Kathmandu, February 17
In the past decade, a total of 639,148 students have obtained a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for pursuing higher education abroad.
According to Ramesh Ghimire, head of the NOC branch at the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, 55,000 NOCs have already been issued in the current fiscal year up to mid-January. “The number of students obtaining NOCs has remained fairly consistent in recent years,” he said.
In the last fiscal year (2023/24), the branch issued 112,968 NOCs.
Australia remains the top destination for Nepali students seeking foreign education, followed by Japan in second place, the UK in third, Canada in fourth, and the United States in fifth. South Korea and India rank sixth and seventh, respectively, Ghimire said.
The government does not have exact data on how many students actually went abroad after obtaining NOCs, as a single student may apply for multiple NOCs.
