Strategic Plan
This strategic planning process was initiated on Jan. 4, 2019 in order to strengthen PhD Centre. Since this strategic plan is a living document, it will change over time. It offers a common framework and flexible guide to decision-makers across the Institution and, as such, it should foster greater coherence, coordination, and unity across the departments. For the longer term, this strategic planning process serves in order to develop itself as a vibrant Institution with a forward-looking, inspirational roadmap for the PhD Centre’s future beyond Nepal.
STRATEGIES
Strategic Priorities and Approaches
The first priority proposed for the next five years is to identify windows of opportunity for resource mobilisation; secure affiliation with the Ministry and provide quality help desk services. Such a priority is timely and important because of the need to anticipate and be proactive about promotion of PhD Centre and its academic programme. Excellence in teaching is an integral component of faculty excellence, and this plan affirms PhD Centre’s commitment to have faculty who achieve excellence in both research and teaching. Research and teaching quality should be inextricably bound together at PhD Centre
PhD Centre will employ a number of policies, strategies and approaches in line with its layers of objectives mentioned above. It will undertake activities based on the appropriate mix of policies, strategies, and approaches. PhD Centre was envisioned with a commitment to fill in the gaps that exist in the contemporary development theories and practices. It intends to link teaching with research and practice thereby contributing to social transformation and development in the country and the region. Students and teachers at PhD Centre would engage themselves in unearthing the obstacles that pose challenges in transforming our rural society and the region. Those students lacking adequate financial resources from the marginalised community will be provided scholarship based on PhD Centre and government rules and regulation.
Academic Strategies
The programmes designed by PhD Centre cover a wide spectrum of fields of study ranging from environment management and climate change, gender and community development to food security, rural reconstruction and social mobilization, business and financial management, sustainable mountain development, natural resource management, disaster risk management, conflict and peace studies, and development economics. Students from varying backgrounds of sciences, management and humanities will be able to apply and harness their understanding on these disciplines. The programmes that PhD Centre offers are emerging as vital subjects in the field of development studies and have been drawing attention of global intellectuals and development experts for quite some time now.
PhD Centre policy direction
PhD Centre is basically an apolitical, non-partisan and pluralistic academic entity which promotes and sustains peaceful development, stability and sustainability through inclusive and transformative teaching and learning approaches. It serves society by public engagement policy whilst relating the position of centre of excellence. Promotion of staff and faculties by ensuring gender- friendly environment, free from discrimination based on age, race, caste, ethnicity, religion and class, remains at the core functions of PhD Centre management. The Institution progresses each step ahead based on rules and regulations complying with and adhering to laws of the land. The cross-cutting policies are reflected throughout the Plan.
Teaching and learning framework
Institutions of higher education need to prepare their students for the complex and changing demands of careers in today’s challenging global environment. Given such changes, PhD Centre has initiated an effort to define the appropriate learning goals for students. A key premise is that PhD Centre should foster a range of abilities, some of which extend beyond formal classroom work. This strategic plan emphasizes the importance of educationally rich international and public engagement experiences under the supervision of faculty.
Educational excellence
PhD Centre will create and sustain a culture that supports teaching excellence in all academic units. It will create institutional structures that promote pedagogical innovations by ensuring the educational impact of international opportunities and experiences for students. It will promote the health and well-being of students as a foundation for academic and life success.
Faculty excellence
PhD Centre will develop a roaster of quality supervisor in strategically important academic areas. Increase the diversity of faculty through competitive recruitment process and enhanced retention efforts. It will develop and implement policies to retain highly valued faculty. It will devise and implement new mechanisms or policies for rewarding outstanding faculty and for continually assessing faculty performance as scholars and teachers. PhD Centre will foster an exciting intellectual environment by providing opportunities for more dialogue and engagement. It will develop ways to enable faculty to focus their time on being highly productive in their core academic activities (research, and creativity; teaching; public engagement).
