Tribhuvan University: TU, Nepal, Higher Studies

When one thinks of higher education in Nepal, the most common thing that arises in one’s mind is Tribhuvan University. Arousing such hype wouldn’t be a surprising thing as it is the eldest, oldest, largest, and pioneer leading university in the country, upright and strong, established in 1959 (2016 B.S.). It covers a total of 3042-5-2 ropanies (154.77 hectares) land at Kritipur. Currently, there are 40 central departments, 1062 affiliated colleges, and 62 constituent campuses running under five institutes and four faculties. Apart from that, TU further has a research center under it. Lastly, it is a non-profit making autonomous institution funded by the government of Nepal. 

Do You Know How the Concept of Having Nepal’s Own University First Initiated?

It was during the ruling period of King Tribhuvan when two Queen Mothers- Kanti Rajya Laxmi Shah, and Ishwari Rajya Laxmi Shah wished to have a University of their own that would meet the needs and demands of the country and not the needs of India, and this is where the concept originated.

Being the first-ever university of the country, it was established after the end of the Rana Regime and is named after the late king, King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah Dev. With its establishment, the Tribhuvan University Act was also promulgated, and they started teaching, researching, and conducting other academic activities under the act. 

Did People Not Study Before the First University’s Establishment?

As TU is the first and oldest university in the nation, you might be wondering if the people ever attended a higher degree, or a post-graduate and master’s degree in Nepal before 1959. 

Well, there were some colleges established under an Indian university’s affiliation called Patna University. Tri Chandra College was established in 1918, 41 years before the establishment of the first university of Nepal, and by Chandra Shumsher. There were 19 existing colleges before the establishment of the nation’s own university. The teaching was indeed done in Nepal, but the overall curriculum was formulated by the Indian University and the exams and certifications were also provided by the Indian university itself. 

After Establishment Works

With continuous work, the university began offering postgraduate courses by 1961 and with this, it also started providing recognition to both governmental and non-governmental colleges that were conducting post-graduate and Bachelor level curricula. This means that the university started providing affiliation with the increasing demand of students willing to study the curriculum of their country. The curriculum here refers to all the syllabus, books, structure, and course content provided, and on that basis, the examinations are conducted and the certificates are provided to the students. 

Initial-level Post-graduate programs that were established on September 20, 1959, were;

1. English
2. Nepali
3. Economics
4. Sanskrit
5. History
6. Mathematics
7. Culture
8. Political Science

They subsequently increased their courses over time and added Commerce, Geography, Education, Botany, Zoology, Chemistry, and Physics, and the master level course was introduced in Physics, Biology, Zoology, and Chemistry while the bachelor level course in Sanskrit was introduced in 1970, by the TU. Also, initially, TU formulated its programs only through its constituent campuses until 1980.  

Who Supported and Supervised the TU

All of these courses and curricula along with overall planning and policy creation were dedicated by the then governor but supervised and financially supported by the Queen’s mother initially and later King Mahendra also accepted her post in 1962 A.D. However, after the King’s rule was demolished with the second democratic movement of 2006, the prime minister started supporting TU. 

Diverse Faculties and Departments Created 

The University is currently supported by 4 faculties and 5 technical institutions;

Faculty

1. Management
2. Education
3. Humanities and Social Sciences
4. Law

Technical Institutions

1. Engineering
2. Medicine
3. Forestry
4. Agriculture and Animal Science
5. Science and Technology

Let’s explore them one by one:

Faculties

Faculty of Management (FoM)

Contact Details:

Phone Number: 014330818, 01-4332118

Mail address: fomdean@gmail.com

Location: Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal

The Faculty of Management (FoM) was formed to educate interested and involved students to gain professional pursuits and a higher level of ability to face and manage real-time business, industry, and government. Students enrolled in subjects related to this faculty will be prepared for future business administration, accounting, marketing, or HR management.

Faculty of Education (FoE)

Contact Details

Phone Number: 014330346

Mail Address: info@tu.edu.np

Location: Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal

FoE was established as the College of Education, even before the establishment of TU, with a motive to institutionalize teacher education programs. With such a long history, it is the largest faculty of TU when it comes to affiliated colleges and student numbers. This faculty has 26 constituent campuses and 590 affiliated colleges, and its main motive is to produce human resources for the educational sector of the nation. The programs offered are;

Academic and Professional programs offered by FoE

1. Bachelors of Information and Communication Technology Education (BICTE)
2. Bachelor of Education (B.Ed)
3. Master of Education (M.Ed)
4. Masters of Philosophy (M.Phil)
5. Master of Social Studies Education (MSSEd)
6. Teacher preparation course
7. Postgraduate Diploma in Education

