Mechi Multiple Campus


Mechi Multiple Campus is a constituent campus of Tribhuvan University in Bhadrapur municipality of Jhapa district. Founded in 1964, it is the only constituent campus of Tribhuvan University in the district. As of August 2017, 126 academic and 54 administrative staffs were employed at the college. The college administration is headed by Jeevan Pokharel, who replaced Kamal Guragain as the Campus Chief on 7 April 2020.
To begin with, the college offered an Intermediate of Arts program in humanities, which was soon followed by undergraduate programs. At present, the college runs undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The intermediate programs were fully scrapped in 2010, following Tribhuvan University's decision to phase out Proficiency Certificate Level programs from its colleges. This termination of PCL programs brought about a sharp decline in the number of students at the college. In its heyday, the college had about 5,000 students. Today the number is around 1,800. The college gained institutional autonomy on 19 May 2017. The college received the Quality Assurance and Accreditation certification from the University Grants Commission on 6 March 2019.

History

With inauguration by Brigadier General Bhupalman Singh Karki, Mechi Multiple Campus was established on 12 Ashwin 2021 BS. With no private building for the next five years, classes in those early years of inception were imparted only in the evening, in the premises of Bhadrapur Red Cross and Bhadrapur High School. The construction of college's physical infrastructure began to gather pace from 2024BS, and it took three years until completion. The college was relocated to its present place in 2027BS.
The college celebrated its golden jubilee in the year 2071BS. The golden jubilee was commemorated with programmes and extra-curricular activities all year round, including a major three-day cultural event in Ashwin. Inaugurated by the then-President Ram Baran Yadav, who was the chief guest, the cultural event saw attendance from a host of alumni, donors, politicians, and national dignitariesincluding the then-Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Yuba Raj Khatiwada, the Nepali Congress leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula, and CPN–UML's Agni Kharel.

Campus

The campus, which spreads over an area of 16 bighas, is in a rural environment, about 1 km northeast of Bhadrapur Airport. The area has a mediocre access to road transportation. The campus yard constitutes a small canteen, a cricket and a football ground, a partially constructed basketball court, a tea garden, a soil test lab, an administrative building, a FSU building, and two other major buildingsone for the science faculty and the other for the rest. A park featuring monuments of Province No. 1's five luminaries is being constructed inside the college premises. A second building for the science faculty is also under construction. The campus is serving as a quarantine center during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal.

Academics

The college offers the following undergraduate and postgraduate programs:
Between 2068 and 2074 BS, Mechi Multiple Campus offered a unique program called Bachelor of Science in Tea Technology and Management, being the only college in the country to offer an undergraduate tea course. A large part of Nepal’s tea industry is based in eastern Nepal, particularly in Jhapa and Ilam districts, and the program was offered with the aim of availing the requirement of qualified and skilled human resource in the tea sector. Despite the enormous potential, the tea management course failed to attract students, with the enrollment dropping drastically from 23 students in the first batch to just 6 in the third batch. The decrease in the number of students was attributed partly to the ineffective publicity of the academic course and partly to the uncertainties looming over its prospects. The program was eventually dropped in 2074 BS.
On 29 December 2016, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority raided six colleges in Jhapa, including Mechi Multiple Campus, as per the complaints lodged at the anti-graft body that some of the professors of public colleges were teaching in private colleges alongside. Umanath Olithe then-chief at Mechi Multiple Campuswas reported to have admitted that some professors had invested in private colleges and took classes there. He claimed that they had been doing so before the provision of requiring approval from the university monitoring commission came into effect.

Politics

Students wings affiliated to the Nepal Communist Party, Nepali Congress, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party are operative in Mechi Multiple Campus. The last Free Students' Union election was held in the campus on 1 March 2017.

Notable alumni

Some of the eminent graduates of the college include Yubaraj Khatiwada, CP Mainali, RK Mainali, Biswa Prakash Sharma, Rajendra Lingden, and Arpan Sharma Kattel.

Footnotes