Planning for higher education

By Prof Soorya Lal Amatya

The National Education Commission in its report submitted in 1993 (2049 BS) had specifically recommended the establishment of four universities by integrating TU constituent campuses and private affiliated campuses in the Eastern, Central, western and Mid-western and Far western development regions of the country. The Higher Level National Education Commission also in its report of 1998 (2055 BS) further specified the regional and multi-university concepts. The
two universities, Mahendra Sanskrit University (MSU) and Kathmandu University (KU), were established prior to the recommendation of the regional concept in the establishment of multi universities in the country.

The two universities of Purbanchal (PBU) and Pokhara (PU) were mainly proposed and set up as regional universities for the eastern and western development regions. Purbanchal University was established in 1995 and Pokhara University in 1997 by Acts of Parliament. Both the university acts clearly specified that the TU constituent campuses as well as private affiliated campuses of the eastern and western development regions will gradually be made part of the new universities. Even the Ninth Plan had adopted this regional policy in the context of development of Purbanchal and Pokhara universities. The budget policy statement of fiscal year 1999/2000, specifically mentioned that the Mahendra-Morang and Post Graduate campuses will be made part of Purbanchal University and Prithvinarayan campus will be made part of Pokhara University. This, of course, became a matter of debate for some time. In fact, such statements should have been incorporated in the annual government programme when it was presented in joint houses of parliament. There was resentment at Tribhuvan University and it was even referred to as a case of government intervention in the autonomy of the university.

In spite of the priority in government policy of developing universities on regional basis, not a single TU constituent campus has so far been made part of Purbanchal University or of Pokhara University. Even though two committees with representation from the National Planning Commission, the Ministry of Education, the University Grants Commission and the concerned universities were constituted to facilitate the process of handing over TU campuses to Purbanchal University and Pokhara University, no concrete progress has so far been achieved. It is generally believed that the NPC has no executing authority in implementing such programmes or compelling university authorities to adopt a programme as specified in its policy planning.

The NPC has authority to frame periodic and annual plans and set priorities in higher education. In several ways, it has been playing the role of advising the Ministry of Education and Sports. But it has no authority to execute the programmes. First, the universities are usually considered as self-administered autonomous institutions. Secondly, the university assemblies, under the broad umbrella of the university acts, enact their own regulations and accordingly the university executive councils make major decisions within the limitations set by the university assemblies. Usually, the Minister of Education and Sports as Pro-Chancellor of the universities, chairs the assembly meetings. Of course, there are representations from government ministries, parliament members and other sectors of society, but the assembly meetings in most cases are ceremonial in nature. No serious discussion takes place at such meetings on the pertinent problems and issues faced by the university. Because of the time period set in the regulations for introducing and deliberating new proposals, there are obviously constraints in the process of entertaining any new proposals at such assembly meetings.

There is a psychological constraint on integrating TU constituent campuses with Purbanchal University in the eastern development region and with Pokhara University in the western development region. To overcome this constraint, a few suggestions have been proposed here for the consideration of the concerned ministries, universities, the NPC and the university grants commission. First, the meeting of the two committees constituted by the government and consisting of representatives of TU, PBU, PU, the Ministry of Education, the NPC and the UGC in this context was never held .These coordinating committees need to be given a full mandate in initiating dialogues and creating a proper understanding between TU and the regional universities PBU and PU. Secondly, a memorandum of understanding needs to be signed between TU and PBU and TU and PU. Integrating TU campuses with PBU and PU cannot be done through one major decision. There are complications regarding the service of the teachers and completion of studies by students enrolled at a particular university. These complications can be sorted out in a phased manner and the coordinating committees have to play an effective role. Third, parliament through amendments in the respective acts of the university can abruptly create a situation integrating TU campuses with PBU and PU as was done in 1972 with the implementation of the National Education System Plan (NESP). All private and government colleges were declared as constituent campuses of TU. This is desirable but difficult in the present democratic system.

