Introduction
Nepal adopted the multi-university concept in 1983. The idea of Pokhara University (PU) was conceived in 1986; however, it was established only in 1997 under the Pokhara University Act, 1997. The Incumbent Honorable Prime Minister and the Honorable Minister for Education of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal are the Chancellor and the Pro-Chancellor, respectively. The Chancellor appoints the Vice Chancellor, the principal executive officer of the university. The Registrar is designated to assist them in financial management and general administration. A non-profit autonomous institution, PU is partly funded by the Government of Nepal and partly by revenues from its students and affiliated colleges.
Objectives
- Produce adept human resources in science and technology, humanities and management, and law and education for nation-building.
- Encourage the participation of private sector in higher education through extension programs.
- Create a healthy, disciplined, and result-oriented academic environment that focuses on higher education.
- Promote competitive and quality higher education through fair competition.
- Accelerate socio-economic transformation in line with community services.
Vision
To be a leader in the promotion of education through quality higher education, health, and community service.
Mission
- Develop the institution into a Center of Excellence for Higher Education by enhancing teaching, learning, and research activities; to accelerate the national development process by producing job market-driven, responsible, productive, welfare-focused and committed human resources.
- Link the university system with community services.
- Unfold the potential and creativity of learners, advocating humanism, reason, innovation, and the search for truth.
Quality Education
Quality education should not necessarily be limited to rhetoric. It has to be realized in action, so that the university students imbibe critical thinking skills, develop a positive attitude to work, and enhance competitiveness. Pokhara University, the youngest university system operating full-fledged programs in the country, aims at producing human resources capable of working for the nation as well as the global community.
Long-Term Goals
- Promote a high-ranked university in South Asia.
- Produce high-level human resources equipped with skills, values, competencies, and excellence.
- Prepare high-level manpower capable of facing challenges and providing directions for future developments.
- Integrate academic research and scholarship that will strengthen the teaching curriculum, and thus, preserve, generate, and disseminate knowledge.
- Build a dynamic university system proficient in withstanding changes and challenges.
- Pursue excellence and quality in all aspects of the University’s activities and services.
Short-Term Goals
- Launch programs rich in scope and content, endowed with problem-solving strategies, especially in the areas where gaps exist between needs and availability from local, national, and international perspectives.
- Develop a rigorous and interactive community of faculty and students where human relationships are valued and respected, equality of opportunity is pursued, and personal and intellectual development is fostered.
- Provide students of the Western Development Region with equitable access to resources to encourage educational partnership both externally and internally to help materialize the University’s mission.
- Contribute to the socio-economic development of the region as well as the nation.
Financing
Pokhara University manages its expenditures mainly from three sources: Nepal Government’s grants, revenue from students and affiliated institutions. PU has been gradually reducing its dependence on government funds in line with Nepal Government’s fiscal policy of cost-effective sharing with the private sector. However, it fully depends on government grants for financing capital expenditures, especially on building infrastructure for academic and administrative purposes. With the local community-endowed land, PU provides spaces for Schools and Research Centers included in the University Plan. PU credits donors and contributors involved in the construction of infrastructure, such as hostels, libraries, stadiums, and auditoriums.