society
Royal Thimphu College
Royal Thimphu College, inaugurated in 2009 in Ngabiphu, Thimphu, was the first private college in Bhutan and remains affiliated to the Royal University of Bhutan for the validation of its undergraduate degrees.
Royal Thimphu College (RTC) is a private undergraduate college in Ngabiphu, on the southern edge of Thimphu, Bhutan. Inaugurated on 18 July 2009 by Her Majesty the Royal Grandmother Ashi Kesang Choeden Wangchuck, it was the first private degree-awarding college in Bhutan and remains affiliated to the Royal University of Bhutan for the validation of its undergraduate programmes.[1]
The campus occupies roughly 25 acres in a rural valley about seven kilometres south of central Thimphu. RTC was the first college in Bhutan to be accredited by the Bhutan Accreditation Council, which awarded it the highest available rating in 2016. It has positioned itself in the higher-education sector as a comparatively well-resourced liberal-arts and business institution with substantial international partnerships.
Founding
RTC was established under the Royal Charter that authorises affiliated colleges of the Royal University of Bhutan. It opened in July 2009 with a small first cohort, taking advantage of policy reforms that for the first time allowed degree-awarding private institutions to operate. The founders were the Bhutanese businesswoman Dasho Phub Zam and her husband Dasho Karma Ura's network — the broader institutional history is sometimes described in college publications and in Kuensel coverage.
The inauguration in July 2009 by the Royal Grandmother gave the college a degree of public visibility unusual for a private start-up institution, and over its first decade RTC grew to become one of the largest single colleges by enrolment in Bhutan. Among its early international partners was Wheaton College in Massachusetts, the alma mater of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.[1]
Programmes
RTC offers undergraduate programmes through five departments: Business Studies, Social Sciences, Nursing and Health Sciences, Information Technology and Mathematics, and the Humanities. As an affiliated college of the Royal University of Bhutan, it teaches RUB-prescribed degrees, including the Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Political Science, Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Sociology, Bachelor of Arts in English Studies, Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, Bachelor of Science in Environmental Management, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
The largest single department by enrolment is Business Studies. Several programmes were originally offered only as double majors, but single-major options have since been introduced in English studies and nursing. The college also runs short professional courses, certificates and a small number of graduate offerings introduced in the late 2010s.
Partnerships and grants
RTC has built an unusually wide network of international partners for a Bhutanese institution of its size. Partners have included Wheaton College in the United States, the University of New Brunswick in Canada, several Erasmus+ partner universities in Europe, and a number of Indian and South Asian institutions. In 2016 the college received an Institutional Development Grant of about US$125,000 from the Wenner-Gren Foundation to support the development of anthropological research capacity in Bhutan, an unusual award for a college in the country.[1]
The college has also received Erasmus+ grants for projects on internationalisation, entrepreneurship education, qualitative-research capacity, and curriculum development, in partnership with European and South Asian universities.
Campus and student life
The Ngabiphu campus includes academic buildings, a library, on-campus residence halls for both male and female students, sports facilities and a small auditorium. The college runs a football team that competes in the Bhutan Premier League and a women's team in the Women's National League. Student societies cover debate, music, drama, environmental work, and various academic interests.
Practical information
- Address: Royal Thimphu College, P.O. Box 1122, Ngabiphu, Thimphu, Bhutan
- Phone: +975 2 351801 / 351802 (verify on official site)
- Email: info@rtc.bt (verify on official site)
- Website: www.rtc.bt
- Affiliation: Royal University of Bhutan
- Accreditation: Bhutan Accreditation Council (highest rating, 2016)
References
View online: https://bhutanwiki.org/articles/royal-thimphu-college · Content licensed CC BY-SA 4.0