Dev Kumar Sunuwar

DEV KUMAR SUNUWAR
KATHMANDU, DEC 08 –

The grant provided by the World Bank (WB) to Tribhuvan University is likely to freeze, following the University’s failure to grant autonomy to its constituent campuses across the country owing to a dispute between the University and the University Grant Commission (UGC).

Under a project entitled ‘Second Higher Education Project (SHEP) 2007-2014’ that commenced in 2007, the WB has provided assistance amounting to Rs. 4.46 billion (US $ 60 million) to the university through the UGC. The funds were primarily allocated to institutional reform and research funding.

According to a core document of the project, the grant for TU was for the development of a Campus Autonomy Regulation, which was to facilitate and grant autonomy to the University’s constituent decentralised campuses. According to a TU official, the university has yet spent some 12 percent of total grant, or the equivalent of Rs. 59.4 million (US $ 8 million) for this purpose but the university has of yet been unable to grant the autonomy to any of its campuses.

The WB has sent letters for a mid-term review of the project to the National Planning Commission (NPC), TU, and the UGC, which is slated to be completed by February 2010. “As per the schedule we have designed for the project, we are going to conduct a mid-term review. We have been informed by the University that autonomy regulation is taking place, and that the process of granting autonomy to the campuses is ongoing.” said Rajendra Dhoj Joshi, an education advisor to WB.

Stating that the university has been unable to grant autonomy, however, Registrar of TU, Bhim Raj Adhikari said, “The grant should be without condition and need-based.” According Adhikari, if the project is to be undertaken by the university, the grant should come directly to the university, and not through UGC.

On a similar note, education expert Tirtha Khaniya, who is also a member of NPC, said, “If the university fails to grant autonomy to its constituent campuses, before the WB finishes its review, the organization will freeze the grant.”

Meanwhile, the chairman of the UGC, Kamal Krishna Joshi, said that the UGC is merely a mediator in the distribution of the grant. “The university is the main body implementing the project,” Joshi said “The university has failed to grant autonomy to its constituent campuses because of internal conflict, and not due to a dispute with the UGC,” added Joshi.

There are currently 60 constituent campuses within TU across the country.