Faculty of Humanities and Social Science (FoHSS)

Phone Number: 014333980

Mail Address: info@fohss.tu.edu.np

Location: Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal

FoHSS was established the same year that the university itself was established, 1959 with an objective to make students educated but at the same time informed about the things happening in their surroundings. For this, they are not just working on the syllabus or curriculum development part but also on creating a friendly and conducive learning environment. Some of the subjects offered by the faculty include;

1. Film Studies
2. International Languages
3. Philosophy
4. Urdu

Faculty of Law (FoL)

Phone Number: 014226586

Mail Address: facultyoflaw1234@gmail.com

Location: Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal

FoL was established the same year as the TU but before this establishment, a law college was already established in 1954 that offered LL.B courses. However, after the establishment of TU, the law college came under TU. Since then, this faculty has been globally recognized for imparting legal education and this faculty aims to ensure that there is an analytical understanding of the system within the theories and subject matter. 

Programs offered

LL.B (Bachelor of Laws)

LL.M (Masters of Laws)

B.A.LL.A (Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of Laws)

Ph.D (Doctor of Philosophy) in Laws

Institutions 

Institutes of Engineering (IoE)

Phone Number: 01-5421531

Mail Address: info@ioe.tu.edu.np

Location: Pulchouk, Lalitpur

Initiated as Nepal’s first-ever Technical School, in 1930, it became an institute to Tribhuvan University in 1972, after the introduction of the New Education System Plan. Before the formal starting of IoE, there were two different departments of Engineering, namely; Nepal Engineering Institute, and Technical Training Institute, which later came as IoE introduced TU. Later Nepal Engineering Institute was renamed Pulchowk Campus while Technical Training Institute was renamed Thapathali Campus. Other colleges started being established with the growing demand for engineering colleges, and with the government policy of expanding engineering education across the nation. With this, the IoE started its bachelor’s level program in 1978, master’s level program in 1996, and Doctoral program in 2003. Currently, there are 4 constituent campuses and 10 affiliated colleges of IoE under TU. 

The central campus of the University of IoE in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorial courses is Pulchowk while other campuses like Thapathali campus, Purwanchal campus, and Paschimanchal also offer Bachelor’s degrees. 

Currently running programs at IOE

Bachelor level Programs

• Civil Engineering

• Electrical Engineering

• Electronics Engineering

• Computer Engineering

• Mechanical Engineering

• Automobile Engineering

• Geomatics Engineering

• Industrial Engineering

• Agriculture Engineering

• Architecture

• Aerospace Engineering

• Chemical Engineering

Master Level Program

• Urban Planning

• Energy for Sustainable Social Development

• Energy Efficient Buildings

• Transportation Engineering

• Structural Engineering

• Construction Management

• Disaster Risk Management

• Water Resources Engineering

• Geotechnical Engineering

• Environmental Engineering

• Hydropower Engineering

• Power System Engineering

• Information &Communication Engineering

• Computer System & Knowledge Engineering

• Renewable Energy Engineering

• Technology & Innovation Management (Posponded this year)

• Energy System Planning & Management

• Mechanical System Design and Engineering

• Climate Change and Development

• Material Science & Engineering

• Electrical Engineering in Distributed Generation

• Communication & Knowledge Engineering

• Infrastructure Engineering and Management

• Earthquake Engineering

• Applied Mathematics (Postponed this year)

• Land and Water Engineering

• Master in Architecture

• Rock and Tunnel Engineering

• Geospatial Engineering

• Sanitation Engineering/Science

• Information System Engineering (Postponed this year)

• Distributed Generation Engineering

• Informatics and Intelligent Engineering

• Mechanical Engineering Design and Manufacturing

• Power Electronics and Drives Engineering

• Computer Engineering Specialization in Network and Cyber Security (New Launch Program from this year)

Lastly, in terms of Postgraduate courses, PhD level courses are available at Pulchowk Campus only, and out of 158 enrolled candidates, 40 candidates have already got their degrees while still about 140 students are in the running phase of their research.

Institute of Medicine (IoM)

Contact Details:

Phone Number: +977-01-4523244

Email Address: iomdean@iom.edu.np

 Location: Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, Nepal

These were all the major activities that happened during the establishment and expansion phase of IoE. Now, let’s look into the current situation,

Apart from all of the information provided above, IoM has 14 affiliated health science colleges working to create more medical manpower, among which 7 colleges have been implementing the MBBS program. Also, one of the colleges affiliated with IoM, Maharajgunj Medical Campus, seems to have the highest number of academic programs. Furthermore, another affiliated college, TU Teaching Hospital (TUTH) has more than 700 bed capacity.

