Kathmandu

Among the various Universities in Nepal, Purbanchal University (PU), established in 1993, has been regulating 72 different professional and technical programmes under Science, Management, Humanities, Laws and Education streams. PU is the initiator of courses such as Interior Design, Biomedical Engineering, five years Law programme, Business Administration and Fashion Technology. And PU has been providing Bachelor’s and Master’s level degree in yearly and semester system where it has the provision of enrolling students in two sessions — November/December and June/July — in a year. PU has four constitute campuses and is based in Biratnagar while there are 103 campuses all over Nepal affiliated to PU.

PU and challenges

Purbanchal University Colleges Association Nepal (PUCAN) and Allied Sciences Institutional Association (ASIA) jointly organised the Purbanchal University Education Fair 2016 at World Trade Centre, Tripureshwor from July 1-3. At the venue, 60 different colleges affiliated to PU were present to talk and let know visitors about the ongoing programmes.

Not only colleges and Vice-Chancellor of PU Prof Dr Ghanshyam Lal Das, Controller of Examination of PU Mohan Basnet, among others were also present to clear confusion regarding courses and education system at PU.

Arun Acharya, who is waiting for his result of BE (Civil) IVth Year is a student at Whitehouse Engineering College, Khumaltar, affiliated to PU. He found the courses of PU better than other universities of Nepal but he is not satisfied because the university calendar is not run accordingly. About this Acharya shared, “It took five years to complete a four-year course and this is the point where PU has to upgrade itself to compete with other universities.”

It is not only Acharya who complains about PU being behind schedule for running examinations and announcing the results. However, Basnet argued, “We definitely had the problem of lagging behind our schedule but from this academic session we have solved around 90 per cent of our problems created by lock-out, protest, earthquake, blockade, et cetera. Currently we have been able to publish the result of Medical stream within two months after exam and likewise for the Engineering stream. And if the situation of Nepal remains as smooth as it is now, I can guarantee that we will be the best university of Nepal. We are determined to upgrade our educational calendar and announcing result within three months after examination.”

According to Prof Dr Das, the main challenge of the University is the need of generating 80 per cent of fund by the University itself, lower number of constitute campuses and inactive Service Commission. “We have been looking at these issues and working on it. We are looking forward to capacity building of affiliated colleges and have unaffiliated some colleges as they could not maintain the standard of the University. We are on the path of constant improvement to maintain the quality of the University. The issues about Service Commission will be solved within six months.”

Popular courses and scholarship

The courses under Science and Technology such as Nursing, Public Health, Pharmacy and Engineering are the popular courses at PU, as per Gopi Krishna Neupane, Coordinator of Purbanchal University Education Fair 2016.  Other popular courses are Law, Social Work, Business Administration, Mass Communication, et cetera.

PU has provision of scholarship in two categories — out of the total number students admitted in a college, 10 per cent students are eligible for full scholarship first on the basis of merit, then on the basis of reservation, as per Prof Dr Das. From this year PU will also have a PhD course in Management. PU did not have any PhD course yet. Talking about the reason to study at PU he elaborated, “We have been upgrading our courses and way of working according to the needs and demands of the country. We aim to produce skilled manpower who can help in the development of our country. Not only that, our graduates are capable of working in the world market. We focus on practical-based subjects. We have signed MoUs with various reputed Universities of India such as BIMSTEC, BHU and Jamia Millia Islamia Central University.”

Purnima Lama and Sachita Maharjan, who are waiting for their +2 results and want to join Bachelors in Interior Design (BID), were at the fair to know about BID. Lama shared, “We are interested in studying BID and PU is the only option for us as no other University offers this course. And we got to know about the fee structure, scholarship scheme and more at the venue.”

With the changed management there is a certain enthusiasm in the administration and affiliated colleges to do better in the educational field. Letting students get quality education within the country and if this enthusiasm is maintained, then there is no looking back for PU.