The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) held an opening ceremony of the Kathmandu University Technical Training Center (KU TTC) in Dhulikhel on Monday, 18 August 2014 in the presence of the Education Minister Chitralekha Yadav, South Korean Ambassador to Nepal Choe, Yong-Jin, KU Vice-Chancellor Dr. Ram Kantha Makaju Shrestha, representatives from KOICA, government officials from Ministries, KU officials and local people from Kavre community.

The key objective of the newly established training center is to provide skill- oriented quality training to the under-privileged and unemployed youth so as to produce skilled and technical workforce in Nepal. From early June of 2014, KU TTC has already started its pilot training program of duration ranging from 3 month to 1 year in the field of Automobile, Carpentry, Welding and Machining.

The government of Republic of Korea provided the total grant amount of US Dollar 3.5 million through KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) for the establishment of this training center. During the project period, from June 2012 to September 2013, KU TTC trainers and high level officials from Kathmandu University were provided weeklong training visits to Korea. In 2014, five Korean experts were dispatched to Nepal to give ToT training (Training of Trainers) to the trainers of KU TTC and maximize their capacity.

KOICA’s strategic goal for the education in Nepal includes providing vocational education opportunities to Nepalese people in order to increase their productivity and income level. KOICA has been providing development assistance to Nepal for the upliftment of education, health and agriculture sector since 1991.