Kathmandu, July 14: The newly appointed Vice Chancellors of various universities have expressed shared commitment to make the academic environment free from party politics and to promote quality of education.
They expressed this shared commitment before Chancellor and Prime Minister Balendra Shah at a discussion and dialogue program on ‘Current Status, Challenges and Reforms of Nepal’s Higher Education’ held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Singha Durbar today.
The newly appointed Vice Chancellors expressed their determination not to allow political activities to disrupt the academic environment and keep professors, employees and students of the universities separate from party politics and prioritize discipline and focus solely on purely creative and academic work.
Similarly, the Vice Chancellors resolved to implement comprehensive reforms in the administrative, financial and academic sectors with a clear action plan, to eliminate irregularities by emphasizing good governance and maintaining financial discipline, and to provide leadership in a transparent and accountable manner to improve the quality of education provided by the university.
During the discussion, they said that the current government’s policy of providing at least 10 percent scholarships to meritorious and targeted students will be implemented to make access to higher education more equitable.
They expressed their commitment to implement their own university-specific academic calendar, to conduct student enrollment, teaching and examinations on time, and to publish the examination results within a maximum of one month.
On the occasion, the Vice Chancellors drew the Prime Minister’s attention to common problems currently faced by the universities of the country, including lack of necessary human resource as per the approved posts, the encroachment of lands worth billions owned by universities, and the inability to properly manage and protect those assets.
In addition, the Vice-Chancellors presented the obstacles to digitize the entire system due to the lack of necessary academic and administrative coordination among universities, the failure to develop a culture of modern research, technology-friendly classrooms, digital teaching-learning methods, and innovation as common problems.
Prime Minister Balendra Shah, also the Chancellor of the university, directed the VCs to focus on academic reforms, financial discipline, academic environment, and good governance.
He directed to start convocation of universities, which has been concentrated only in the federal capital, Kathmandu, in all seven provinces in accordance with the spirit of federalism.
Prime Minister Shah directed to immediately reduce the arrears accumulated over the years in universities and maintain financial discipline, immediately return and manage the land and government funds that are being used or encroached upon, maintain cleanliness on campuses, and be strict in protecting the encroached properties of universities.
Expressing solidarity with Prime Minister Shah’s statement and instructions, Minister for Education and Sports Sasmit Pokharel directed the vice-chancellors of universities to submit a clear action plan within the next seven days to improve the quality of higher education.
Pointing out the need for mutual coordination and collaboration among universities, Minister Pokharel said it was necessary for all vice-chancellors to lead their respective universities and also collaborate as one team for the improvement of higher education in Nepal as a whole.
He said that integrated coordination among universities is indispensable as technical issues such as affiliation and transfer of colleges are interconnected.
Education Minister Pokharel, who is also the Pro-Chancellor of the university, also expressed his commitment that the ministry will provide necessary facilitation for the overall academic environment and managerial reforms of the universities.
The meeting was attended by Tribhuvan University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Bhola Thapa, Far Western University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Kisan Dutta Bhatta, Purbanchal University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Sujan Babu Marhatta, Pokhara University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Devendra Adhikari, Rajarshi Janak University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Shyam Narayan Labh, Mid-Western University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Rajan Suwal, and Agriculture and Forestry University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Rishi Ram Kattel.#nepal #rss
