Major changes in the higher education landscape in Nepal has seen the number of Nepali students going to colleges in Nepal and abroad increasing. UK has had its share in this mobility as well.
This demand growth, it has been argued “is fuelled…by a ‘demographic bulge’ in the age structure” and “by expanded access to schooling.” Burgeoning of multiple universities has addressed this demand. Several new universities, around nine and more in the pipeline, have been established in Nepal. Along with this, the higher education sector was liberalised and the private sector entered the market with all kinds of colleges gaining affiliation to one or more universities.

“So while public-funded universities continue to run undergraduate programmes at their own constituent colleges, the number of such colleges has been dwarfed by the number of new privately initiated colleges.”

While many are in major cities like Kathmandu, Pokhara and Biratnager others are located in non-urban pockets of the country. These colleges have various types of entrepreneurs, some long-time educationists, others businessmen with clear profit-making motivations. While there have been a number of reform initiatives in higher education in Nepal in the last couple of decades, they have ignored private colleges.

Writers and researchers Pratyoush Onta, Lokranjan Parajuli, Devendra Uprety and Pramod Bhatta discuss the current higher education landscape and private colleges of Nepal.