Research and Innovation at The British College: How We Support Our Students
According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s Global Innovation Index 2025, Nepal ranks 107th out of 139 economies for innovation performance—a reminder that building a stronger culture of research, creativity, and problem-solving remains an urgent national priority. For students choosing where to study, that raises an important question: which institutions are actively helping change that picture?
At The British College Kathmandu, we believe research and innovation should be visible in what students can access, experience, and build, not just in what an institution says. That is why we have invested in a formal Research and Development Centre, an active Incubation Centre that supports student and startup ideas, and wider innovation-focused initiatives that connect learning with entrepreneurship, technology, and real-world problem-solving.
This article explores how that support works in practice. From research culture and innovation opportunities to mentoring, partnerships, and applied learning, it explains how we help our students move beyond classroom theory and develop the mindset, skills, and confidence to create meaningful impact.
Key Highlights:
- TBC runs a formal Research and Development Centre (TRDC) supporting interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research for both faculty and students.
- The TBC Incubation Centre, founded in 2023, has received 275+ applications, supported 60+ pitched ideas, produced four running businesses, and built an estimated portfolio of NPR 1.75 crore — without taking equity from any founder.
- GoDaan (Go दान), founded by TBC AI student Abhushan Shrestha, is Nepal's first AI-driven charity donation platform and the first startup to mature from TBC's incubation pipeline, now operating from Gyaneshwor and employing 15+ people.
- TBC holds formal MoUs with Alphalink and Mauri Ventures for access to mentors and angel investors, and a research partnership with Nepal's National Innovation Centre.
- TBC students access globally recognised technology education through CISCO Networking Academy and Oracle Academy, with the TBC Sustainability Unit operating under UNESCO Greening Education Partnership and UN SDGs frameworks.
TBC Research and Development Centre: Research That Reaches Beyond the Classroom
Most colleges in Nepal teach well. Fewer have built a formal institutional framework for research. The difference matters more than it might appear at first.
TBC's Research and Development Centre, the TRDC, supports intra-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, and inter-institutional research. In plain terms, that means students and faculty can work within a single subject area, across multiple disciplines, and with researchers and institutions outside TBC's own campus. The scope is genuinely broad.
The TRDC also aligns with TBC's AACSB accreditation research mission. AACSB frameworks require business schools to demonstrate a sustained commitment to research quality. The TRDC is TBC's institutional answer to that requirement.
What does this mean for you as a student?
You're not studying in a teaching-only environment. You're inside a research culture, one where faculty publish beyond the classroom, and postgraduate students engage with live consultancy work alongside their degree programmes.
The TRDC's inter-institutional scope connects directly to the partnerships covered later in this article. Its mandate doesn't stop at the boundary of the Thapathali campus. That's by design.
From Dissertations to Published Research: The TRDC in Practice
The TRDC supports postgraduate students from initial consultancy projects through to dissertation completion. Faculty are encouraged to publish across recognised academic platforms. That combination, student research and faculty publication operating together, is what makes a research culture real rather than nominal.
The practical effect for a student is straightforward. When you submit a dissertation at TBC, you're doing so inside an institution that takes research output seriously, not just as an assessment requirement, but as part of what it contributes to its field.
TBC Incubation Centre: Nepal's First College-Incubated AI Startup and What Came Next
In 2023, The British College founded its Incubation Centre with a clear purpose: to turn student ideas into functioning businesses. Since then, it has received over 275 applications, supported more than 60 pitched ideas, and produced four running businesses with an estimated portfolio value of NPR 1.75 crore.
The centre is led by Ganesh Paudyal, Head of the TBC Incubation Centre, who can be reached directly at incubationcentre@thebritishcollege.edu.np.
One commitment sits at the foundation of everything the centre does: TBC does not take equity from the businesses it supports. Your vision remains yours.
GoDaan story
The most significant proof of what the centre produces is GoDaan.
Abhushan Shrestha was studying BSc (Hons) Computer Science - Artificial Intelligence at TBC when he founded Go दान — Nepal's first AI-driven charity donation platform, designed to connect donors with verified charitable causes across the country. In November 2025, GoDaan became the first startup to formally graduate from TBC's incubation pipeline.
It didn't stop there. GoDaan has since relocated to Gyaneshwor and is now operating independently, employing more than 15 people. You can hear Abhushan describe the role TBC's mentorship played in his journey in this account of how GoDaan came to be. Nepal's private college sector had not produced a college-incubated startup that graduated to independent operation before GoDaan. That's a verifiable national first.
