Kathmandu, Nepal: Purvanchal University has postponed its Bachelor of Technology in Artificial Intelligence (B. Tech. in AI) program for the second year in a row due to a lack of students. Only one student enrolled in the program, which has a capacity of 48 students.
The university had published notifications about the program’s entrance exam three times, but students did not come forward to enroll. Naresh Shah, director of the university’s School of Science and Technology, said that the university is working to improve publicity for the program and explain its importance to local students.
“We advertised in local and national newspapers,” Shah said. “But nowadays, everyone uses social media. This situation has happened even without the students knowing that studies take place here.”
Shah also said that the university needs to do a better job of explaining the importance of specialized courses to local students. “Many students at the local level study general subjects rather than specialized ones,” he said. “We admit that the university could not play a role in explaining the importance of specialized courses to local students.”
Manoj Kumar Haluwai, assistant dean of the university’s Faculty of Science and Technology, agreed that the university needs to do a better job of publicizing and explaining the program. The dean’s office and the college have worked to run the course,” he said. “But in not being able to run the course even for two years, we must have some shortcomings.”
Haluwai also said that the university’s physical infrastructure may be a factor in why students are not enrolling in the program. “Our physical infrastructure is also not good,” he said. “If we can’t run the program for two consecutive years, it means that there is a problem in the course itself.”
The university had planned to start the AI course last year, but it was also postponed due to a lack of students. Shah said that the university is committed to running the program and will continue to work to improve publicity and enrollment.
“We will try our best to run the program next year,” he said. “We are confident that we can overcome these challenges and make the program a success.”
