Kathmandu University (KU) organised a conference of vice-chancellors from universities across Nepal on Friday. The conference, titled “Harmonising National Higher Education Standards to Facilitate Internationalisation of Nepali Higher Education”, paved the way for building a common roadmap for Nepal's universities to enhance the state of higher education.

At the conference, the academic leaders discussed the crisis facing Nepal’s universities today and the ways to resolve it. They committed to developing an action plan to internationalise Nepal’s higher education and reverse the ongoing exodus of Nepali students.

The leaders also committed to forming a common voice for Nepal's universities ahead of the meeting of the Association of Indian Universities North Zone Vice-chancellors, slated to be hosted by Kathmandu University on February 15–16 next year.

The conference, held at the KU main campus in Dhulikhel, was attended by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Minister of State for Education, Science and Technology Pramila Kumari, and over 150 officials of universities, including vice-chancellors, registrars, rectors, deans and faculty members.

Speaking at the programme, Prime Minister Dahal highlighted the significance of the conference in translating the current challenges into opportunities through knowledge production and support systems.

Acknowledging the need for autonomy of higher educational institutions, Dahal expressed the government’s commitment to exploring self-governing models for universities.

“I appreciate the initiatives the universities have taken to standardise higher education with a national education framework, degree equivalence provisions, and quality assurance education under the University Grants Commission,” Dahal said.

State Minister Pramila Kumari highlighted the need to discover relevant ways to address students’ mobility. “This is possible through collaborative efforts in designing effective credit transfer and credit accumulation policy provisions,” Kumari said, emphasising the need to strengthen higher education with concrete provisions of national and global academic standards.

KU Vice-Chancellor Bhola Thapa said the conference aimed to bring uniformity in the standards of education both at the national and regional levels.

“It is our initiation for knowledge-sharing and collaboration for common educational interests,” Thapa said. He added that the coming together of policy experts, university authorities and scholars from across the universities was a historic occasion, one that paved the way for strengthening Nepal’s higher education.

KU founding vice-chancellor Suresh Raj Sharma stressed how the national identity can be formed based on the quality of education offered by educational institutions. Sharma highlighted the importance of technically sound multidisciplinary learning spaces to align with rapidly changing local and global scenarios.

KU Registrar Achyut Wagle, University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairperson Dev Raj Adhikari also shared their views.

In the technical sessions of the conference, top university leaders presented their roadmaps for the future of Nepal’s universities. Nepal Open University Vice-chancellor Shilu Manandhar Bajracharya spoke about the initiatives and innovations in open learning that are aimed at shaping the higher education landscape. University of Nepal Development Board chairperson Arjun Karki spoke on making Nepal's higher education more relevant through liberal arts. Far Western University Vice-chancellor Amma Raj Joshi spoke on "Transforming future through student exchange and mobility programmes". Gandaki University Chancellor Ganesh Man Gurung spoke on "Connecting Nepali higher education to the globe".