IIT Kanpur didn’t just sharpen my engineering skills — it ignited a fire in me to transform Nepal’s educational landscape. When I returned home, I faced a technical education system in its infancy. Tribhuvan University’s engineering faculty, established in 1972, only offered a three-year overseer program when I joined as faculty in 1979.
The late Dean Kul Ratna Tuladhar, the first Dean of Institute of Engineering (IOE) under Tribhuvan University, once confided me that international academic institutions had approached Nepal in the 1960s to build engineering institutes modeled after IITs. Shockingly, the Royal Palace had rejected the offer, fearing that access to such quality education would threaten the regime’s longevity. This revelation (1979) , combined with the legacy of the Rana-era ban on public education for the "general public" for a hundred and four years ( from 1846 A.D. until 1951 A.D ) and this news about the attitude of the Royal palace on quality education really boiled my blood., deeply angered me — and strengthened my resolve.
While British India had established the Thomson College of Civil Engineering in 1847 (now IIT Roorkee), Nepal remained neglected. But we persisted. With tireless advocacy and planning, Nepal’s first civil engineering degree program finally launched in 1992. I took pride in helping initiate other engineering programs, including the first-ever Computer Engineering program in Nepal in 1998 at IOE Pulchowk, where I was the only professor with an IT degree at the time.
A New Horizon: Global Exposure and Higher Learning
Pursuing a higher degree at De Montfort University, UK added a transformative new dimension to my life. My one-year professional experience in the Philips, Netherlands—in the heart of Europe’s innovation hub—empowered me in ways that went far beyond the classroom.
At De Montfort University, I was exposed to advanced pedagogical methods, interdisciplinary collaboration, and research ecosystems in IT field that connected academia with industry and policy. The experience helped me further understand how engineering, innovation, and ethical leadership could be harnessed to tackle real-world challenges like climate change, disaster resilience, and digital inclusion—issues so relevant for Nepal to develop IT industry. The Dutch system emphasized open access to knowledge, practical application of theory and strong university-government-industry linkages. It reaffirmed my conviction that education is not merely about degrees—it is a transformative force to build resilient, equitable societies.
This international exposure, built on the foundation laid at IIT Kanpur, shaped my mission even more clearly to build institutional capacity in Nepal so that future generations. Through resource scarcity and administrative roadblocks, I worked as both educator and system-builder.
I feel proud that I too played a key role in initiating engineering education in Nepal and influenced in initiating Bachelor, Master’s and Ph.D. Programs at the Institute of Engineering (IOE) under Tribhuvan University in cooperation with the resource sharing and faculty upgrade program of IIT-Kanpur. I made a special effort in initiating a Computer Engineering program for the first time in the history of Nepal at IOE Pulchowk in the year 1998. In that department, I was the only professor with an IT degree then, and struggled hard with a lot of resource constraints to support the human resource back up for the IT industry in Nepal
I worked as a Professor and Assistant Dean, managing 14 engineering colleges (4 state-run, 10 affiliated), Curriculum developer and Senate member, Pokhara University, Member, University Grants Commission (UGC) Academic Council and Advisor, IT Council under the Prime Minister, Government of Nepal.
During my tenure at Tribhuvan University, I saw the gender gap first hand in engineering sector. I really used to feel the absence of female candidates in my classes, pressurized for quota system for girls and succeeded in opening the first girls’ hostel at IOE, Pulchowk for female Engineering students. I used to go around conversing with families to encourage their daughters to get into the technical stream.