Last modified: 2011-08-10
Abstract
This ambitious project investigates how through technical assistance and policy conditionality, the international assistance agencies, in particular the World Bank, are shaping policies in the field of higher education in peripheral countries like Nepal. Through the study of the World Bank’s recently introduced Second Higher Education Project (2007) under its ‘structural adjustment policy’, the project examines the forces shaping the national policy decisions of the government and the consequences they give rise to reforming the university.
The World Bank reform agenda in Nepal focuses on giving incentive grants to public higher education institutions to adopt ‘cost-sharing’ approach through decentralization as a means for effective management of campuses. The Bank is currently providing US$ 60 million to the central university as incentives to opt for ‘decentralization’ and wants the campuses to charge ‘market-based fees’ to students to attain financial sustainability. Public education, which was hitherto managed and run by the government centrally, is, therefore, set to undergo a radical change with the latest shift in the policy. The national poverty reduction strategy papers and the Tenth Five Year Plan have explicitly mentioned these concepts and have approved the global policies to correct national ills. Research Questions
This study pursues the following research questions:
1. What are the key ideas built into the World Bank vision for higher education in Nepal?
2. How has this vision been received by stakeholders in Nepal?