Nepal Open University (NOU)

Introduction

Nepal Open University (Nepali: नेपाल खुला विश्वविद्यालय) is a public university that offers distance learning opportunities. It was founded in 2016 by a piece of legislation passed by Parliament. Under the authority of both the University Grants Commission, the university’s degrees are recognized as comparable to those conferred by another Nepali university.

History

The first formal attempt to create an Open University in Nepal was in 1999, when the government signed the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Consortium on Open and Distance Education. In the Fiscal Year 2008/09 budget address, cash was committed to developing the Open University idea in order to have a chance to youngsters who were unable to obtain an education due to the conflict. However, due to a lack of a competent institutional entity to commence execution of the plan, the government didn’t even take any real action.

Meanwhile, the Canada Forum for Nepal (CFFN), a non-profit organization based in Canada that has been providing education to people living in Nepal’s economically disadvantaged regions when 2007, managed to bring next to each other 3 North American Nepali Diaspora leaders, Doctor Ambika P. Adhikari, Doctor Drona Prakash Rasali, and Dr. Pramod Dhakal, as well as an Australian Nepali Diaspora leader, Dr. Raju Adhikari, to discuss the issue of establishing an Open University in Nepal.

About

The university’s goal is to increase access to higher education for persons who have never had access to traditional higher/tertiary education. As a result, the university is currently working to develop programs that are both inclusive as well as appropriate to the national priorities of developing a knowledge society and training young for a job in Nepal as well as worldwide markets. NOU will provide distant online learning programs by employing cutting-edge information and communication technologies. Technology and science, vocational and technical education, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary courses, and other higher education priority areas identified in higher education policy, will be the emphasis of the education program. NOU will also provide general as well as professional education courses, such as humanities.

NOU has three Faculties. they are;

Faculty of Science & Technology
Faculty of Social Science & Education
Faculty of Management & Law.

Goals

NOU has made the following commitments as important goals:

1. NOU creates and uses flexible entrance standards for the wider public for education and training based on open education principles.
2. NOU creates and maintains an atmosphere that allows graduates to gain authentic knowledge and skills via functional and real-life experiences in conjunction with united nations agencies, industries, businesses, and many more.
3. NOU generates residents with knowledge, skills, and competencies in various disciplines/subjects who are prepared to promote sustainable development and who have a spirit of coexistence through the use of today’s technology in education, as well as student-centered and problem-based research-based teaching opportunities in schooling.