School Of Success
In less than one and a half decade of establishment, Kathmandu University (KU) – the first private sector university in the country – has achieved wide recognition and credibility. The very bunch of people who were skeptical about KU’s ability when it was established have now been forced to accept the story of success that KU is. In fact, the establishment of KU has transformed Dhulikhel from a sleepy town located 30 km to the east of Kathmandu Valley to a bustling satellite city and home to some of the best educators and professionals in the country. The dedication of Suresh Raj Sharma and his team has finally paid off. From a small campus catered to educating students in Science stream at intermediate level, the KU has now come a long way as it now boasts of sprawling infrastructures and a strong pool of committed faculty members that teach in as varied streams as medicine, engineering, biotechnology, environment and so on
By KESHAB POUDEL & SANJAYA DHAKAL in Dhulikhel
As he sits with folded hands to narrate the story behind the establishment of KU, vice Chancellor Suresh Raj Sharma’s small but expressive eyes twinkle with pride and nostalgia.
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| Students at KU : In search of quality |
His pride is well-founded. One and a half decade after his dream materialized, the KU has earned its name as a flagship university committed to delivering quality education.
A person known all throughout his life as a dedicated educator, Sharma’s contribution has been instrumental in the development of higher education sector in the country. So close is KU to his heart that Sharma has built his residence also in Dhulikhel – near the university.
But that dream was not an easy thing to materialize. Tremendous amount of hard work, dedication and perseverance had gone into realizing it.
The KU started its venture through Intermediate in Science and Master in Business Administration (MBA). That was followed by School of Engineering , which teaches students in streams like mechanical, electrical and electronics.
As it was newly established, the KU suffered from severe lack of equipment. “However, generous donors always came forward. Norway and UMN came out to help us with money and manpower,” Sharma said.
Subsequently, the KU started teaching pharmacy, environment sciences and medicine. It has also started teaching biotechnology since last two years.
Over the years, the KU has transformed into the leading private sector university and is widely recognized for its quality output.
Quest For Quality
Even as Nepal currently struggles to provide even basic and primary education to its poor population, there is already a section of people – particularly in urban areas – that desires to and is capable of providing quality higher education to their children.
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| KU building : Impressive infrastructure |
It is to this section of people that the KU currently caters to. And in the attempt to cater to their needs, a pool of quality educational institutions have come up. “In the last 15-20 years, our standards of school and college education have taken a leap. The quality of our students is comparable with the students of China , India , Bangladesh and so on,” Sharma said.
“On average, the quality of our public schools is poor. But when we take common entrance tests for students (for medicine/engineering) we find the quality of Nepalese students comparable and even better than those from other countries in the region. In fact, apart from CBSE, the standard of our students is better than most of the state boards of India ,” he added.
As such, institutions like KU are able to meet the expectations of parents and students who seek quality. Its one and a half decade experience has pointed that Nepal , too, can do its bit when it comes to delivering quality higher education.
However, this quality comes at a cost. Since they are private institutions, students need to pay on their own. And it is not affordable to many.
Sharma has a solution for that problem, too. “Why can’t we adopt the practices in the countries like the United States where banks/financial institutions come forward to fund any student who get admission to prestigious colleges? Such loan will be paid back by the student within a few years after passing out from college.”
Transformation Of Dhulikhel
The sleepy and dusty town of Dhulikhel has witnessed tremendous transformation in the last one and a half decade.
With the establishment of premier educational institution, Dhulikhel has undergone a series of makeover. The town is no more a dusty picnic spot for weekend travelers. It has turned into a bustling town home to a large number of highly educated professionals.
Thousands of students have come to Dhulikhel pumping millions of rupees into the local economy. The lands that would not have fetched Rs 10,000 now fetch up to Rs 1 million. A number of buildings have sprung up in places where it was unimaginable to invest money in real estate before.
And all the houses near the university are taken up by students who have rented them. The coming of students and staffs have had a multiplier effects on the local economy as they consume a lot of local products and so on.
