Tribhuvan University (TU) is the first national institution of higher education in Nepal. It was established in 1959 A.D. The Central Administrative Office and the Central Campus of the university are located on the north eastern facade of Kirtipur, an ancient and small town located five kilometers away from Kathmandu city centre. There are 38 central departments and 4 research centres in TU, and out of them 31 departments and 3 research centres are located at Kirtipur. The university at Kirtipur is spread over an area of 154.77 hectares (3042-5-2 ropanis).

After the second democratic movement of 2006, the Prime Minister of Nepal is the ceremonial chief, the Chancellor of the University, whereas the Minister of Education is the Pro-Chancellor. The Vice Chancellor is the Chief Executive of the university. He is assisted by the Rector in academic programmes and the Registrar in financial management and general administration.



Tribhuvan University is a non-profit making autonomous institution funded by the Government of Nepal. On January 8, 2013, the government of Nepal has principally agreed to declare Tribhuvan University as the Central University.
Main objectives of TU
The university was established with the following objectives:
To prepare capable human resources required for the overall development of Nepal
To impart standard higher education
To protect and develop national culture and tradition
To involve in extensive, empirical and timely creation of knowledge and research in the fields of arts, science, technology and vocation
TU Senate
It is the supreme decision-making body on policies, budget, and rules and regulations for running the university. It consists of 52 members.
Councils of TU
There are 4 councils constituted as major decision-making bodies of the university.

Executive Council
Executing the decisions of the University Assembly, making decisions on grants, giving affiliation to private campuses, and appointing the university officials are its major functions. It consists of 7 members.
Academic Council

The academic council makes decisions on educational policies and practices regarding curricula, teaching, examinations and research and comprises of 50 members.
Research Coordination Council

It formulates policies on TU research activities, approves guidelines for researchers and coordinates the functions of university level research organizations. The Research Division is the secretariat of the council. The council consist of 27 members.
Planning Council
The planning council performs an advisory role of preparing short and long-term plans, developing annual programmes and evaluating implementation programmes. It consists of 29 members.
Academic Programmes

In the 55th year of its establishment, the university family remains committed and dedicated to making the university a source and centre of quality education, setting up a culture of learning in the country and promoting the notion of national and global peace and harmony. This year, the Tribhuvan university has made a decision to start semester system at the Central Departments. All the departments, except the Central Department of Law, have already started first semester classes. This systemic change has been introduced to enforce an academic calendar, to make students full time students dedicated to their studies, to reduce financial burden on students and their parents by making the students complete the degree in time, to respond to the growing concern of the stakeholders about enhancing the academic quality of university education through academic rigour, to revitalize the fame, popularity, credibility and contribution of the university as the oldest centre of higher learning and the central and leading university of Nepal.

From the forthcoming academic session, the university will extend the semester system outside the central departments. This is really going to prove a daunting task for such a large university spread all over the country. However, if the nation prioritizes education and gives desirable financial support to the university, TU will definitely move ahead on the path of achieving academic excellence and will be able to supply capable manpower to meet the growing challenges of the time.

Since its inception, TU, the state owned university, has expanded its programes indifferent disciplines. There are 5 technical institutes and 4 general faculties. TU offers proficiency certificate level courses only in nursing. It has a wide range of course offerings in Bachelor’s and Master’s levels. TU offers M. Phil. and phd. degree in different disciplines both at the Technical Institutes and Faculties.
TU ran its programes only through its constituent campuses prior to 1980. As the number of the students willing to acquire higher education was increasing day by day, it was not possible for the university to accommodate all the students in the constituent campuses. This situation led to the establishment of colleges in the private sector. From 1979 –80, TU started providing affiliation to private colleges to conduct various programes at different levels. One thousand fifty three (1053) private colleges spread all over the country have so far received affiliations
from TU.
In the current academic session (2014-2015) altogether 4,05,341 students have been enrolled at various levels of TU academic Programmers. 1,48,141 (36.55%) students study in its 60 constituent campuses including 38 central departments, while 2,57,200 (63.45%) students study in 1053 affiliated colleges. It clearly reveals that affiliated colleges do have more students than the constituent campuses.

TU has 7966 teaching faculty and 7230 non-teaching staff including the support staff in its constituent campuses. The total number of employees is 15196 including 124 new posts of the Manmohan Cardiothorasic Centre.