Background
The history of organized public education in Bhutan is just over 50 years. But with the commitment of the Royal Government, Bhutan has made great strides in education. Under the enlightened leadership of its Kings the Government has always put the people at the centre of its development strategies, guided by the development philosophy of “Gross National Happiness” (GNH). Education of its people has been central to all its efforts in the development of the country. Within the span of just over fifty years, Bhutan has developed a diversified system of educational institutions.
Bhutan launched its one and only University, the Royal University of Bhutan, in June 2003, under the Royal Charter and Statutes signed in 18 April 2003 and 25 April 2003 respectively. The Royal Charter and the Statutes provide the legal instruments for the University. The objectives of the University as stated in the Royal Charter (RUB 2003, Page 3) are:
- to develop and provide programmes of study at tertiary education level, of relevance and good quality which will fulfill the needs of the country for an educated and skilled population, and
- to promote and conduct research, to contribute to the creation of knowledge in an international context and to promote the transfer of knowledge of relevance to Bhutan.
The establishment of the University brought together the ten tertiary institutes under one organization. While the University as an organization is relatively young, most of its constituent Colleges have been established in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The Royal University of Bhutan is based on a distributed model with the Office of the Vice Chancellor responsible for central coordination and the constituent member Colleges looking after the academic functions of teaching and research.
The Office of the Vice Chancellor is located in Motithang, Thimphu with a staff strength of 43. The Office of the Vice Chancellor consists of the following departments:
- Registry with Kezang Doma as the Registrar
- Dept. of Academic Affairs with Yangka as the Director
- Dept. of Planning and Resources with Gajel Lhundup as the Director
- Dept. of Research and External Resources with Dorji Thinley as the Director
All the Colleges are dispersed across the country, each specializing in an area of study and research, and functions like the Faculties of a University. The distributed model of the University works to support the national policy of balanced regional development and reaps the benefit of the existing Colleges already in operation across the country. It allows for shared planning, staff development, joint curriculum development and shared costs, leading to richer experiences and greater efficiencies among the Colleges. Besides, such an arrangement provides greater scope to develop community links and provide outreach educational and training support across the country through the University’s Continuing Education programmes.
The Colleges of the Royal University of Bhutan offer courses in Liberal Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Education including teacher training, Health Sciences including Traditional Medicine, Bhutanese Language and Culture, Natural Resources including Agriculture, Commerce and Business Studies.
The Royal University of Bhutan has a total capacity of 5000 students for now, but it will expand to accommodate 9000 students by 2013. All students admitted to the constituent colleges of the University are sponsored by the Government and are selected based on merit in their Higher Secondary School Examination results.