Before 1994, there was not a single doctor or a nurse based in Dhulikhel. “And now there are 57 doctors and 100 nurses working at Dhulikhel hospital alone,” said Sharma. Dhulikhel Hospital or Dhulikhel Medical Institute run by Dr. Ram Kantha Shrestha is a medical teaching hospital of the KU.
Every year, the KU spends Rs 150-200 million in its budget and the Dhulikhel hospital spends Rs 100-150 million. “This spending has had a profoundly positive effect on local economy and employment,” said Sharma who believes that Dhulikhel given its gradual promotion as a prime tourist destination, could become the most prosperous township in the country within a decade.
Genesis Of KU
It was during the early 1990s when the country had just witnessed the restoration of democracy. There were positive emotions everywhere. In every sector, there was a palpable sense of prosperous future. That was when a team led by Suresh Raj Sharma was dreaming for the educational future of the country.
The delegation led by Sharma met with the Interim Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai. They informed the prime minister how a large number of students were going abroad to seek quality education. “We told Bhattarai that it was not that we could not provide such education within Nepal . We wanted him to allow us to run college autonomous from the Tribhuwan University (TU),” Sharma remembers.
Bhattarai, although sounded positive, asked them about alternatives to autonomy. “We gave him two alternatives – either recognize us as Deemed to be University or as full-fledged University.”
Bhattarai then said that if the government can be convinced about the dedication and quality, it could even recognize them for a University. But he urged Sharma to open such university outside Kathmandu . “But we could not agree to that suggestion because it would be difficult or us to get qualified faculty and students outside valley. Because the demand for engineering and applied sciences were high inside the valley.”
Later on, Sharma and his team worked on their proposal. They already had long experience of running campus at intermediate level. The Kathmandu Valley Campus, at that time, was one of the leading institutions with great record. And now they looked for resources and infrastructures. Fortunately, the Dhulikhel municipality agreed to provide them with 200 ropani of land (which was later expanded to 360 ropani from government assistance and other funding). Along with that, Sharma also bagged assurances from different quarters of funding to the tune of Rs 20 million. In 1991, the parliament passed the act establishing KU as an autonomous private sector university.
Eyes On The Future
Like every dreamer Sharma has his eyes firmly fixed on future. He believes that just like the present decade belongs to Information Technology, the coming 25-50 years will belong to Biotechnology.
And he does not want to miss the bus when it comes. “We have already started teaching biotechnology since last two years. But now we want to really engage in this subject more seriously. We would like the government and other donors to help us in this regard because the manpower we produce will ultimately work for Nepalese society,” Sharma said.
Apart from biotechnology, the KU also wants to involve in energy (water resources and alternative energy) and environment. “These are the two most vital aspects for our country’s development. Without energy, we cannot move a single thing. And environment is very important to us because it is due to our natural resources and environment that so many tourists come here. We have to take care of our environment.”
Vital Concerns About Umbrella Act
Even though the KU has been proving its worth, there are concerns about the long term sustainability of such institutions given the utter lack of stability and coherent policy of the government.
Of late, there are reports of new Umbrella Act to govern all the universities. Although it sounds reasonable, there are sensitive issues associated with that. The KU could become as good an institution as it is today largely because it was allowed to work autonomously and without disturbance. Now if the KU Act is replaced by some obscure umbrella act, everything could get unraveled.
“The question before Nepalese society today is whether to allow a person/institution to live in dignity or not. We have been working very hard. If anybody thinks we have misused the autonomy, then there should be investigation. Why try to disturb us unnecessarily?” argued Sharma.
He added that the very fact of introducing one single ordinance, which needs to be renewed every six months, to replace nine acts promulgated by elected parliament seems ill-conceived.
As things stand now, every sector of the country is getting disturbed and being pulled into a state of chaos, which is detrimental to the very existence of Nepal as an independent nation. The government and the policy-makers, too, need to give serious thought towards helping – and not disrupting – a pioneering and quality educational institutions like the KU.
