International Education Representative's Initiative of Nepal (IERIN) in association with Educational Consultancy Association of Nepal (ECAN), FECON, NAAER and JALSAN organized a press meet regarding Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in educational consultancy sector on Sunday at Indreni Food Land, New Baneshwar.

In the press meet, Bishnu Hari Pandey, president of Educational Consultancies Association of Nepal (ECAN), Kumar Karki, president of International Education Representatives Initiative of Nepal (IERIN), Bigyan Shrestha, secretary general of Nepalese Association of Australia Education Representatives (NAAER), among others talked about the risk of FDI investment in Nepal, states the press release by ECAN.

The press statement added that the recent events have shown that the government has their focus set on the economic development and the prosperity of the country. To do so, the government has adopted a flexible approach towards foreign investment in Nepal. 

“To execute an immediate stop to the immoral practices by foreign investors, it is necessary that the government declare some sectors sensitive, banning foreign investments, " the press statement quoted Pandey “The education and health sector are directly linked with the livelihood of the people of Nepal, so the government needs to show further determination in enhancing these sectors. Moreover, with direct financial interferences of foreign investors in educational consultancies, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that we are on the brim of further corrupting our nation.” 

He stated that the educational consultancy in Nepali is in infancy, with just three decades of history. Therefore, it’s evident that the advent of foreign investment would create additional problems. He also remarked that it was necessary to consider that foreign investment in educational consultancies was not a necessity and that Nepali citizen themselves were capable of investing and producing academic experts.   

Among 2,256 Consultancy Companies, only 1,473 have obtained global approval, which strongly suggests that the Nepali government should regulate consultancies of Nepal.  

Recently, Australian Consultancy Company, IDP, also organized a press conference to announce the opening of a consultancy in Nepal.  ECAN’s press statement pointed out that though the organization had not yet received the authority from the Education Ministry, they were confident that the permission would soon be granted.