Bhaktapur, November 23:

Minister for Education and Sports Pradeep Nepal today said Prime Minister should not be appointed as the chancellor of any university as a Prime Minister is not an academic expert.

Addressing a function held to mark the 14th anniversary of the University Grant Commission (UGC), minister Nepal said, “King or Prime Minister should not be appointed as Chancellor because they are not the appropriate persons to handle the academic responsibility of Universities.” He added, “Only educational experts should be appointed as the chancellors of universities so as to end the current uncertainties in universities.”

He said that a committee of academicians should be formed to choose appropriate persons for the posts of chancellors.

Referring to the delay due to political wrangling in the appointment in various positions vacant in different universities, Nepal stressed on keeping the education sector free from political interests. “To keep education free from politics, we must have chancellors from the academic field.”

Academicians should also come up with strong leadership to guide the education sector so that the sector will not have to face the uncertainty in the future, he said.

Prof Dr Suresh Raj Sharma, Vice Chancellor of the Kathmandu University said, “We already have six universities and four universities are in pipeline but the quality of every university is different from the other,” adding, “UGC should make clear concept while providing grant to the universities.”

Prof Dr Binod Kumar Shrestha, member secretary of the commission, said UGC has been using its resources at the optimum and providing grants to colleges, universities and teachers on the basis of merit.