TU too poor for world-standards at Master's levels

BY KOSH RAJ KOIRALA KATHMANDU, Aug 10 - Despite calls from various quarters to bring up to par with global standards the higher education it offers, Tribhuvan University (TU) has cited lack of adequate budgetary resources for achieving that goal.Senior officials at TU said they will be unable to introduce ... ...four-year Bachelor's program, one of the key requirements for making Nepal's higher education compliant with global standards, at least for the next few years as this would require huge financial resources which the university says it does not have.Globally, the Master's level is equivalent to 18 years of studies. However, the three-year Bachelor's program in Nepal has rendered the Master's equivalent to 17-years of studies.TU, the oldest and largest university in the country, currently runs four-year Bachelor's programs only in Computer Science and Business Administration. Kedar Prasad Sharma, executive director of the Curriculum Development Center at TU, said it would cost billions of rupees just to develop new curriculum. "Currently, we are revising the curriculum for Bachelor's and Master's levels," he said. "This alone is going to cost us over Rs 17.Sharma said a four-year Bachelor's program would mean formulation of new curriculum in all faculties of higher education including at Bachelor's and Master's levels. This would require a much bigger amount which TU cannot afford under its regular budget.TU Vice Chancellor Prof. Madhav Sharma said lack of an adequate number of teachers and necessary physical infrastructure also stand as impediments to that end.A teaching faculty of 7,950 and 7,073 non-teaching staff are currently serving at TU's 161 public campuses. There are an additional 400 private campuses running under TU affiliation.Vice Chancellor Sharma said they are not in a position to introduce the four-year Bachelor's across the university stream. "However, we have kept the option open, allowing the Subject Committee and Departments concerned to go ahead provided they deem themselves capable of that," he added.A large number of Nepali students who aspire to go to the US and other developed countries for Master's level studies either end up studying one more year at Bachelor's level or take up their study plans abroad only after passing through the Master's back home.The four-year Bachelor's program is also necessary to make Nepal's education system globally accepted in view of the country becoming a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

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