After years of debate, Nepal will start a credit transfer system that will make it easier for students and working professionals to switch between education and jobs. Things have gotten much easier now that colleges in Kathmandu have started collaborating with abroad-based institutes to introduce initiatives like study-abroad programs and international guest speaker series. Many provide spacious and conducive educational environment with particular focus on personality enhancement, industrial internship and job placement. If we are to draw a parallel between studying abroad and in Nepal, it is more convenient and economical to study within the country. For all those that are still weighing in different possibilities on where to study, following is a profile of eight well-established colleges in Kathmandu. These institutions provide exciting academic and non-academic opportunities and deserve a quick read, even if you have figured what to do next. A three-member research committee has submitted a report on introducing credit transfer system in Tribhuvan University. The TU senate had endorsed the work procedure relating to the system on September 20, 2015. Once the new system is introduced, Nepali and foreign students studying in foreign universities will be allowed to continue their studies in TU. However, only international students who have completed 50 or less credit hours in foreign universities can apply for credit transfer in TU. Likewise, 50 per cent of the subjects of the transferred course should match with the course in TU. Students seeking credit transfer will not be allowed to change their core or major subjects. Tirtha Raj Khaniya, vice-chancellor of TU, however, said implementation of the system in the university where political tussles were often reflected in classrooms, was very difficult. “Although we decided to implement credit transfer system, we are not sure if reputed foreign universities are willing to work with us as classes are often disrupted for political reasons,” he said and added that they would introduce the system for a few programmes from the new academic session. “We are facing difficulties even implementing the semester system in colleges. So, running classes on the basis of credit hours can be really challenging,” VC Khaniya said. Hridish Pokhrel, executive director of Office of Planning Directorate at TU, said the office had started research on credit transfer system after a lot of foreign universities and students showed their interest in studying in TU. “Foreign students have shown interest in seeking credit transfer to our colleges especially in technical and health related subjects,” added Pokhrel. More than 80 per cent students in the country either study in 60 constituent campuses of TU or in more than 1,084 private and public campus affiliated to TU. The TU is a largest university in the country and ninth largest in the world. It offers more than 2,000 post graduates programmes under the wide range of disciplines.    

The agitation that started expressing dissatisfaction with the government’s decision to fix the temporary provincial headquarters, continued in Doti’s Dipayal, Dhankuta and Dang today as well. The two districts in Province 7 and Province 1, both of which have long been organising protests and demonstrations for state capitalhood, have refused to recognise the government’s decision to grant the status of temporary provincial capitals to Kailali’s Dhangadhi and Morang’s Biratnagar. Doti and Dhankuta were shut from early Wednesday morning to build pressure on the government, but to no avail. In Dipayal, the district headquarters of Doti, the enraged locals hurled stones at government offices and briefly seized a police van. Demanding Dang to be the capital of province 5, residents of Dang have come together to protest government’s decision of proposing temporary capitals where a high court is located. Residents have called indefinite strike from today. Since early morning today, schools, markets and industries have shut down, while vehicle movement has come to a standstill. The district secretary of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC), the party’s area president and municipal committee president announced that they were quitting from their positions in the party, accusing the NC President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba of letting down the people of Doti. In Dhankuta, the locals burnt the effigies of Prime Minister Deuba and demanded the government to withdraw its decision to base the headquarters of Province 1 in Biratnagar. Earlier in the day, protesters had vandalised a motorcycle for defying the banda at Atmara. Meanwhile, the people of Dang has called for an indefinite strike from Wednesday to protest the government’s decision to make Butwal of Rupandehi district the temporary headquarters of Province 5. They also staged demonstrations at Ghorahi, the district headquarters of Dang, to protest the decision. The demonstrators also bunt tyres at different places along the East-West Highway to obstruct traffic. At Deukhuri of Lamhai, protesters have shut down market and halted Mahendra highway-thereby affecting passengers commuting the highway. Likewise, Ghorahi, the district headquarter has also been affected. Protest at Tulsipur, one of the major economic centers of the district, has affected vehicle movement from two adjoining districts, Rukum and Salyan. Protesters have been claiming that Dang would be the only feasible option as a provincial capital, and they would continue with the protests as long as their claims materialized. The clash had erupted after agitators pelted stones at the security personnel from the corner meet organised in front of DAO Doti. Police had charged batons and opened dozens of tear gas shells. Agitators claimed that two dozen demonstrators including CPN-UML Doti chair Chakra Malla were injured in the incident. They accused the police personnel of firing tear gas shells in the peaceful demonstration. They alleged that police personnel had charged batons indiscriminately to all and sundry. Agitators clashed with security personnel in Doti’s Silgadhi. Over three dozens of agitators including police personnel were injured when the protesters clashed with police personnel. Doti locals are agitating against the government decision to fix Kailali’s Dhangadhi as the provincial capital of Province 7. Doti police Chief SP Madhusudan Luitel, however, refuted the allegation and said that police had to charge batons and fire tear gas shells for their self defence after the agitators pelted stones at them. SP Luitel said situation was brought under control after long and hard efforts. Doti remained shut for the third consecutive day today demanding that Dipayal be made the provincial capital. Market places and educational institutions pulled down their shutters. Buses stayed off the road while government offices, industries and factories remained closed. Agitation Coordination Committee Coordinator Narendra Khadka said their agitation would not come to an end unless the government corrects its decision. Similarly, after the government fixed Biratnagar as temporary capital of Province 1, agitation has become stern in Dhankuta. The agitation with demand to make Dhankuta the provincial capital for the past 34 days has hit normal life very hard. A meeting held between the local administration and Provincial Capital Struggle Committee today ended inconclusively. After the talk, Struggle Committee Coordinator Sundarbabu Shrestha said general strike would continue in Dhankuta. He informed that they would announce other programmes of agitation. District Administration Office Dhankuta lifted prohibitory order from 5:00pm today. The DAO had imposed the order from Thursday saying that the agitation had turned violent. Due to the prohibitory order, commuter and heavy trucks plying along the Koshi highway had been stuck midway. With the lifting of the order, vehicular movement has resumed on the highway. Protests continued in Dang also. The strike called with demand to make Dang provincial headquarters has hit the normal life very hard. The government offices remained closed. Some offices were shut down forcefully by the agitators while some were closed by employees. Buses stayed off the road while schools, business organizations, factories and market places pulled down their shutters. The government has fixed Rupandehi as provincial headquarters of Province 6. Struggle Committee Dang Secretary and CPN-Maoist Centre Dang District joint in-charge Nirmal Acharya said their agitation would continue unless Dang was fixed as provincial capital of the Province 6. Local political parties have supported the protest.