .
Meanwhile TU can initiate distance learning to address the mass
aspiring for higher education. A proposal with the details of what, why and
how of distance learning has already been submitted to TU. Through this
scheme TU can resolve many issues that are causing problems in the
conventional way of educational delivery.
Involvement of students in community service
Community service is one of the core functions of the university.
Community service is a process of involving marginalized people in the
process of getting awareness, sharing knowledge and resources, practicing
. citizenry, etc. Community service performed under the guiding principles of
university enhances core commitment of the participating student& to
working with people rather than working for people from a distance.
Through this process a culture of serving to needy people, helping poor and
weak people, culture of peace, harmony and tolerance can be inculcated in
i~the young brains. It. is not a quick fix of development. Community service
'creates a situation in which socially excluded members of society get
: opportunity to use universities and universities get opportunities to reach the
community which. otherwise would not happen. Nepal's experience in the
conduction of National Development Service (NDS) in the eighties was so
successful in awakening rural people as well as refining the young
New Horizons in Education in Nepal 167
"Ilftl
graduates' mind thrQugh practical experiences in the rural areas. The then
regime considered NDS as a threat. As a result the program was done away
with.
One of the core functions of a modem university is to serve the rural
and disadvantaged community. The argument behind it is that it is the
ordinary community or underserved community who need service from t~l'e
enlightened people o( the country, it is they who need to be strengthene(i to
participate in the activities that are set by those who have achieved high
level of education and the best manpower the country has produced. Not
only that the students serve the community, the community gives them back
the kind of insights based on the reality of the society so as to refine their
theoretical knowledge with practical experiences. This is where community
service of a university should be seen as a way of putting the theory. intp
practice or establishing an interaction between theoretical knowledge into
operation in a proper context.
For any country, unless the people from the bottom level, rural
community, and disadvantaged community participate in the main stream of
politics and socio~economic activities, it cannot achieve stable social
advancement. Some people tend to argue that unless there are professors,
doctors, engineers, lawyers, bureaucrats, politicians, etc. from such a
community, unless they are included in the overall mobilization and
management of human and physical resources of the country, the country
cannot achieve modernity.
That is why, different kinds. of community services should be initiated
through students' participation so that high literacy rate can be achieved, the
process of democratization gets strengthened by involving marginalized
people in making informed decisions, urban and elite graduates get exposed
to the real situation of suffering in the rural areas, etc. eventually becoming
enlightened about the real problem of the country. TU can initiate the NDS
program or similar programs in collaboration with the Ministry of Education
and Sports. For example, MOES can create mobile teachers' positions to be
stationed at the schools. in the rural and disadvantaged areas so that the
MOES find competent and committed teachers to serve in the rural areas,
and in return, TU finds funds for running such a program. It is learnt that the
Ministry of Finance appro~ed 12 thousand positions of teachers on the
request of MOES. These positions can be utilized for the NDS program. In
this way, Nepal's higher education gets stronger if such a community service
is made obligatory at the Master's leveL
168 New Horizons in Education in Nepal
Research and publications
One of the major functions of higher education is research and
innovations. It is mainly because of this strength of the university, every
year renowned professors of different universities and research centres get
Nobel Prizes. Many universities in the world, due to lack of funds, seem to
have problems in carrying out research studies as expected.
At present, Nepalese Universities do not seem to have given adequate
""n~""A to research and pUblications. It should be noted that research and
pUDllcauons are considered to be indicatars of the advancement of the
university. University teachers get proper credit and recognition for carrying
out good research and publishing competent articles in the national and
international journals. What is even more important is that the publications
are judged on the basis of how they are quoted by others. But unfortunately
in TU, there is no difference between a publication in an international
or in a national daily when competing for promotion. This is not an
encouraging environment for promoting publications.
Nepalese universities do not seem to have made much progress
regarding research mainly due to lack of funds. They are having hard time
managing their regular classes. The funds they get from the government
exhausted mainly by paying salary of the staff. These universities have
been able to generate adequate funds by themselves so that they could
the funds for research work. The universities with non-government
initiatives have also been weak in this area. In many universities in the
research has· been an integral part of teaching. The faculty members
encouraged to conduct research works and share them with their students
thatthe students get some kind of exposure to research. In some countries
government establishes separate research centres in specialized areas so
they serve the needs of the country.
TU has established different Research Centres in the field of
;Economics, Education, Science and Asian Culture. Some scholars are of the
~oDinion that these research centres should be merged into the respective
so that the students and the faculty get opportunity to get
~fnvolved in the research work. These centres do not seem to have involved
policy research. One would argue that research should be an integral part
"niversity education which should be appreciated by TU. TU should keep
idea in mind while restructuring it in the future.
Another important aspect regarding research is that universities should .
prepared to work with the Ministry concerned to collaborate for research
Horizons .in Education in Nepal 169
related works and the University authority should coordinate with the
government for leading the two- Ministry and University- to collaborate for
Open University and Distance Education

