Category Archives: Nepal

Feeling on top of the world

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I recently completed my one-month assignment in Nepal as a Visiting Scholar at Kathmandu University (KU) under the Australian Volunteers program. A billboard at Tribhuvan International Airport welcomed me to the land of Mount Everest.

Mt Everest queue

Unfortunately, I was too busy with my Visiting Scholar tasks to have time to slip away to climb the famous mountain or even do some trekking in the foothills. In any case, it was the climbing season and the queue of climbers waiting to tick off their bucket list was too long for me to hang around waiting my turn :).

As part of my assignment, I undertook a review of the Master of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (MTVET) program, at the request of Professor Mahesh Nath Parajuli and Dr Suresh Gautam, School of Education (KUSOE), and with the support of Dr Prakash Paudel.

I worked on that review in the weeks after my return to Australia, and am pleased to say that I’ve now submitted a report to KUSOE for their consideration. I appreciated the invitation to undertake this task and received excellent cooperation from KU staff and students alike.

Since I was based in Nepal for a relatively short time in April/May 2024, opportunities to gather data were limited. Nevertheless, with the assistance of KU staff I was able to organise focus groups with past and present MTVET students and interviews with KUSOE academic staff members. I also had informal chats with staff and students about their experience with the MTVET.

KUSOE Conference, Pokhara, April 2024

During my time in Nepal, I was also fortunate to be part of a MTVET staff/student conference in the regional city of Pokhara, and to join field visits organised by KUSOE, to be a guest lecturer in two online MTVET courses, and to visit several TVET organisations, including the Council of Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT), Pokhara Technical School, GATE Vocational Training, and Shankharapur Poytechnic Institute.

All of these interactions helped me develop some idea of the realities of learning and teaching in the MTVET program and of the broader context in which TVET operates in Nepal.

A presentation from the Dean of KU School of Education, Professor Bal Chandra Luitel, at the end of my in-country assignment in Nepal

I’ll be continuing to work online with KUSOE as a ‘remote’ volunteer throughout 2024. It’s good to be able to bring to bear my long experience as a teacher, researcher and published author in adult and vocational education, including almost 20 years with the School of Education and Professional Studies at Griffith University, Brisbane.

However, I’ll have to wait until the climbing season next year to see if the Mt Everest queue gets any shorter.

Until next time

Darryl Dymock

A Hybrid Volunteer Assignment in Nepal – Climbing New Mountains

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Australian Eastern Standard time is four-and-a-quarter hours ahead of Nepalese time. I know that because I recently taught an online class at Kathmandu University that started at 5.30pm their time, which was 9.45pm Brisbane time. I finally signed off at midnight AEST.

Thankfully, coffee and the enthusiasm of the students and the course coordinator, my Nepalese colleague Dr Prakash Paudel, kept me going.

That teaching session was part of a 12-month ‘hybrid’ assignment I’ve accepted in 2024 as a Visiting Scholar with the Australian Volunteers Program, which is funded by the Australian Government. This involves 11 months working online with staff and students of the School of Education at Kathmandu University and four weeks in country.

I’ll be supporting teaching and research in the School’s Master of Technical and Vocational Education (MTVET) program, as well as helping with its Journal of Education and Research.

During my late-night session, it was encouraging to see how interactive and responsive the students were and how well they were able to contextualise theory and ideas from elsewhere to their local context. (Intriguingly, there are also a couple of Namibian students enrolled.)

And, of course, I learnt a lot about those local situations in a very short time, with lots more to come! In case you’re wondering, classes are conducted in English.

I’m looking forward to learning more about the local culture during my one-month stay, which starts mid-April this year. I won’t be doing any trekking in the Himalayas, but I know I have some learning mountains to climb. Good for my brain, and my humility.

I took on this volunteer assignment because I saw it as an opportunity to give back some of the learning and experience I’ve accumulated over the years through teaching, researching and writing about adult and workplace learning and vocational education and training.

Kathmandu University’s MTVET has much in common with Masters programs I’ve been involved in at the University of New England, Armidale, and in the past 18 years at Griffith University, Brisbane.

My wife Cheryl and I recently had a meal at a Nepalese restaurant in Brisbane, Jhigu Bhoye Chhen. Delicious food, and friendly and efficient service. I’m looking forward to trying out more of the extensive Nepalese cuisine when I arrive in the country in a couple of weeks.

Until next time

Darryl Dymock