KATHMANDU, JULY 3
PhD graduate, Aastha Dahal from one of the oldest universities of the United Kingdom, Cambridge University, poured her frustration on social media after not getting equivalence certificate after two years of struggle.
Dahal, once elected the President of Cambridge Students' Union in Cambridge March 2020, has been struggling in Nepal for recognition by TU. Finally, she has surrendered by posting on social media: "I don't want to have any equivalence at the cost of my dignity." "I returned to Nepal after completing my education from Cambridge to work and make my career here," Dahal told THT.
It is compulsory for everyone to get equivalence certificate if they have passed from any other university across the globe, including Nepal.
Therefore, Dahal had applied for equivalence certificate in October 2021. It has been two years but her equivalence certificate is still pending.
"TU staffers' behaviour is so rude. They insult and harass everyone there," said Dahal.
"TU is going to decide whether my MPhil and PhD from the University of Cambridge is worthy of recognition by Nepal. Apparently paying Rs 1,000 for processing the MPhil degree equivalence is not enough. I had to pay Rs 4,000. As per their guidelines, I had to pay Rs 1,000 last year. So, I asked if I could pay Rs 3,000 as I'd already paid Rs 1,000, but he said, "No, you have to pay Rs 4,000 at once. And your earlier fee doesn't count," adding, "He literally scolded me and rudely hung up on me. I'm tired of this. I've already spent over Rs 15,000 on this tedious process. The processing fee is Rs 5,000 up front. After submitting all my documents online, they asked me to submit paper copies. Then they asked me to put my MPhil and PhD theses on two new pendrives and submit it to them when they already had the electronic pdfs."
She further said, "Apparently this is for plagiarism checks, which cost me Rs 2,500 per thesis. I was asked to return the other day to fetch a copy of pages from my passport that contain stamps at the Nepali and British airports where I'd departed and arrived. I had to do so despite having attached all my British visas on file." "It's been nearly two years that they haven't even opened my file. I have to just nod and pretend and swallow all their insults and scoldings because this equivalence certificate is important for careers of the people," added Dahal. She further said, "TU is robbing students in broad daylight. TU can consider Rs 15,000 as my charity. I don't want this equivalence certificate that comes at the cost of human dignity."
After her post on social media, Dahal received a call from the TU curriculum development board today. She said, "They asked me to come today but I couldn't show up as I was busy. But I will be visiting soon." Meanwhile, Surendra Krishna Joshi from CDC, TU, said, "Her documents are incomplete. How can we give her equivalence certificate without complete documents?" Similarly, Executive Director of CDC Paras Nath Yadav said, "I need to go through her file which I will do tomorrow as I was busy the whole day today."
Dahal has pursued her PhD in Policing of Domestic Violence in Nepal from the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. Yesterday, after losing all hope, she took to social media to vent her disappointment. The netizens, especially after studying or residing abroad, have shown support and solidarity towards Dahal by criticising TU's tedious process of granting equivalence.
"Thank you for venting your frustration. TU equivalency of my Masters and PhD from Korea is still pending. I provided all the documents and paid fees 6 years ago. However, they kept on making excuses. With no hope, I gave up the process and permanently migrated to Korea. I now think that I made one of the best decisions. Now I don't need TU's equivalence certificate. Probably, I am not of TU's standard but way higher!," wrote Binayak Bhandari, PhD in a post.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 4, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