The Ninth Plan had also emphasised the establishment of a national open university in the country. The bill on a national open university was drafted and it is believed that the draft is in the process of finalization in the Ministry of Education and Sports. Except Bhutan and the Maldives, all the SAARC countries have open universities. We need to re-emphasise the establishment of a national open university in the forthcoming Tenth Plan.

The UGC at the request of the Ministry of Education and Sports had drafted a bill for a deemed university and already presented it at the House of Representatives. This will be an umbrella act under which any well established educational institution can be granted the status of a deemed university by the government on the advice of UGC. We already have one deemed status university in the country. The BP Koirala Institute of Medical Sciences in Dharan which is currently under the Ministry of Health is a typical example of a deemed university. Of course, there has been some delay in the enactment of law on the Deemed University. Quite a number of such universities have been proposed and it seems the Ministry of Education and Sports has been under pressure for initiation of legislation for the proposed universities. In a resource poor country like Nepal we have to think seriously prior to the opening of a new university. The Institute of Agriculture and Livestock Science in Rampur, Chitwan could immediately be declared a Deemed University of Agriculture and Livestock Science as soon as parliament endorses the Deemed University Act. The other proposed universities could also be initiated under this act if the educational institutions meet the criteria set by UGC.

University grants commissions are playing a very effective role in India and other South Asian countries. The UGC in Nepal also needs to be further strengthened by creating an Assessment and Accreditation Council (ASC) under itself for assessment of the academic programmes of the universities and higher education institutions. In this context the NPC should consider carefully the role of UGC/Nepal and make it an effective agency not only in coordinating between concerned ministries of the government and the universities but also in assessing the quality of academic programmes at the universities.

It’s for your own nation

By Dilip Dhakal

Well, you have got a car. That’s good. Mr Stupid says that only people with Cars and bungalows should live in Kathmandu. Rag pickers and juice sellers should not dream of living here, he says. They do not pay tax and make the city ugly. After all poverty alleviation is part of the main agenda for our planned development. Okay, what brand is your car? It’s a Toyota. Toyota or Maruti doesn’t make any difference. Toyota is a car and Maruti is a car. A car is a car. Why are you grimacing? I think you were not a good student at school. And you must have failed in algebra. Okay I teach you algebra. When A is equal to B and B is equal to C then A becomes equal to C. That’s an axiom.

So, it doesn’t matter whatever brand your car is. Again I repeat, a car is a car. But we now need your car for the SAARC summit. Don’t worry we will not take it for free; we will pay you a reasonable price. Have you got the receipt of purchase? Bull. We don’t believe in this receipt. This is a fake. I think you have bought yourself a smuggled car. What’s that? Receipt from the customs? Who believes that? You might have bribed the customs officials. You know, there is a big corruption scandal at the customs under investigation. When thousands of citizenship certificates issued earlier by the government can turn out to be fake then how can we trust your customs receipt? Don’t try to be over smart, or I’ll prove that your car is illegal. Come on man, listen to me and learn to compromise. It’s just secret between us. If you give me fifty percent of what you get then I will paper things over. What do you think of me? If I prove that you are riding a smuggled car then you will only have a hefty fine to pay and they will put you in jail. Hmm… that’s it. You seem to be a smart guy. You shouldn’t have wasted my precious time in this tittle-tattle.

Now put your car over that scale. Oh, it’s 800 kilos. Quite heavy, no? Hey Sam, how much does scrap iron sell a kilo? Twenty rupees? The price has really soared. Man, you are lucky to get such a good price. Now let’s calculate how much you will get. 800 multiplied by 20. It’s 16,000 rupees, for your car. Where is my share? Okay thanks.

That’s the way. You, unhappy man, you are glowering again. Look, the guy over there got only 15,000 rupees for his Mercedes. And that one with the BMW got his car confiscated and he will be sent to jail because he did not listen to me. You are lucky. After all you are doing this for your own nation. Hmm… smile, smile. Smile… okay. Good boy!

