NEWSTEP

Nepal Way to a Sustainable Transformational Educational Programme (NEWSTEP) is a collaboration between Turku University of Applied Sciences, Finland; Universitat Politecnica De Valencia, Spain; Sindhuli Multiple Campus, Sindhuli Academy and Sindhuli Community Technical Institute, Sindhuli; Siddhartha Vanasthali Institute and Padma Kanya Multiple Campus, Kathmandu and is co-funded by the Erasmus Union Erasmus+ Capacity Building in the field of education. This project is a needed initiative to modernize Nepalese education providers’ pedagogical structures, practices, and competences towards online learning. Holistic capacity building of education providers is an essential prerequisite for any major impacts in the theme. NEWSTEP will first address a general need for and importance of redesigning curriculum to teach in an online environment, and how to link the curriculum with employability and market needs. Secondly, participating Nepalese lecturers will learn online pedagogical competencies and adopt various online education tools, systems, and ecosystems. These changes will allow lecturers to pass the knowledge to other lecturers so that more effective online courses can be created and offered within networks of Nepalese education providers. Simultaneously, new online courses will be launched and offered to the end users, higher education students. Improvements in quality of online education will have direct impacts for the future of Nepal. New online courses will fulfill learning objectives and develop students’ competencies for working life. High-quality online education prevents unnecessary commuting and internal migration thus perfectly meets standards of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

This NEWSTEP project aims to develop the educational system in Nepal, focusing on the key expertise and competences considered crucial for improved learning and employability in the Nepali context. Moreover, the project aims to respond to the post-COVID-19 “new normal” via implementation of innovative learning and teaching methods to minimize learning gaps and offer new ways of implementing education in secondary, tertiary and higher education. Through this project, the online pedagogical competencies of teachers in educational institutions will be developed to move away from the lecturer-centered model towards student-centered education to improve the learning experience and outcomes. Finally, the project aims to develop curricula and course implementation plans to better incorporate the potential of online learning.

The project kicked off in May 2023 and will conclude in April 2025.