Startups that followed
GoDaan opened the pipeline. Three more ventures have followed it through.
Ask Me is an AI platform designed to make expert guidance accessible through a human interface, one of the Hult Prize 2026 competing teams. SochAI was founded by a TBC alumnus, demonstrating that the incubation ecosystem continues to support graduates after they leave. R-Agro is an agricultural innovation startup addressing supply chain challenges in Nepal's food sector.
Three further ventures are currently in development by Level 4 students.
You can register a startup idea or find out more through the TBC Incubation Centre page.
What the TBC Incubation Centre Gives Student Founders in Practice
If you're considering TBC as the place to develop a startup idea alongside your degree, here is exactly what the centre provides.
The workspace includes smart boards, sharing cabins, a meeting hall, conference halls, free wifi, lights, and a coffee machine. Access is free for the first six months of incubation. You don't need external funding in place to walk through the door.
Mentor and investor access is structured through two collaborations. The Alphalink connects founders with a network of experienced industry mentors, and the Mauri Ventures opens access to angel investors, with startup support and a funding venture pathway built in. Structured pitching sessions give incubated founders direct presentation opportunities with active investors.
The centre also gives student founders access to policy-level conversations that most entrepreneurs only reach years into their careers. The Next Wave Roundtable brought the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nepal, Shishir Khanal, into direct dialogue with TBC student founders; you can watch that session in full here. TBC Incubation Centre also serves as a regional hub for the Harvard Health Hackathon, connecting Kathmandu-based founders to a global competition network.
The centre is open to students, alumni, and external entrepreneurs. You don't have to be enrolled at TBC to apply, though TBC students have built-in access from their first day.
Research in Practice: TBC's Partnerships with Nepal's National Innovation Centre and Beyond
A college that claims a research culture but has no external partnerships is making an institutional claim, not a verifiable one. TBC's record here is specific and documented.
The NIC Nepal partnership
Nepal's National Innovation Centre (NIC) is the government-linked body responsible for supporting innovation and applied research across Nepal. TBC holds a formal collaboration agreement with the NIC, a partnership confirmed in TBC's published press release on the National Innovation Centre collaboration.
Connect this back to the WIPO ranking from the introduction. Nepal sits 107th in global innovation. TBC is one of the private colleges that a government innovation body has chosen to work with formally. That's an external endorsement of research credibility that isn't available to most private institutions in Nepal.
Krirk University Bangkok
In 2025, TBC signed an MoU with Krirk University Bangkok covering joint research projects, faculty and student exchange, and co-hosted academic events. For a student, this means research at TBC isn't confined to Kathmandu; it connects to an international academic network that sits alongside TBC's UK university partnerships.
The direction is clear. TBC is building a research identity that extends outward to government partners, to Southeast Asia, and to the UK, rather than inward toward campus activity alone.
Global Technology Education at TBC: CISCO Networking Academy, Oracle Academy, and What They Give Students
CISCO Networking Academy
CISCO Networking Academy is a global ICT education programme that maps directly to industry-recognised certifications. Students at TBC who access Cisco's training pathways aren't doing supplementary coursework. They're building toward professional credentials that employers in Nepal and internationally actively look for. The difference between a graduate who holds a Cisco-validated credential and one who doesn't is visible at the interview stage.
Oracle Academy
Oracle Academy gives TBC students access to Oracle's technology and database education programmes, including hands-on lab environments. Database competency and enterprise software experience are among the most consistently in-demand technical skills in the Nepal market and beyond. Oracle Academy membership puts that preparation inside the degree, not outside it.
Both memberships are supported by TBC's IT facilities at Thapathali: smart labs, dedicated computing environments, and the broader technical infrastructure that makes the memberships usable rather than nominal. That includes TBC's dedicated Computer Forensics Lab, which specially supports the Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics programme.
If you're comparing TBC against other colleges in Kathmandu, these are the kinds of details that may not appear on a brochure but matter considerably when you're in your final year and sitting in front of a hiring manager.
The TBC Sustainability Unit: Student Research Within Global SDG Frameworks
In July 2024, TBC launched its Sustainability Unit - a dedicated structure connecting student research to global sustainability accountability frameworks.
The unit operates under two international frameworks: the UNESCO Greening Education Partnership and the UN Global Compact. In practical terms, this means student work on sustainability projects sits within a recognised international context, not only within a college assignment folder.