research work. As a matter of fact, research is an inherent part of higher

education. It is always good to integrate classroom teaching and research.
There have been cases where Ministry's under-qualified staff led research
works funded by the external agencies but the qualified faculty worked there
Open University has become a popular education institution
as an enumerators. This situation is detrimental to the promotion of both
It is like any other conventional university in the way education
quality(research and education.
are developed, students are enrolled, exams are conducted, degrees
awarded, etc. It is, however, different in the way instructional modes are
New mode of organization and operation
educational services are provided, to some extent, degrees for
works are awarded, entry conditions for students are set (e.g.
In order to be able to cater for the needs of the emerging society and the
(innovative study without academic background), etc. As it appears, Open
competitive challenges, higher education institutions should transform from
Tn;"",,.,,;", is like a conventional university, plus tremendous flexibility in the
rigid, conventional and traditional structure to forward looking, adaptive and
use of mixed mode- both face to face and distance, and permission
flexible structure. These transformations include academic structure, mode of .
students to do courses in the both-Open and conventional university- for a
delivery and pedagogical processes, physical infrastructure, and the teaching
use of modem technology in instructional delivery, etc.
profession. The role and use of technology is paramount in this regard in both
Open and distance learning is one of the most popular and most widely
teaching and management.
modes of educational delivery worldwide. Open University
Flexibility is very important for institutions to adapt to the changing
!facilitates a learning process without requiring students to attend day-to-day
environment. Tertiary education institutions need to be able to respond the
teaching. It makes best use of the potential of students to study on
emerging needs properly by establishing new programs, reconfiguring existing
own. Students are provided with interactive study materials and
ones, and eliminating outdated programs. For this purpose, TU should give
learning facilities where they can seek acaMmic and other
autonomy to Campuses. Campuses should also be prepared to give autonomy
of· educational assistance when they need. In a country like Nepal,
to department so that all disciplines and departments can think on their own
full of hills, mountains, and difficult terrain, which has its
over how to bring about changes in their departments and the subjects they deal
popUlauon scattered all over the difficult lands, which has scarce resources,
with. There have been lots of changes in different areas of higher education
~stablishing an Open University for the delivery of higher education for a
through r~ch and experiments. All these subjects should be allowed to. have
of people can be of paramount importance.
independent thinking and initiate to practice latest things and innovative ideas
The Open University has the potential to generate new ways of teaching
in their areas of concem.
learning. Because of its close links with information and technology, it is
to development of new learning and new patterns of information access
application. It can be believed that it can lead to innovative delivery of
pducation through which a large scale of population can be addressed. It also
~ignificant1y contributes to promote life long learning.
Open University prepares quality materials (self-study books,
audiocassettes, videos and software) and makes available for
who intend to do courses under its schemes. They can be single module
complete package. They can be purchased or collected from the
Institutions. The Open University can run its own TV Channel. It can use the
technology and be innovative and developmental in its approach to

170 New Horizons in Education in Nepal Horizons in Education in Nepal 171