Excellence in research, scholarship, and innovation
PhD Centre will strengthen the research department and maintain relationship with research organisations involved in PhD Centre disciplines. It will support for and recognition of important research outputs by exploring research grants and linking them with research department. It will encourage productive, mutually beneficial collaborations between faculty and scholars.
Academic Training:
- Developing Research Instruments & Data analysis
- Mastering APA, APA, MLA Styles
- Research Design and Methodology
- Research Philosophy of Academic Research
- Training on SPSS, ‘R’ and ‘Stata’ for Quantitative data analysis
- Turnitin (Plagiarism Detection) Software
- Writing Research Report and Article
- Other various academic research related trainings
Research strategies
Apart from the academic research through PhD scholars, the Center also focuses on policy and programmatic research.
Policy and programmatic research
The policy and programmatic research is one of the main working strategies of the centre. The policy research evaluates existing policies based on in-depth analysis and reform to meet the current needs. The programmatic research focuses on analysis of dynamics of social change and development through the public participation and specific project and programmes. The policy and programmatic research will be carried out at local, provincial and central level on relevant issues and concern. Such research can be linked and carried out by the academic researcher in different sectors i.e., health, education, development, agriculture, environment, business etc. The Centre is keen to harness the expertise of both academic and practitioners.
Social development plan of the local government
The main objective of this Global Positioning System (GPS) based social development profile is to digitize the detailed socio-economic data of every single household as well as institution within local level government, so as to facilitate the local level government in decision making, planning and policy development and service delivery. Local level government intends to prepare household metric system incorporating in Local Government Information System along with the Geographical Information System. The local government intends to increase the revenue by accurately tracing the tax brackets residents and households fall under and bring all citizens under the tax system.
The tasks include conducting socio-economic census of individual households and institutions, developing and establishing household metric system for each household, preparing thematic resource maps and large scale urban base map, acquiring cadastral land parcel digital data and digitization etc. Similarly, designing and developing local government Information System, integrating Information System with GIS Data and all Maps, strengthening and institutionalizing the local government office, facilitating the local government with extensive reporting of households, institutions, landmarks and geography, preparing the information system for individual wards of the local government unit are some other tasks carried out through this process.
Support to facilitate the local level development
The Centre will facilitate for the holistic development of the local level by empowering local communities through developing human capacity, helping local government through formulating developmental projects, similarly promote employment, entrepreneurship and business as well as promote culture and creativity in the community. In this process, the Centre will facilitate the local government on preparing suitable strategy to work in the team, pre-programme visits, group facilitation/need assessment, preparing Strategic Plan, capacity building/training for employment, entrepreneurial development, technology transfer, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting etc.
Journal publications
To facilitate learning and research activities, the Centre has developed a number of reading materials targeting for the scholars and researchers required at different levels during their study. Several readers are published on Research Philosophy, Quantitative Research, Qualitative Research, Mixed Methods Design, Data Analysis and Interpretation, Writing a Research Report, Guidelines for Supervision, Computer Application for Research and SPSS and MAXQQDA for research.
The Centre publishes biannually the ‘Journal of Advanced Academic Research’ both in print and electronic form. The peer reviewed journal registered through International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) system is distributed in Nepal and abroad. It is also incorporated in NepJol system. We are also planning to index our journal in near future.
Training strategies
The Centre provides academic, research and development oriented training. The Centre customizes different trainings based on the need of the scholars and development partners. The Centre also organizes training inviting renowned national and international resource person. Since its inception, it has been organizing several trainings jointly with many global renowned universities and research centres.
The Centre provides training on innovative and cross cutting recent approaches and methodologies related to research and development to the scholars as well as to the supervisors associated with different academic and development institutions. Some of the major trainings of Centre are as below:
Short courses
PhD Centre has already organised series of training courses and will continue these courses to offer on demand basis.
Development Training:
- Communication skill and Leadership Development
- Leadership and Management
- Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Training
- Policy and Strategy Development
- Project Proposal Writing
- Result Based Management
- Social Entrepreneurship Development
- Other various development related trainings