KATHMANDU, AUGUST 14

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has directed the Kathmandu University (KU) and Dhulikhel Hospital to maintain collaboration between them for the next five years.

At the 97th Senate meeting of the university held today at the Prime Minister's Residence, Baluwatar, PM Oli, also Chancellor of the university, gave instructions to discuss and resolve the misunderstandings and problems between the university and the hospital.

'Since the university cannot immediately open a new hospital and the government cannot invest for it, the relationship and cooperation with Dhulikhel Hospital should be continued for at least five years,' Prime Minister Oli said, adding that within that period, the university will prepare to establish its own hospital.

Also, another meeting of the university within the next month will take appropriate decisions to this end and the same meeting will also discuss other challenges and difficulties, PM Oli said.

Dhulikhel Municipality mayor Ashok Byanju expressed the opinion that the university should not suddenly break its relations with the hospital. Prime Minister Oli, who is also the chancellor, took the opinion of the former vice-chancellor Dr Suresh Raj Sharma and instructed KU to continue the cooperation as it is considered necessary to maintain the relationship between the two institutions.

Prime Minister Oli also suggested creating a situation where students are admitted to the university according to the capacity of the seats. He made it clear that in the last fiscal year, the revenue was 24 percent less than the estimate and the government could not give more subsidies to the university even if it wanted to.

In the meeting held in the presence of the Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Bidya Bhattarai, the budget of Rs 4.30 billion presented by university registrar Dr Achyut Wagle was endorsed. The Education Minister is the Pro-Chancellor of the University.

Similarly, the Senate has passed the 'grace list' of 2,314 students who will be graduated from various colleges affiliated to KU for the upcoming 29th convocation ceremony.