Province-level universities seek UGC's support

BIRATNAGAR, Feb. 28: The universities and educational academies established at the province level have started working in cooperation for research, development and quality enhancement.

Such institutions established at the province level have held their first joint gathering and have asked to include in the University Grants Commission (UGC).

The first joint gathering of the universities and academies from the province level was held on Sunday in Hetauda of Bagmati Province to make a single voice for their better performance by bringing them on board the UGC's policy.

Dr. Subashshree Pokharel, the Vice-Chancellor of Manmohan Technical University established at Budhiganga of Morang in Province no. 1, said that the universities and educational academies in the provinces are not included in the UGC's policy so far, which has created several challenges to those institutions.

The first joint gathering has also issued a 4-point declaration. According to Dr. Pokharel, the federal and provincial governments should allocate budgets to run academic programs, carry out research and build infrastructures for technical and vocational education in those universities and educational academies.

In the gathering, the Vice-Chancellor of Gandaki University Prof Dr. Nabaraj Devkota, Vice-Chancellor of Madan Bhandari Health Science Academy Prof Dr. Bishwaraj Joshi, and Registrar of Madhes Health Science Institute Dr. Binod Kumar Yadav, among others were present.

As decided, the institutions would carry out an interaction program with the representatives of the UGC and federal government, and a joint network would be formed at the province level.