Minister for Health and Population Khaga Raj Adhikari on Friday presented the bill for the establishment of Pokhara Academy of Health and Sciences (PAHS) for discussion in Parliament. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Education had registered the bills to establish Nepalgunj University and Rajarshi Janak (RJ) University.

If the three bills are endorsed, the number of universities in the country will reach 11 while there will be four deemed universities—ones with autonomy to conduct their academic programmes but unable to grant affiliations to other colleges.

The proposals come at a time when three new universities established in 2010 are still struggling for full fledged operation and the number of students in the university level is dropping every year.

The government’s recent economic survey showed the number of students in various universities has decreased by one third. The number of students, which was 604,437 students in the fiscal year 2013-14, dropped around 33 percent to 405,341 within a year.

Far-Western, Mid-Western and Agriculture and Forestry Universities established five years ago are facing operational problems due to the lack of infrastructure after Tribhuvan University refused to hand over its property to them. Even this time around, the government has proposed to convert TU constituent colleges into new universities without consulting with the university administration.

According to TU officials, it is “irresponsible” on part of the government to decide on transforming constituent colleges of TU into new universities with their knowledge. “The country will go federal in a few months. I don’t understand why the government is in a hurry to open new universities. Let the federal states decide the matter,” said TU Rector Guna Nidhi Neupane.

According to sources, the government rushes to set up new universities as they are located in the home districts of PM Sushil Koirala and influential ministers. Nepalgunj University is located in the electoral constituency of PM Koirala in Banke while the RJ University is in the home district of Nepali Congress leader and Minister for Local Development Bimalendra Nidhi. The proposed PAHS is located in the home district of Health Minister Adhikari.