Major Components of SHEP

Brief Description of the Project Components

The following is a brief description of the components, their sub-components and the implementation modality:

I. Reform grants:The reform grants component consists of two sub-components:

a. (Institutional) Reform Grants and b. Research Funding

a. Institutional Reform Grants:

    i.      Grants to TU for development of Campus Autonomy Regulation, and for facilitating and granting autonomy to its constituent decentralized campuses. 

   ii.      Incentive grants to the decentralized campuses of TU for exploring possibilities through in-house consultation, for opting and preparing strategy and for becoming autonomous.

 iii.      Incentive grants to other universities for participation in the formula based funding.

 iv.      Performance grants for better performance in terms of service delivery, quality, and efficiency of the participating institutions based on performance indicators and set criteria.

 v.      Matching Fund to the institutional resources mobilized for development of its physical infrastructure and professional capacity.

Commitment to the reforms supported by the Project is a prerequisite for academic institutions to have access to the reform grants. The commitment involves opting for and accepting- (a) autonomous status in the case of TU campuses, (b) formula-based funding tied to outputs in the case of other universities and (c) the basic principles of operation accountability on a non-profit basis in the case of community campuses.

Autonomous TU campuses and participating other universities will be eligible for incentive, performance and matching grants. Decentralized campuses and community campuses will be eligible for matching fund and performance grants.

There will be a ceiling for the reform grant funding.

Reform grants will be treated as sub-projects. The use of reform grants will be governed by MOUs between UGC and participating institutions. A mechanism will be developed to monitor the use of grants and communicate it to the beneficiaries. The main inputs to be funded through the Reform Grants are physical facility upgrading, staff development, and equipment and materials. 

This subcomponent is for enhancing quality of higher education through research involvement of faculty, students and institutions. It focuses on promoting institutional research policy, strengthening research management capacity, supporting and sharing of research in conferences, training in research methodology, and promotion of research culture.

Private and public institutions and their faculty members meeting the specified criteria are eligible for this fund. The institutions will be selected basing on the following criteria:

i) Teaching post graduate level programs

ii) Faculty already engaged in research

iii) otential to recruit young researchers,

iv)Strategic plan to develop and strengthen the research capacity

v) Research performance recognized as an important criterion for induction of new faculty members and their promotion and

vi) Institutional management of research in place.

The various activities envisioned under this component are as follows:

II. Student Financial Assistance: The provision of financial assistance is designed to help needy students meet the living costs, tuition fees, admission fees, examination fees, and costs of transportation and learning materials. The components of the financial assistance scheme include:

    i.       Student’s equity contribution

   ii.       Income from work study programs

 iii.       Scholarship grants  

 iv.       Loans from commercial banks for bachelor level students

To ensure that the financial assistance from the project reaches the target groups, a Proxy Means Testing (PMT) will be used to identify needy students. The PMT indicators will address disadvantaged ethnic groups, dalits and also poverty in a regression model. The project will also address female students by reserving predetermined share of the financial assistance.

An Autonomous Student Financial Assistance Fund Development Board (SFAFDB) has been established to facilitate implementation of this scheme. The funding sources of SFAFDB will include the project fund, public sector contributions, donations from individuals, private and public institutions, and interest/dividends from SFAFDB investments. Commercial banks will also use their own resources for student lending.

To ensure efficient operation of the financial assistance scheme, the SFAFDB will, on a competitive basis, appoint a commercial bank as an administrator of the Trust Fund.

III. Higher Secondary Education: This component is designed to improve access to higher education for rural students by assisting community higher secondary schools to expand enrolment and improve the quality of education. 

The provisions are as follows:

 v.      Basic grants for schools,  provided based on the number of graduates produced

 vi.      Matching fund for schools undertaking institutional development  

vii.      Performance grants for the schools with good performance track record

viii.      Support for equipment and capacity building of DOE and HSEB  

All community higher secondary schools meeting basic accountability requirements are eligible to basic grants. The amount of basic grants to a school will be proportional to the total number of graduates that it has produced since its establishment to the project effectiveness date.

All community higher secondary schools meeting the accountability requirements will also be eligible for receiving Matching Grants.

Schools that have a good performance track record and a reasonable level of enrolment will be eligible for performance grants on competitive basis.  

Other activities to be funded under this component include improvement of curriculum and examinations, strengthening of the EMIS system, teacher orientation, monitoring and evaluation, equipment, and capacity building of DOE and HSEB.

IV. Strengthening System Capacity: This component is designed to enhance the capacity of MOES and UGC to facilitate development of higher education in Nepal. The capacity enhancement envisions activities in terms of following major components:

    i.      Establishment of a Quality Assurance and Accreditation (QAA) System

   ii.      Establishment of Educational Management Information System (EMIS) for higher education

 iii.      Undertake policy studies

 iv.      System capacity development (staff training, study visits, attachments, etc.)

 v.      Acquire office equipments and supplies necessary for the project implementation

 vi.      Human resource development