Structural Dominance of Tribhuvan University in the Higher Education Landscape of Nepal

Abstract

Higher education system in Nepal has 24 universities and 1,432 campuses with an enrolment of 633,053 students (2023/24) but the structural concentration is still very high. This study uses the recent secondary data from the University Grants Commission's EMIS 2023/24 report, focusing on the dominance of Tribhuvan University (TU) in terms of enrollment, graduation, and institutional capacity. The results show that TU had a total enrolment of 491,299 students and produced 74,149 graduates, accounting for 76% of the nation's total higher education enrolment and 74% of the nation's higher education graduates. When the numbers are broken down by province, Bagmati Province has 624 campuses (43.58%) further emphasizing the importance of TU's geographic location. The largest number of students is enrolled in the Management faculties (282,836) followed by the Education faculties (139,417) where TU has the highest number in both. Although there has been improvement in gender equity (GPI = 1.3), there is ecological imbalance with 55.47% of students in the Hill regions and 2.56% in Mountain. The funds allocated to universities have also increased from NPR 9.3 billion (2017/18) to NPR 17.46 billion (2023/24), however, allocation of resources is still conducted on TU-centric basis. This concentration also gives rise to systemic risk, such as low curricular innovation, quality assurance issues, and lack of access for non-Hill/non-Bagmati population. Although TU has a historical basis of legitimacy and infrastructure, the study suggests the following conditions for more sustainable higher education reform: diversified institutional capability, provincial decentralisation and equitable allocation of resources. The policy suggestions are about formula-based funding, strengthening of universities in the region, and balance mechanisms at the faculty level.