The number of proposals for new universities, six of which are currently being discussed in the Ministry of Education (MoE), has raised a pertinent question: How many universities does Nepal actually need? [break]
“Considering the pressure of students on Tribhuvan University (TU), we genuinely require many more universities,” says Dr Madhav Prasad Sharma, former Vice Chancellor (VC) of TU. “We need 20-25 more varsities to accommodate hundreds of thousands of students squeezed in 60 constituent and 800 affiliated colleges of TU.”
Dr Sharma, who has a long experience of running the country´s oldest university, however, is firmly against the current trend of announcing new universities, apparently under pressure from certain communities backed by politicians, without adequate physical and academic infrastructure.
“Universities should evolve out of years-old colleges,” he says. “The trend of abandoning universities after announcing them does not serve any meaningful purpose. Such universities will just be able to give affiliations to mushrooming profit-oriented colleges.”
“The Lumbini Bauddha University (LBU), approved by the government in 2004, is an example of an immature plan to establish a new varsity,” Dr Sharma says. Six years on, LBU is still struggling to introduce master-level courses. LBU has been functioning from a few cramped rooms, known as its liaison office, on the premises of Bhrikutimandap in Kathmandu.
Unfortunately, most of the proposed universities are likely to suffer the fate of LBU, thanks to the lack of mature and well-coordinated plans. New universities seem to have been proposed by some lawmakers to appease certain communities.
Worse still, some new university bills have been registered in parliament without necessary recommendations from the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Bypassing UGC
Dr Kamal Krishna Joshi, former chairman of the UGC, recollects an experience when a reporter asked him about a recommendation made by the UGC for the proposed Madan Bhandari Industrial University (MBIU) two years ago. Amazed at the reporter´s question, he just replied, “I have not made any recommendation for this university.”
What the reporter showed astonished him. It was a recommendation letter written by none other than the UGC for the proposed MBIU. “I was absolutely unmindful of that letter until then,” he said. “I immediately spoke to then education minister, explaining to him that the UGC has not made any recommendation for the university. However, the minister expressed his inability to withdraw a bill from parliament once it landed there.”
Today, three different new university bills, including that of the proposed MBIU, are in parliament without the UGC´s recommendations that are required for setting up any new university. The bills for the proposed Rajashri Janak University in Janakpur and Birgunj University are also in parliament. “Yes, we have made recommendations for these two proposed universities with certain reservations,” Joshi says, adding, “But, our serious reservations have been ignored.”
According to Joshi, the UGC has clearly maintained that the proposed university in Janakpur should have its base at Rara Multiple Campus. “A new university needs a whole lot of physical as well as academic infrastructures,” Joshi says. “These infrastructures are not available elsewhere for this university in Janakpur. Therefore, we have proposed that the university should have its base in Rara campus. However, our reservations have been ignored in this university bill.”
Dr Roj Nath Pandey, assistant spokesperson for the MoE, however, downplays Joshi´s allegations and argues that the UGC´s reservations can be dealt with later. “We can think of the UGC´s reservations in future.” Dr Pandey is of the view that the UGC´s recommendations, whether containing reservations or not, paves the way for the MoE to send the university bills to parliament.
“The UGC makes recommendations only after conducting feasibility studies for the proposed universities,” Dr Pandey says. “This means that the bills can be discussed in parliament.”
However, Joshi says: “The fact that we made recommendations for the proposed universities in Janakpur and Birgunj means that there are enough numbers of students who need new varsities in their respective areas. It does not mean at all that these proposed universities can be approved of without ensuring all sorts of infrastructure beforehand.”
The number of universities in Nepal has reached nine by now. Nepal had only one university, TU, till the setting up of Mahendra Sansktrit University in 1986. In the following 18 years, four more universities -- Pokhara, Purbanchal, Lumbini and Kathmandu -- were announced by the government.
Three more universities -- one in the far west, second in mid west and Agriculture and Forestry University in Chitwan district, were announced by the government two years ago.
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