Kathmandu, Oct. 27
The University
Grants Commission (UGC), Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST),
and the World Bank have jointly launched Nurturing Excellence in Higher
Education Programme (NEHEP).
The five-year programme
aims to improve the quality and labour market relevance of Nepal’s higher
education, scale up collaborative research and online learning, and expand
access to academic institutions for underprivileged and vulnerable students
from disadvantages areas, they said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Investing in human
capital from early childhood to higher education is key to helping young people
in Nepal realize their development potential,” said Ram Prasad Thapaliya,
Secretary of Education.
“This programme will help
strengthen the higher education sector in collaboration with industries and
ensure students across Nepal including those from disadvantaged groups have
access to quality higher education,” he added.
The programmeme builds on the success of earlier
higher education projects in Nepal to align its higher education sector with
labour market needs, boost collaborative research and entrepreneurship, improve
governance, and enhance access to quality higher education in general and
especially for disadvantaged students.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created strong incentives
to expand online platforms and blended learning, which the programme will help
scale up across all universities in Nepal, the statement read.
“Building
on the successful partnership with the World Bank in earlier projects that
improved research and innovation, quality assurance and accreditation, and
COVID response, the programme will further foster regional collaboration of
higher education institutions across South Asia and beyond.” stated Prof.
Bhim Prasad Subedi, Chairperson of the UGC.
According to him, it will help exploit the
benefits of the knowledge economy and information era to increase
participation, quality, and relevance of higher education programmemes.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 October 2021.
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