Nepal University Academic Calendar: What’s New in the Revised Schedule?
Image Source, RSS
The University Grants Commission (UGC), the authority managing resources for all universities across Nepal, issued a circular on Thursday instructing the implementation of a new national academic calendar.
The circular follows the government’s pledge in its 100-day agenda to synchronize the release of undergraduate and postgraduate examination results with the calendar provided by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The UGC sent the directive a day after the calendar was officially announced.
Although a calendar existed previously, lack of compliance prompted the commission to enforce the new schedule with strict adherence, according to an official from the commission.
Timeline for Admissions and Results Announced
According to UGC Deputy Director Ramesh Prasad Adhikari, the new academic calendar specifies the schedule from student admissions through to result publications for both undergraduate and postgraduate levels starting this year.
Student enrollment for both semester and annual examination systems is required to begin from Ashad (mid-June to mid-July) onwards as per the calendar.
Other academic activities are scheduled as follows:
- Entrance Exam: Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August)
- Classes: Must commence by Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September); for semester system, the second semester must start by Falgun (mid-February to mid-March)
- Instruction period: Bhadra to Baisakh (mid-August to mid-April)
- Continuous Internal Evaluation: Ongoing
- Final Exams: Jestha (mid-May to mid-June)
- Result Publication: Within 60 days
“This batch should receive their final exam results by the upcoming Shrawan,” stated Ramesh Prasad Adhikari.
The circular has been issued to 15 national and 6 regional universities throughout the country, he added.
What Challenges Lie Ahead for Implementation?
It is well-known, especially at Tribhuvan University (TU), that students previously had to wait up to 18 months to receive exam results.
“When I was studying law (BL), I waited 18 months for my results. While there has been some improvement in recent years, and the UGC introduced a calendar three years ago, the ministry has now brought in this revised calendar which must be accepted by all,” said Adhikari.
As the country’s largest and oldest university, Tribhuvan University faces the greatest challenges in maintaining the academic calendar.
Khadka KC, a professor who resigned from the position of registrar, recounted that with nearly 500,000 students, efforts to implement the calendar at TU began with notable progress, including result releases within three months.
“We faced resistance from students when attempting to implement the calendar and even had to call the police on one occasion,” he shared.
Image Source, TU
Professor KC emphasized that TU’s academic schedule should not be compared to other universities because of its sheer size and complexity.
“While some campuses at TU alone have more students than the total enrollment of other universities,” he added.
Compared to TU, the second and third largest universities have roughly just 10% of TU’s student population.
For example, Pokhara University enrolls around 35,000 students. About three-quarters of all higher education students study at Tribhuvan University.
Ramesh Kumar Joshi, president of the Nepal Professors’ Association, expressed doubts about the immediate feasibility of enforcing the calendar as proposed by the government, highlighting a realistic perspective on university academics.
“This is not something that will happen overnight. However, there have been improvements in result publication. Receiving results within three months is commendable,” said Professor Joshi.
“Implementing changes without stakeholder consultation may affect educational quality and harm universities’ international relations and reputation. Recently, when school-level exam results were released in haste, some students protested, which we must understand,” he added.
Joshi warned that implementing the calendar without adequate infrastructure and human resources would be challenging.
Is There a Possibility of Disciplinary Action?
Image Source, Nepal Photo Library
The UGC, tasked with enforcing and monitoring the new academic calendar, currently remains without key officers.
All universities themselves are without permanent leadership as well, with the government in the process of conducting open competitions to select officers.
Given this context, how the academic calendar will be effectively implemented remains to be seen.
“The responsibility of enforcing the calendar lies with the commission. The University Service Commission, which manages human resource administration, also plays a vital role. Non-compliance could lead to sanctions, including withholding of funds,” explained Deputy Director Adhikari.
He added that the annual budget for higher education currently stands at approximately 1.8 billion Nepalese rupees, with more than 1.1 billion provided as grants to Tribhuvan University alone.
Three years ago, the commission introduced new regulations aiming to unify the academic calendars across all universities. The national integrated academic calendar has now been revised.
The commission clarified that the calendar seeks to align undergraduate, postgraduate, and higher-level academic institutions under a single framework.