KATHMANDU: The Nepal Progressive Professors’ Association has objected to the government’s appointment of former bureaucrat Dr. Kishore Thapa to the Tribhuvan University (TU) Service Commission, calling it political interference in higher education.
The controversy follows the appointment made by the government led by Prime Minister Balendra Shah (Balen). Dr. Thapa, a former government secretary and infrastructure expert, was also associated with the Bibeksheel Sajha Party after his retirement from the civil service.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the association argued that the appointment undermines the dignity of the academic community by allowing a non-academic figure with a political background to evaluate university professors who have dedicated their careers to research and academic scholarship.
The association described the appointment as unacceptable and accused the government of deviating from proposed higher education reforms aimed at ensuring greater university autonomy.
It also criticized the government for preparing a draft that retains the prime minister as chancellor of public universities, despite earlier proposals under the interim government formed following the Gen Z movement to replace the existing model with an independent academic governing council and remove political leadership from university governance.
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