Constituent Campuses

Central Department

Affiliated Campuses

Programs Offered

At Bachelor level

At Masters Level

Apart from these, other programs offered are an M.Phil degree, MCh Degree, DM Degree, PhD degree, and Clinical Fellowship.

Institute of Forestry (IoF)

Contact Details

Phone Number: +977-1-4333927, +977-61-430467

Mail Address: info@iof.edu.np, dean@iof.tu.edu.np

Location: Pokhara

Initially started as Nepal Forestry Institute in 1947 under the Government, IoF has been associated with educating and providing training in the field of Forestry and Natural Resource Management. It came under Tribhuvan University in 1972 and officially started at Pokhara with the support of the World Bank, the International Development Agency (IDA), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), financially and technically. 

Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS)

Contact Details: 014330600

Mail Address: info@iaas.tu.edu.np

Location: Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal

IAAS is the first agricultural institute for education in the country that has been creating updated curricula in education, animal science, and veterinary science. As the name suggests, the mission of this institute is to ensure that that are enough materials required to establish a trained manpower for agriculture, when it comes to teaching, research, and extensions. For this, it has been continuously, updating the syllabus as required by the current trend of agriculture and animal science. This institute has four affiliated campuses/ and four constituent campuses.

Presently, IAAS has been providing the following degrees;

Institute of Science and Technology (IoST)

Contact Details:

Phone Number: 014330844

Mail Address: info@iost.tu.edu.np

Location: Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal

IoST is considered the station for innovative research and interdisciplinary as around 50% of the overall TU’s citations come from IoST. This institute has been offering 8 degrees at the bachelor’s level, and 19 degrees at the graduation level, and has also been offering 13 disciplinary PhD degrees for new disciplinary, collaborative, and integrated areas of study full of innovation. To start one’s journey in this institute, one must appear Centralized Entrance Examination. IoST’s core strength is its PhD program and to date, more than 280 PhD degrees have been distributed. In order to celebrate this victory IoST organizes PhD festival every two-year gap. 

The courses that this institute offers are;

Overall Decision-Making Process

• The supreme or the major decision maker is the Senate, as it has the major voice when talking about policies, budgets, rules, and regulations regarding the university. TU senate is created with a total of 52 members. 

Councils Involved

• Within TU, the decision-making is done by 4 councils including;

1. Executive Council

This council is responsible for monitoring over, all the affiliated colleges to ensure that the pre-defined policies are followed. It is further responsible for executing the decisions made by the Senate, and grants-related decisions. This council consists of 7 members. 

2. Academic Council

As the name suggests, this council is responsible for looking after the academic or educational policies only. This means that the council is responsible for curricula management, teaching methodologies management, conducting and finishing exams, and other research initiatives. All these steps are taken to ensure that the education system is running under proper academic standards offered by the university. This council consists of 50 members.

3. Research Coordination Council

When working on something as serious as the education of an entire country, staying updated with trending and efficient tools is really important. To do so, one must know the market condition of their niche and similar is the case of TU. Hence, to stay updated, its Research Coordination Council is responsible for approving guidelines and providing colleges with any kind of support that they require. This council consists of 27 members.

4. Planning Council

This council is responsible for all the short-term as well as long-term plans for the university, ensuring that its strategic goals are aligned and considered. This council consists of 29 members.

Present Condition

Under the 5 institutes and 4 faculties, there are 40 central departments, 62 constituent campuses, and 1062 affiliated colleges across the country, controlled within 3042-5-2 ropanis of land at Kirtipur. Furthermore, having such a long history, the government declared TU as the Central University, on January 8, 2013. With a history of serving the educational system of the nation for 65 years now (1959 to 2024), it has become the central university as well as the eminent one, of the country. 

Currently, the university is focusing on providing education to disadvantaged sections of society and investing in higher education. The information and public relations division of the university has decided to publish ‘TU Today‘ annually, making sure that all the relevant information about TU, that people need to know, is communicated properly. Also, the university has never departed from its vision of creating a country filled with disseminated knowledge, skilled human manpower and capital, and research prioritization that are essential for the overall country’s growth. Initially, it was established as a teaching university, but it has shifted to being a research university. 

Furthermore, although TU has been funded by the Government of Nepal, and the amount is enough to run the university, it is still not enough to meet the increasing needs and trends of the market. Hence, to demonstrate that the university cares for the overall academics of the country and to encourage academic research, it has started receiving funds for faculty research, endowment fund research, national priority research, collaborative research, and student research support.