Issues and Challenges of Public Campuses in Nepal: A Thematic Analysis of Stakeholder Voices

Public campuses, Nepal's community-managed, non-profit higher education institutions, serve roughly one-third of the country's higher education students across 511 institutions in all 76 districts, most affiliated with Tribhuvan University, yet operate under governance conditions that systematically constrain their development. This study identifies the major institutional challenges these campuses face and examines how those challenges reflect broader patterns of governance inequality in Nepal's higher education system. Using a qualitative interpretive design built on Braun and Clarke's (2006, 2019) six-phase thematic analysis, the study draws on four data sources: over 4,000 messages from the Nepal Public Campus Association (NPCA) WhatsApp group (August 2025–April 2026) spanning all seven provinces; official correspondence between NPCA, TU, and the University Grants Commission (UGC); the Community College Research Journal (Volume 1, 2025); and formal statements from NPCA provincial committees, interpreted primarily inductively through Institutional Theory (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983) and Critical Higher Education Theory (Freire, 1970; Giroux, 1983). Eight interconnected themes emerged: high and inequitable affiliation renewal fees, prolonged delays in program affiliation approval, centralised curriculum control that limits academic freedom, geographically inaccessible examination centres, marginalisation of faculty and staff, chronic financial underfunding, weak governance with little policy action, and student emigration driven by limited program availability, together indicating patterns consistent with coercive isomorphism and structural institutional oppression. Public campuses appear to face systematic structural disadvantage rooted in governance arrangements designed for constituent campuses and applied without contextual adjustment to community institutions. Meaningful reform may require a comprehensive Higher Education Act, permanent affiliation for eligible campuses, equitable UGC funding, and formal NPCA representation in TU's governance bodies. Findings should be read in light of the study's reliance on NPCA-affiliated data sources.