Scotch taped

By Jug Suraiya

Doctor Guha, a general practitioner with a reassuring bedside manner, harboured a secret sorrow. One of his wealthier patients had given him a bottle of Black Label scotch whisky as a Diwali present. Now this was in Calcutta 20 years ago when scotch, particularly premium scotch, was a fluid far rarer and more precious than the stuff they kept in the city’s blood banks. So the good doctor wrapped up the treasured bottle in stout cloth and put it in his Godrej almirah for safekeeping. He said he would save it for a special occasion.

The weeks, months and years went by. So did special occasions. On each red-letter day — a wedding anniversary, a birthday, a festive get-together for family and friends — the doctor would take out the prized bottle and contemplate it with a sombre eye. Undoubtedly, this was a special occasion. But was it special enough to justify cracking open an irreplaceable bottle of Black Label? With a sad shake of his head the doctor would return the bottle to the protective custody of the Godrej, where all the other family heirlooms were kept. Like a lot of people who belonged to the socially drinking classes of post-independent India, the honest doctor had, together with Robert Browning, discovered that profound, philosophical truth: A man’s scotch must exceed his grasp, or what’s a Heaven for?

I imagined the good doctor going through life in search of an occasion exalted enough to merit anointment with Black Label and, on shuffling off the mortal coil with his quest unfulfilled, passing on the onerous mantle to his son, and his son to his son, and so on down the echoing corridors of time, the family’s karmic destiny forever bound to a bottle of usquebaugh, divine water of a mystical Life beyond the merely living. Greek drama hadn’t a patch on it.

Then one day, no warning, they go and make scotch freely available in the country. And bang out of the window goes myth and magic, romance and mystery. Nectar in a sieve instantly translated into time-deferred cirrhosis in a bottle.

Norman Mailer said that the American tragedy was that they went and put man on the moon only to realise they didn’t know what he was doing there. The tragedy of the Indian imbiber is that they’ve gone and put Seagrams in his glass and he hasn’t a clue what to do with it. Drink it? Don’t be silly. Scotch isn’t a drink, it’s a self-perpetuating mythology, an epic of Homeric proportions. If scotch flows as readily as municipal water, what happens to the epic?

Twenty years ago, as a would-be young-man-about-town I understood full well that scotch was an epic struggle carried out by other means. In its inscrutable amber heart lay the crux of the existential dilemma: Was it genuine stuff, or spurious bathtub swill? When a chance bottle happened to fall into our hands, its pedigree even murkier than our knowledge of such matters, we would sit in a solemn ring and stare at it. "Shake the bottle and look at the bubbles," someone would suggest. "It’s supposed to be a ruddy whisky, not a ruddy shampoo," another would protest. But nonetheless the bottle would be shaken and the bubbles looked at: if they dispersed quickly, it was spurious; if not, it was genuine. Or so local lore had it. The bubbles would wink back with enigmatic conspiracy. Finally, someone would wrench of the cap, pour a tot and glug it down while we watched with bated breath.

Scotch was a dangerous liaison: an elusive, fickle temptress, whose allure was enhanced by her shadowy antecedents. And now suddenly this clandestine mistress has been installed as legally resident wife, with live-in licence to prove it. As domesticity barges in through the front door, seduction slinks out of the back.

However, there is hope yet, distant though it might yet be. And it comes in the redoubtable form of my good friend Subir Roy, a fellow journalist. A true defender of the IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) faith, Subir will have no truck with FMFL (Foreign Made Foreign Liquor). Solan No. 1 is my birthright, and I shall have it, Subir pronounces, turning down an empty glass to the blandishments of Smugglers, Old or New.

True, Subir’s is still a minority voice in the wilderness. But it is possible that it will grow, and become a niche marketing force to reckon with as more and more of the new cognoscenti turn away from the onslaught of swadeshi scotch to seek a more exclusive brand image for themselves. Will would-be young-men-about-town of the future sit around a bottle and wonder if it contains genuine Aristocrat Premium, or if it has been adulterated by the produce of those notorious interlopers, Johnnie Walker and Sons? Will I relive adolescent memories when a roadside peddler sidles up to me and whispers: Pssst! Want some dirty McDowells? Will the spirit of romance enter my life again, thanks to bootlegged IMFL?