“We Want To Become World Class University ”
-- Suresh Raj Sharma
Suresh Raj Sharma , vice chancellor of the Kathmandu University (KU), is a thorough gentleman. A soft-spoken and hard working person, Sharma has earned a name in the history of higher education in Nepal through his decades-long work in this sector. A professor in Chemistry, Sharma has had a long-innings in the education sector wearing different hats at different times. But since the establishment of KU in 1991, Sharma has concentrated towards promoting its quality and credibility not only within but also outside Nepal . He spoke to SPOTLIGHT about his experiences and opinions. Excerpts:
Why did you decide to open KU?
In fact, at the time when we proposed to open a new university, we were concerned by lack of quality technical and medical colleges in the country. A huge number of students were going overseas to study medicine and engineering. There was an urgent need to set up quality colleges inside Nepal to attract our students. And then there was the monopoly of academic calendar by the Tribhuwan University (TU). There was nothing students could do even if exams were delayed or results were postponed.
How difficult was it to manage the resources and infrastructures?
We had to literally start from a scratch. In fact, there was a section of people who had criticized the government’s decision to allow the opening of KU on the grounds that it had no basic infrastructure. But we believed that everybody has to start from zero. Right during the time of its establishment, we got assurances from Dhulikhel municipality for 200 ropanis of land. And we got assurances from the United Mission to Nepal (UMN), Mr. Rana Bahadur Shah and Mr. Mohan Gopal Khetan for funding of Rs 20 million. That was how we started. Later on, we raised resources from students as well as other donors.
Now that your dream of KU has been fulfilled, what is your next objective?
It is equally difficult to maintain and sustain the credibility and recognition. In fact, for a private sector university like ours, the day students, parents and market begins to doubt our quality, we are dead. We have to continuously strive for betterment. In today’s globalized world, it is not enough to become good in one’s country. You have to prove to the international market as well. Our objective is to become a world-class university devoted to bringing knowledge and technology to the services of Nepal .
How plausible is that objective?
You have to set lofty goals. Only then you will try and reach them. Last year, a conference of universities of the world had put out a list of 500 best universities in the world. The list has only a handful of institutions from South Asian region, particularly India . We want to be included in such list in future. Of course, we need to transform a lot to achieve that goal. Currently, we are merely a teaching university. Nobody takes you seriously these days unless you have a strong research base. Therefore, we would like to transform into research-cum-teaching university. We will require huge resources for that.
How many students are currently studying at KU and its affiliate colleges?
The KU has around 2400 students studying at its constituent schools. It has 387 faculties and staffs – 255 of them are teaching faculty. It has six schools offering courses in different streams such as science, management, engineering, medicine, humanities and education. The KU provides 177 scholarship, of them 48 to girl students. KU affiliated colleges provide 365 scholarships to students through the government.
How are your medicine and engineering schools doing?
The KU has five medical colleges affiliated with it from where around 600 MBBS doctors are produced every year. 250 foreign students are also studying in them. Among them, the medical schools are running hospitals with total capacity of 3000 plus beds. Even in Kohalpur there is a 500-bed hospital. This is a tremendous contribution from private sector. Just compare with the largest government hospital – Bir Hospital- which has only 400 plus beds. We believe that in one year, we are saving money to the tune of Rs 1 billion – in terms of money that would have otherwise been spent abroad by our students. And we are providing education on medicine at a reasonable cost. It costs around Rs 1.6 million for one student to complete MBBS, which is very low compared to other countries. Besides, our products are competitive in international market. Likewise, there are 150 students in our engineering school. We have not given affiliation to any college in this stream. We teach electrical, electronics, computer and mechanical engineering. In the management too, our MBA has been widely acclaimed. It costs around Rs 150,000 for a student to complete MBA in our college. We also regularly study how our students are faring in the market. It has been found that 85-90 percent of our students, who enroll with us, complete their education and within 3 months they get sound employment.
What are your future plans for KU?
We think that biotechnology is going to be the most important subject in coming years. So we want to be engaged in that sector. However, we suffer from lack of resources. Setting up a lab for biotechnology alone costs Rs 50 million. We are looking for funding. That apart, we want to focus on energy and environment, too.
