KATHMANDU, Dec 20; It has been a year since Safalta Shrestha, 24, passed her bachelor's degree in sociology. She wants to pursue a master’s degree in psychology. Tribhuvan University has a provision where one-year post graduate degree in psychology is compulsory for students of other faculties to pursue a master’s degree in psychology. But so far, Tribhuvan University has not been able to open admission for this subject. As a result, Shrestha said that she was not able to enroll for the subject during the August intake last year due to the inordinate delay on part of the university.
As the university could not publish the results of the third and fourth years of the bachelor's degree on time, the admission of the first year of the master's degree course in any other subject including science, management and humanities has not opened yet in the current academic session. Because of this, the first year of the master’s degree courses are yet to begin while no admission has been opened for any subject at the PhD level.
"I had to get enrolled for a one-year post-graduate course in psychology in August last year, but the university has not opened the admission," Shrestha complained, adding, “I have wasted one and a half years now and I am still not sure when I will be able to study.”
She is now thinking of getting enrolled in a foreign university.
“The government is forcing us to study abroad,” she added. Shrestha believes that Tribhuvan University's failure to publish the annual examination results of the third and fourth-year bachelor’s degree courses on time has become a problem for the students. Due to the negligence of the university, the valuable time of thousands of students, who should have pursued a master's degree course, has been wasted.
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Although Tribhuvan University has adopted the semester system for some subjects, many subjects still follow the annual system. Students are attracted towards TU because of its international recognition. But the educational activities have been badly affected due to the politics and regular strikes in the university. This has seriously jeopardized the future of the students.
According to the statistics of the University Grants Commission, a total of 12 universities are operating in Nepal. The total number of students pursuing higher education in these universities is 460,826. Out of this, Tribhuvan University alone has 347,269 students. The rest of the students are studying in Pokhara University, Purbanchal University, Kathmandu University and other universities.
Faculty wise, most of them are studying in the Faculty of Management. Similarly, 46.24 percent of students are studying management, 22.18 percent are pursuing education, 7.98 percent under humanities, 2.28 percent are enrolled in law faculty, 5.38 percent in medical and 5.56 percent in engineering.
On the one hand, Tribhuvan University carries 80 percent of the burden of higher education. Millions of students enroll in the TU annually. But because the university officials are unable to manage the academic calendar, the graduation results are routinely delayed by 7 to 8 months. Due to this, the students have not been able to get admission in the first semester and the first year of the postgraduate level, said Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Tara Bhusal.
“Previously, the admission process of post-graduate level used to be completed in June-July and the first year classes used to start from August. But this year, admissions have not been opened even till the mid-December," said Assistant Dean Bhusal. TU, Controller of Examinations has delayed the release of results of fourth year of management, third year of humanities and science faculty by eight months.
Admission will not be opened until the results are published.
"The dean's offices are waiting for the results, while the students' studies have been delayed and time is being wasted,” said Bhsual.
Due to the delay in publication of the bachelor’s degree results of the Tribhuvan University, students are getting frustrated with Nepal's higher education system. "Due to eight months’ delay in publishing the results, the students have been deprived of various opportunities at home and abroad," Assistant Dean Bhusal said.
On the other hand, the TU, Controller of Examination has been giving a ready-made answer that it could not work on time due to the lack of sufficient manpower and the high number of students. TU has been giving this answer for a decade now. However, the teachers and students of the university are of the opinion that the officials have never become sensitive about managing the university's examinations and educational activities.
According to Assistant Controller Ghanshyam Thakur, the university has not been able to publish the results of more than one hundred thousand students of the bachelor’s degree annual exams due to lack of manpower. "There has been a 7-month delay in publishing the results of about 100,000 students in management, humanities and science," he clarified, “There is a lack of staff. TU Service Commission does not open on time. Lockouts and strikes have disrupted the commission. Its immediate effect has been felt on the future of the students.''
Even now, he believes that if the officials of the university and bodies concerned do not pay attention in time, TU will collapse.
