Dev Kumar Sunuwar

TU to prevent grant-freeze
DEV KUMAR SUNUWAR
KATHMANDU, FEB 28 –

The University Grants Commission (UGC) and Tribhuvan University (TU) have decided to set up a separate Project Implementation Unit (PIU) in the university to prevent a World Bank (WB) grant from freezing. The WB had provided grant for making the constituent campuses of the country’s oldest university autonomous.

“Once the PIU becomes operational, it will facilitated the university to grant autonomy to constituent campuses,” said Madhav Sharma, vice chancellor of TU.

UGC and TU office bearers made this decision during the mid-term review of the project in February. The grant is likely to freeze if the university fails to grant autonomy to its constituent campuses owing to a dispute between the university and UGC.

According to a core project document, the grant for TU was to develop Campus Autonomy Regulation for facilitating and granting autonomy to the university’s constituent decentralised campuses. The funds were primarily allocated for institutional reform and research funding.

Under the project titled ‘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.

Although the university has spent 12 percent of the total grant amounting to Rs. 59.4 million (US$ 8 million) for this purpose, it has not been able to grant autonomy to any of its campuses, according to TU officials.

“Autonomy is an evolutionary process. It cannot be granted just because the university wants to. The constituent campuses will have it. Besides, it involves finance, human resources and physical infrastructure,” said Sharma. “Sensitisation among constituent campuses on the need for autonomy has been seen.

Of the 60 constituent campuses, Mahendra Ratna Multiple Campus in Ilam has already proceeded in this direction and some half a dozen campuses, including Mechi Campus, Mahendra Nagar Campus and Mahendra Ratna Multiple Campus in Tahachal, are in the process.”

TU officials had been stating that if the project is to be undertaken by the university, the grant should have come directly to the university, not through UGC.

When the grant was circulated through UGC, the university had difficulty using the fund as it needed to assure campuses that they would have the fund, according to Sharma.

UGC Chairman Kamal Krishna Joshi said, “The university is the main implementing body of the project. Thus, PIU will now assist the university in granting autonomy to its constituent campuses.”

He, however, said the university had failed to grant autonomy to its constituent campuses because of internal conflict and not due to dispute with the UGC. Subsequently, the UGC was merely a mediator in distributing the grant.