Draft of Higher Education Act: National criteria for university proposed

Kathmandu / Jan 23: The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has prepared the draft of the Higher Education Act, 2080, determining the national standard for establishment and operation of a university.

Demand had been coming for enacting an umbrella act for the overall management of higher education and for systematizing the operation and regulation of universities.

The Ministry has shared the draft of the Act in its website for seeking suggestions on it. The draft has fixed the physical and educational infrastructure, the teacher-student ratio in the stipulated numbers, management of investment and resources and human resource management, the academic programmes to be run and their utility as the national standard for the university.

Similarly, the draft has proposed classifying universities in three types – central, province and deemed university. It is also stated that the existing universities not going to transform into the central university within five years of the coming into force of this Act shall be included in the province university.

The draft stipulates that the Prime Minister will be retained as the Chancellor of some universities considered as ‘centre of excellence’ and the Chancellor at other universities could be the university office-holder.

Similarly, it is stated in the draft that the Education Minister shall be the Chair of the Higher Education Commission. RSS