CFFN (Canada Foundation for Nepal)

Dear Supporters of Open University of Nepal (OUN) Initiative:

In our last update, we had covered progress made in OUN initiative until the end of January 2011. The six months since then have been remarkably eventful and encouraging for the OUN initiative. The highlights of this period are given here.

1. February 10, 2011: Ministry of Education handed over the key to OUNSC office space at the Ministry of Education. Mr. Mahashram Sharma at the MoE transferred the key to President of NRNA Dev Man Hirachan who in turn passed it over to Dr. Pramod Dhakal, Member-Secretary of the OUNSC.
2. February 23, 2011: The Higher Education Bill, which incorporates the legal provision for establishing the OUN, was tabled at the Legislative Parliament of Nepal by the Ministry of Education. Passage of this bill will make it an Act and a regulation based on the Act will clear the major legal hurdle for the OUN.
3. February 26, 2011: The Secretariat of the OUNSC became accessible during workdays for full working hours due to contributions from Nepalese young volunteers. The Secretariat was connected with direct fiber-optic connection, courtesy of Mercantile Communications and CAN-USA. And wired and wireless connectivity inside the office courtesy of Mahabir Pun, desktop computers one by Ministry of Education, one by UNESCO Office at MoE, and two by Mr. Bhim Udas.
   

Dear Supporters of Initiative for Open University of Nepal (OUN):

In our last update, we had covered progress made in OUN initiative until the beginning of December 2010. Today, we are proud to say that the momentum continued or even gathered further momentum in the meantime. The following are the recent achievements that we would like to inform you about.

1. The Cabinet Meeting of Government of Nepal held on January 28, 2011 in Kathmandu approved the Umbrella University Act 2067. Following this development, the bill will be tabled in the Parliament of Nepal for approval. The parliamentary approval will make this bill an Act, which shall make a legal provision for establishing an Open University in Nepal. The OUN Team thanks all ministers, ministry officials, NRN officials, Ambassadors and others who helped raise the urgency of the matter. Now that this bill is heading to the parliament, we are in need of all suggestions for improvements that can be incorporated during its parliamentary deliberations.
2. The Ministry of Education, Government of Nepal has allocated office space for the office of the Secretariat for OUN initiative. It is expected that this office will be furnished and be in operation by February 10, 2010. Dr. Pramod Dhakal, Member-Secretary of the Steering Committee will be heading this office in Kathmandu. Consequently, the address of correspondence for OUN matter has now changed to: Open University of Nepal Initiative Secretariat, Ministry of Education, Keshal Mahal, Kathmandu, Nepal.
3. On January 31, 2011, Athabasca University, a principal collaborator in the OUN initiative and our mentor on development of open and distance institution, has been awarded UNESCO/COL Chair in Open Educational Resources (OER). As the OER Chair, Dr. Rory McGreal, who is also Associate Vice-President of AU, will be responsible for promoting the use of OERs at the institutional, national and international levels, particularly in the developing world. Dr. Arbind Mainali and Mr. Mohanath Acharya, members Nepalese Canadian Society of Edmonton (NeCaSE), represented Nepali Diaspora in the UNESCO/COL Chair announcement ceremony organized in Edmonton in presence of the Ministry of Advanced Education, Government of Alberta.
   

June 1, 2010: Recently, Fourth NRN Regional Conference was held on 28^th-30^th May 2010 at the City of Houston, USA. More than 300 representatives from more than 20 countries converged in this beautiful city, which is a major industrial and commercial centre of the USA.

Dear Supporters of Initiative for Open University of Nepal (OUN):

It has been some months since we had released the first release of official updates on the OUN initiative. An effort originally initiated by a small group of Nepalese Diaspora has been adopted with great strides by NRNs all over the world and the NRNA movement as a whole. Steady gains have been made since then at an unprecedented scale of enthusiasm of Nepalis and Nepali Diaspora. Today, we are at a juncture where tremendous material, intellectual, and many other forms of support in Nepal and abroad have been necessary to consolidate the gains made thus far and to make further progress. Here is the summary of current updates on the initiative for OUN.