At the Incubation Centre level, the same commitment shapes how TBC evaluates startup ideas. The guiding principle is the 3Ps: People, Planet, and Profit. Founders are encouraged to build businesses that carry environmental and social responsibility alongside commercial ambition.
TBC is among a small group of private colleges in Nepal with active UN-linked institutional commitments in this area.
You can explore the unit’s work directly at TBC's Sustainability Unit.
2025 Controversy and TBC's Continuing Research Commitments
You may have encountered coverage of TBC in late 2025. It's worth being direct about what that controversy involved, and what it didn't.
The controversy centred on one specific Hospitality Management foundation pathway and its Dubai progression route. It did not involve TBC's degree programmes, the Research and Development Centre, the Incubation Centre, or any of the computing, AI, or business programmes documented in this article. The full documented record, including what MoEST reviewed, what settlements were reached, and what media outlets later corrected, is available in our transparent record on the TBC Kathmandu controversy.
It's also worth hearing directly from a TBC student who found themselves caught up in the false claims that circulated at the time. One student addressed the allegations publicly and on the record: "Having been accused of silence, I am now speaking clearly and honestly, so that the truth may finally be known." Throughout that period, TBC's academic delivery continued. The Incubation Centre remained open. The TRDC remained active. The four startups born at TBC kept developing. That continuity is part of the record, too.
Build Your Research and Innovation Career at The British College
The infrastructure documented in this article is not a claim. It's a Research and Development Centre, a functioning incubation pipeline that has produced Nepal's first college-incubated AI startup, a government innovation partnership, global technology memberships, and a UN-linked sustainability framework.
Where you study shapes what you build. Computing and AI students at TBC have direct access to CISCO Networking Academy, Oracle Academy, and the Incubation Centre from their first year. MBA and business students engage through the TRDC, live consultancy projects, and the AACSB-aligned research mission. Any student with a startup idea can approach the Incubation Centre at any stage. You don't need a finished plan. You need a genuine idea and the commitment to develop it.
Review TBC's AI and computing programmes for the technology research pathway. Visit the TBC Incubation Centre page to register a startup idea or learn more about what the centre provides. Contact Ganesh Paudyal directly at incubationcentre@thebritishcollege.edu.np with any specific questions about incubation support within your programme.
Nepal currently ranks 107th globally for innovation, but rankings do not define the future. The real momentum will come from the students, researchers, and young innovators already developing the ideas that could move the country much further ahead. The more important question, then, is not just where Nepal stands today, but where you will choose to learn, grow, and contribute alongside the people shaping what comes next.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does The British College Kathmandu have a formal research centre?
Yes. TBC runs a Research and Development Centre (TRDC) supporting intra-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, and inter-institutional research for both faculty and students. It supports postgraduate dissertations, consultancy projects, and faculty publications.
What was the first startup to come from TBC's Incubation Centre?
GoDaan (Go दान), founded by TBC AI student Abhushan Shrestha, was the first. It's Nepal's first AI-driven charity donation platform and the first startup to formally graduate from TBC's incubation pipeline. GoDaan now operates independently from Gyaneshwor, employing more than 15 people.
What is TBC's relationship with the National Innovation Centre Nepal?
TBC holds a formal collaboration agreement with Nepal's National Innovation Centre, a government-linked body responsible for applied research and innovation support across Nepal. The partnership is confirmed in TBC's published press release and places TBC within Nepal's national innovation ecosystem.
Does TBC Nepal have CISCO and Oracle partnerships?
Yes. TBC holds memberships with both CISCO Networking Academy and Oracle Academy. These give students access to globally recognised ICT training pathways and database education programmes, with hands-on lab access supported by TBC's IT infrastructure at Thapathali.
Can undergraduate students participate in research at TBC?
Yes. The TBC Incubation Centre is open to students at any level, including undergraduates. Students can register a startup idea, access mentorship, workspace, and investor connections, and participate in events like the Harvard Hub Hackathon through TBC's regional hub. The TRDC also creates a research culture that undergraduate students study within.
What is the TBC Sustainability Unit, and what frameworks does it operate under?
TBC's Sustainability Unit was launched in July 2024. It operates under the UNESCO Greening Education Partnership and the UN Global Compact, connecting student research to internationally recognised sustainability frameworks and SDG accountability structures.
