Abstract
Nepal is a developing country with a literacy rate of 64.7% in 2015, which is a significant rise from 20.6% in 1981. About 10 % of the population have excess to university education in Nepal. Among the total population receiving a university education, those getting engineering education is below 2%. Nepal has the second largest hydropower potential worldwide with less than 2% developed so far. The industrial development in Nepal is very slow due to lack of technical manpower and effective electricity supply. Hence there is a strong correlation in the development of technical education institutes, hydropower development, and development index of Nepal. Kathmandu University (KU) was established in 1991 with the vision 'to bringing knowledge and technology to the service of mankind'. It has developed its engineering curricula and teaching methods to address the need and demand of the society, with the international standards. Together with Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and other collaborating partners, KU has been conducting research and development activities for developing products and services to meet the specific requirement of hydropower development in the region. In particular, it has been successful to develop and transfer the hydro turbine technology for the sediment-laden projects for industrial applications. This paper introduces Kathmandu University as the pioneer of engineering and technical education in Nepal. The pedagogical approaches practiced by KU and its impact on the development of research-based engineering education in Nepal is highlighted. Opportunities and challenges of hydropower development in the Himalayan region and roles played by KU-NTNU consortium to develop knowledge and human resources to complement it are discussed. The achievements made by the Turbine Testing Laboratory at KU on design optimization of hydraulic turbines for sediment-laden projects are presented in details. The experiences and future direction of cooperation for commercial application of the knowledge developed are also discussed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Advancements in Engineering Education (iCAEED-2019), 24-28 November 2019, Sydney, Australia |
| Publisher | Science, Technology and Management Crest |
| Pages | 13-19 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780648268178 |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |
| Event | International Conference on Advancements in Engineering Education - Duration: 24 Nov 2019 → … |
Conference
| Conference | International Conference on Advancements in Engineering Education |
|---|---|
| Period | 24/11/19 → … |
Keywords
- education, higher
- engineering
- hydropower development
- Nepal
