Here, I will share my experiences in pursuing higher education. I hope i can put some information that will be useful for students seeking university education in and out of the country.
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Studying In Nepal- Scenario:
Further education after the 12th standard (or Intermediate level equivalent) is another time to make a decision about joining an undergraduate program. There are still few 3 year bachelor's degree programs in Nepal, including the Humanities, Management and even Science. Only some of the management courses (like BBA) are 4 year courses. After completing the 12th standard, it is time to seek admission into these various programs, at the same time trying to grab oppertunities of winning scholarships that are available through competitive exams.
Nepalese students either seek further education in the country or outside the country for their undergraduate studies. There are various options in chosing a country for study abroad, but United States of America is the 'defacto standard', apart from Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan etc.
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Bachelor's Level:
Students are required to chose from different bachelors degree programs offered by different universities in Nepal. Of these universities, Tribhuwan University continues to be the first choice of majority of students for reasons such as cost, and quality at the same time. The different issues of political unstability and their impact in the university education are better not mentioned here.TU, Institute of Engineering for the students seeking career in Engineering or architecture and TU, Institute of Medicine for the students seeking career in medicine are still the prime choices. Apart from that, Engineering degrees are also available under other universities. For students interested in pure sciece, or Management or Humanities, Bachelors degree programs are available under different colleges of various universities.
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Master's Level:
Master's degree programs are available under various universities. Programs are available in different fields including engineering, medicine, basic science, management, humanities etc. Specific programs require a 4 year bachelor's degree and the admission requirement varies according to the degree intended.
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Scholarships/ Financial Aid oppertunities:
Minitry of Education Scholarship to Engineering and Medicine: Minitry of Education conducts competitive exams in order to provide scholarship oppertunities to the students to study in and out of the country. Unfortunately most of these 'seats' from other countries have reduced and most of the embassies conduct their own selection these days.
Scholarships/Financial Aid for the undergraduate programs come from various government or private sources, various organizations or the Embassies of different countries. Of these, Monbukagakusho is one scholarship provided by the Embassy of Japan that is applicable even to other fields than just science (meaning, Humanities and Social Sciences).
Indian Embassy also provides few scholarships to the students studying in Nepal (those who have already been admitted to some undergraduate level program (and if i remember correctly, such scholarship is also available to the high school students!). Above that, there is also an ICCR (Indian council for cultural relations) funded scholarship for some Nepalese students to study in India (applicable to both Medical as well as Engineering students). The Indian Embassy conducts a competitive entrance exam for the same.
The USEF (United States Education Foundation) Nepal, Fulbright Comission also announces different scholarships such as Hurbert-Humphery Scholarship, East-West Center scholarship and Fulbright Scholarship. These are highly competitive and selective oppertunities. Information on these can be obtained from USEF Nepal's website.
Other scholarship oppertunities from other various organizations are also available from time to time.