UK–Nepal TNE Partnership

About The Project

Addressing critical gaps in Nepal's architectural education through co-designed, open-licensed, and sustainable digital construction resources

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BIM CoordinationISO 196505D WorkflowsCommon Data EnvironmentTrain the TrainerSkills PassportTNE PartnershipBIM CoordinationISO 196505D WorkflowsCommon Data EnvironmentTrain the TrainerSkills PassportTNE Partnership
Background

The Context

Grant Reference
TNE2025-3230
British Council Going Global Partnerships — TNE Exploratory Grant
£25
Total Grant
18 months
Duration
2026-06-01
Start Date
2027-08-31
End Date

DigiArch Nepal addresses a critical and growing gap: Nepal's architectural and construction education sector is rapidly expanding, yet the majority of graduates enter the profession without exposure to the digital tools and standards now required by international practice.

BIM coordination, ISO 19650 compliance, 5D cost workflows, and Common Data Environment practice have become baseline expectations across the industry globally — but remain largely absent from Nepal's university curricula due to limited access to software, undertrained faculty, and a lack of localised teaching resources.

The DigiArch Nepal project brings together Edinburgh Napier University's School of Computing, Engineering & the Built Environment and Tribhuvan University's Institute of Engineering in Kathmandu to address these gaps through a co-designed, inclusive, and sustainable TNE model. The project is funded by the British Council's Going Global Partnerships programme under the TNE Exploratory grant scheme.

The project is explicitly designed to build lasting local capacity — not dependency. All resources will be open-licensed, Nepali faculty will be equipped to deliver content independently, and a community of practice will be established to sustain momentum beyond the funding period.

Objectives

Five Core
Objectives

Each objective is designed to build on the previous, creating a coherent pathway from diagnosis to sustainable delivery.

View Outputs →
  • 01
    Edited Digital Skills Audit To conduct a comprehensive audit of digital skills barriers, software access constraints, and curriculum gaps across Nepal's architectural education institutions, producing an evidence base for targeted intervention.
  • 02
    Digital Skills Audit To co-design an inclusive, contextualised digital construction skills toolkit covering BIM coordination, ISO 19650 standards, 5D cost workflows, and Common Data Environment (CDE) practice, developed jointly by UK and Nepali faculty.
  • 03
    Train-the-Trainer ProgrammeTo build sustainable staff capability through a structured Train-the-Trainer programme, equipping faculty at Tribhuvan University and partner institutions to independently deliver digital construction education at scale.
  • 04
    New Objective New Objective
Timeline & Impact

Project
Timeline

Feb 2026

Project Launch & Kick-off

Team mobilisation

July 2026

Second Milestone

Project Launch & Kick-off Team mobilisation

SDG
Alignment

8 Quality Education
5 Quality Education
4 SDG
4 SDG

The project is explicitly designed with Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at its core. The digital skills audit includes a gender-disaggregated analysis, the toolkit is designed for accessibility and low-bandwidth delivery, and the Train-the-Trainer programme prioritises female faculty participation.

By embedding digital construction skills into Nepal's architectural education system, the project contributes directly to SDG 9's vision of inclusive industrialisation and SDG 4's goal of quality, equitable technical education.

Partner Institutions
British council