Draft bill on higher education disappoints experts

Educationists say the prime minister vowed to reform higher education but the bill reeks of the same old mindset of political and bureaucratic control of universities.

The Ministry of Education on January 21 made public a draft of the much talked-about higher education bill to guide Nepal’s university education. It sets the criteria for establishing new universities while categorising existing ones. However, it has met with more criticism than appreciation from academicians who say the universities will be under the dominance of bureaucracy and politicisation will continue to prevail if the bill is endorsed in its present form. They have demanded redrafting the bill.