The number of universities in Nepal is growing. The multi-university concept has been appreciated by all. Proposition of universities in the past was made in an ad hoc manner rather than in a planned way. Only one university out of the proposed four in 2005, the Lumbini University, has got its status through ordinance. And a vice-chancellor to this university has been appointed. The same was the case with Purbanchal University when it was born and it took several years to come into operation. The case of Pokhara University is also not different. So it will not be a surprise to see Lumbini University struggling to come into operation even after five years from today.

These examples show that establishment of universities in Nepal is rather a weak game played by the politicians and not based on the country’s academic needs. Even if there are academic needs, the establishment of the universities is based on the person to whom the government wants to provide certain power and privileges. That’s how vice-chancellors are appointed without knowing where the students come from, who will be the teachers and what infrastructure is needed to operate them.

The case of Kathmandu University (KU) is a little different. In fact, KU is a pure private university even if they claim it is non-governmental and not private. The Purbanchal and Pokhara Universities are following the same path. Since they run all over the country they have no communities of their own. The fate of Lumbini University is yet to see.

Now look at the programmes of these universities in the market. In the name of new programmes they are providing affiliations to new colleges throughout the country. One can see unhealthy competition in medical and engineering colleges. The experiences of the engineering colleges affiliated to these universities in the past is not encouraging. Since there is no accreditation and assessment council to evaluate all these engineering courses the quality of products is still in doubt. This not only applies to Purbanchal and Pokhara Universities but to the products of Tribhuvan and Kathmandu universities as well. The same can be seen in the Bachelor’s of Education programme run by Mahendra Sanskrit University and Bachelor’s and Master’s of Education programmes run by Purbanchal University. Many other programmes run by the universities or affiliated to be run by private colleges also bear same consequences.

All these demonstrate that people in power can do anything in the name of establishing universities. They do not have any vision of the university nor do they want to know how universities are run. Influential persons can plan a one-page-document and persuade the government to establish a new university tomorrow. Immediately after the approval they start showing problems to the government and try to absorb as much share of the higher education as they can. The share of higher education distributed to the universities by University Grant Commission is not proportional. Here again the personal influence plays the role. The largest share goes to Tribhuvan University where politics is more prevalent.

In this chaotic situation how can Nepali youth expect quality higher education? Those who can afford to go abroad and the poor people in Nepal always fall behind with poor quality of education. Universities outside Tribhuvan and Mahendra Sanskrit claim that they are providing quality education. Maybe this is true but there have been no studies to claim this. The universities are so busy affiliating new colleges and earning money rather than establishing evidences of quality education they provide. They may not want such studies because the result might be just the opposite of their claim.

The universities should have their own specialties. If all the universities are to run the same programmes then why do we need more than one university? And the most important thing is the resource to run the universities. None of the universities in Nepal has a strong mechanism for quality control. Nobody monitors and supervises the affiliated colleges. Once a college is given affiliation the university does not see its role. This is worst in the case of Tribhuvan University. In Purbanchal and Pokhara Universities and in some cases in KU there are examples that the affiliated colleges have dictated the rules and policies since the universities themselves do not own such disciplines.

This is an example of how vice-chancellors misutilise their power. All these activities are promoting unhealthy competition which could be detrimental to quality education. Commercialisation has been the motto of all these universities but the government should be very cautious and not allow the universities to compromise on quality. Higher education demands a clear government policy. Higher education goals should be made clear and the universities should be directed towards it. The government needs to have an Umbrella Act to regulate these matters.

Dr Wagley is professor of Education, TU