Kathmandu, September 13

Amending the regulations related to scholarships, the Ministry of Education has decided to follow the merit list of the Institute of Medicine under the Tribhuvan University for granting scholarships to students for MBBS and other bachelor’s level health studies within the country and abroad.

As per the amended Education Act, an academic institution should provide scholarship to 10 percent of its students. Earlier, the MoE used to conduct entrance examination for MBBS, but from this year the ministry will provide scholarship to students who make it to the merit list in the entrance exam conducted by IoM.

The report prepared by the high-level task force led by former Vice Chancellor of TU Kedar Bhakta Mathema had recommended to the government to form a Health Profession Education Commission under the chairmanship of Prime Minister to introduce one-door system for conducting entrance examinations for various subjects in health education.

Stating that the universities were autonomous bodies and that they have the right to select their students, the MoE recently decided not to conduct the entrance examination separately but to follow the merit list of IoM and ask toppers to apply for scholarship with necessary documents .

The sixth amendment to the regulations related to scholarship has come into effect from September 7 after its publication in the Nepal Gazette.

Spokesperson for the MoE, Dr Hari Lamsal, said today the recent amendment to the Education Act was made in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Population. He clarified that the MoE would continue to monitor entrance examination for MBBS and other bachelor’s level health courses.

A staffer at IoM said that each year more than 15,000 students appear in MBBS entrance examination. He said the number of students appearing in the MBBS entrance examination was likely to increase by at least 20 per cent after the recent amendment to the Education Act.

Samundra Thapa from Bhaktapur, who is aspiring to study MBBS, said the amendment has saved their time and money. “Earlier, we had to sit for two entrance exams -- one held by IoM and the other by the education ministry. But from this year, we will have to prepare only for the entrance examination held by IoM. This will save our time and money.”

Currently, there are 23 medical and dental colleges across the country with 1981 seats for MBBS and 530 seats for Bachelors of Dental Science.