Prithvi Narayan Campus or P.N. Campus, is a public co-educational institution located in the northern part of the Pokhara city and is one of the largest campuses affiliated to the TU. The institution offered undergraduate and graduate programs. It is named after the king Prithvi Narayan Shah credited for the unification of Nepal in its modern form.
History
The campus, initially named Prithvi Narayan College, was established in Sept. 1, 1960 as the first community college of the Kaski district for post secondary education as a local effort. In its initial years the classes were conducted in Ratna Rajya Laxmi High School. In 1961 it was granted public land in Bhimkali Patan, Bagar where it currently exists. Regarded as one of the largest affiliate campuses of Tribhuvan University, it is a major center for post secondary education in the western region of the country. The campus is regarded as one of the important educational institutions in the country and receives government grants distributed through the TU. In accordance with the TU decentralization act of 1998 the campus elected a management committee in Sept. 1999 which handles tasks such as construction of physical infrastructure, making rules, working plans and economic policies and a sub committee under the management committee looks day-to-day affairs of the campus. The campus is spread over 35 hectares along on the banks of the Seti Nadi. The campus buildings occupy only a few part of this total area; most of the land is open. In 2006, UNDP Global Environmental funded a project to develop this open space as Green Space Park, where university students could learn about environmental conservation and demonstrate the use of open space to serve the leisure and recreational needs of the growing urban population of Pokhara. The campus is regarded as one of the best campus having good environment in the country.
Academics
There are altogether 28 departments in the campus. Being a public educational institution, the fees are heavily subsidized by the government. Current students in the campus are from the Pokhara city as well as from surrounding areas of Kaski district, Baglung, Mustang,Myagdi, Manang, Tanahu, Palpa, Syangja, Lamjung, Gorkha, and mostly from western region of the country.
Programmes
The undergraduate is the most popular program with bachelors. The post graduate level comprises Masters and Doctorate programs. Five different faculties are identified: Science, Law, Humanities, Education, and Management. The campus is introducing newer subjects in order to fulfill the requirements to upgrade itself into a full-fledged university.
Science
The campus has one Institute of Science and Technology affiliated to the TU that oversees 6 departments of the science programs. The science program started with proficiency certificate level in Science in 1968 on the subjects: Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics. The two year Bachelor's level in Science was started 1987 on the subjects Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Zoology, Botany and Statistics. The bachelor's level was transformed into 3 years program in 1998 and as of 2010 the I. Sc. program has been discontinued in accordance with the TU guidelines. The campus has separate buildings for theoretical and laboratory classes.
Chemistry
The department offers undergraduate degree in Chemistry. It started by introducing intermediate level program in August, 1962. Intermediate Sciences Program has been removed from TU affiliation beginning July, 2010, and is now a part of school of education. Bachelor's Degree: The bachelor's degree in science, as part of the Institute of Science and Technology, was started in 1987. Chemistry is offered for both the physical and the biological groups. The traditional classification of biological group is one where students take one or more courses in zoology, botany or microbiology and physical group is one in which students take one or more courses in mathematics, physics or statistics. In the third year the students have options to select one of the subjects as a major subject given the prerequisites are fulfilled. The examination of each course is a written examination conducted TU wide of three hours duration for each subject. The laboratory examination is of six hours duration. The selected subject in the third year is the specialized subject for further studies such as the master's degree program in Chemistry, if it is chosen as the subject of specialization.
Physics
The department offers both undergraduate and graduate studies in Physics. The organization of the undergraduate physics program is similar to the undergraduate program in Chemistry. Students with science background in high school are eligible to apply for the undergraduate Physics program and accepted student are classified as Physical Science group and as such must also take courses in Mathematics for at least two years with two more courses in Chemistry or Statistics. Graduate Program: The two years' Masters program in Physics was started in 2008 and enrolls a maximum of 40 students each year. The students are admitted through a common TU wide entrance examination.
Mathematics
The department offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Mathematics.
Biology
The Biology Department was established in 1968 and currently offers undergraduate degrees in three major branches Botany, Zoology and Microbiology. Separate Botany and Zoology department were created in 1998 with launching of the B. Sc. program and the Microbiology program started in 2010.
Laws
Major Laws Class is conducted by P.N. Campus. The laws of Nepal to international level is held by this institute. The Students from foreign can also attend their own country's law class in their own national language.
Humanities (Arts) & Education
English
Humanities and Arts classes are taught only in English and Nepali language in this campus because students are very less in this faculty.
Management classes are started in September 1969 with eleven students in the first year of Intermediate in Commerce program. Undergraduate classes offering a bachelor's degree in commerce began in 1976 with 25 students. In 1990 the campus started offering master's degree in Commerce. Unlike the heavily subsidized intermediate and bachelor's degree program, the masters program is supported by student fee. Some of the famous programmes of commerce in this campus are :
BBA
BPA
BBS
Free Students' Union
The TU law requires its affiliate campuses to allow the formation of democratic Free Student Union mandated with handling extra curricular activities of the campus and matters related to student affairs. Though the student union was conceived as an organization to be the direct representatives of students, however, their activities are more inclined towards the political spectrum of the country and as such they are student wing of country's political parties, therefore also called student political parties. The major student parties are Nepal Student Union, All Nepal National Free Students Union and All Nepal National Independent Students' Union and participate in the elections to form the student union council of the campus that has a term of 2 years. All Nepal National Free Students Union, a student wing of CPN currently holds a majority of seats in the student union council and have been winning the elections successively since the establishment of free student union in 1969. Violent clashes between different student political parties is common, they are also frequently accused of engaging in vandalizing the campus property over seemingly trivial matters especially during elections. Awareness Group of Technical Science is another organization in PN campus which is not affiliated to any political parties. It currently works as mediator between student and the campus administration.
Sports
The campus has substantial land space that is utilized for major tournaments held in Pokhara. Free student union organizes annual sports event between different departments and academic levels. The campus has two Volleyball Courts,& two Basketball Courts, facilities for martial arts, a cricket pitch and a football field. Football, cricket, basketball and volleyball are the major sports held in this campus.
The Annapurna Natural History Museum is one of the main feature in the PNC that displays the natural history of the area near to the Annapurna Mountain and has an amazing collection of butterflies, insects, birds and stuffed and sculpted models of wildlife found in the region around the Annapurna Mountain of Nepal. The museum opens from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm from Sunday to Thursday and from 9:00 am to 12:45 pm on Fridays except the day of national or provincial holidays and the entry is free.
Hostel
There are four hostels within the PNC premises which are categorized as Science Hostel, Girls’ Hostel, Ladies’ Hostel and Gents’ Hostel and can accommodate a total of 200 students. The meals program in the hostel is run on a cooperative basis by the students. A hostel-committee under Free Students' Union decides allocation of hostel facilities to the students based on their financial status, geographical remoteness of their home district, etc. However, there are constant allegations that students with political contacts get selected preferentially and many such occupants do not vacate even after completion of their studies.
Housing
The campus has its own housing quarters located within the campus premises for its employees. Most non-local students live off campus in rental houses near the campus. Bagar, Adhikari Tole, Deep, Fulbari, Nadipur, are some of the areas popular among students for rental houses.
