UNSW and the School of Social Sciences (SoSS) have hosted the study tour of Nepali senior government officials at UNSW from 22 – 25 August 2017. The purpose of the study tour was to understand the Australian federal governance systems and practices. SoSS hosted this program upon request from Nepal which came at a time when the country has been moving through major restructuring from a unitary system to federal system of governance. The visiting team comprised people of influence in making government decisions, including Secretary of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, Mr Dinesh Thapaliya. Dr Christopher Walker, Head of School, welcomed the delegates and shared an overview of the Australian federal system. Drs Krishna Shrestha and Hemant Ojha and Ms Lauren Tynan were involved in organising the tour. The delegates attended seminars, met with scholars, visited the NSW and Federal parliaments and shared experiences with officials and politicians from local, state and federal levels. In the closing session, UNSW DVC Professor Eileen Baldry thanked the delegates in choosing UNSW Social Sciences as their host and expressed interest to deepen our collaboration with Nepal’s government in the future. Secretary Thapalia thanked the university for organising the event and expressed that the experiences and insights obtained from the tour will be beneficial to help improve the federal governance structure and systems in Nepal.
