TU investigating Shankar Dev admission fiasco

KATHMANDU, Sept 23: The Tribhuvan University (TU), on Monday, initiated an investigation into the alleged irregularities in the admission process of one of its affiliated institutions Shankar Dev Campus.

According to the office of the Vice Chancellor of the TU, the central administrative body of the university has formed a probe committee to investigate the alleged involvement of the campus administration in admitting students who did not appear on the merit list or the waiting list of the entrance exam for the BBA, BBA-Finance, BBM and BIM programs. 

“A team has been formed to probe into the alleged irregularities in the admission process at Shankar Dev Campus,” TU Vice-Chancellor Keshar Jung Baral told Republica, “The team has already requested clarification from the campus administration and are working on an independent verification of the admission process.” 

 The TU has mandated its affiliated public campus to publish a merit list of 10-15 students based on the exam. In previous years, the Shankar Dev Campus administration used to publish a waiting list in addition to the merit list of students based on an entrance exam. If some of the students who got selected in the merit list opted not to enroll into Shankar Dev, the unfilled seats would then be assigned to the students on the waiting list. This year, however, the campus administration did not publish a waiting list of students. Campus administrators including campus chief Krishna Acharya, deputy director of the BBA program Rishi Panta and BBA coordinator Suman Kamal Parajuli opted not to speak on the matter when contacted by Republica.

Meanwhile, the Shankar Dev chapter of political party-affiliated national student unions have cried foul play in the admission process, alleging the campus administration of admitting undeserving students to the campus. According to student leader Birendra GC at the campus, candidates who scored high in the entrance exam but were denied admission after missing the merit list have come forward claiming that students with lower scores than them have been admitted to the campus. 

“We have asked the campus authority to publish the entire merit list and the scores of the students who have been admitted haphazardly,” GC told Republica, “Once they are published, the campus authority will not be able to deny the irregularity.”

A team of student leaders from All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), the student wing of the CPN (Maoist Center) submitted an application to Vice-Chancellor Baral last week, requesting the central body to investigate the matter.