In a bold move, an official with Nepal’s regulatory agency for universities has said that political meddling in the country’s higher-education system — especially in faculty appointments — has created numerous hurdles in improving the quality of its universities, Kantipur Online reported.

“With both chancellors and vice chancellors being political appointees, the universities have been highly politicized,” said the official, Krishna Manandhar, a member of Nepal’s University Grants Commission, referring to the top two posts in universities. The chairman of the regulatory panel, as well as top officials at Tribhuvan University, Nepal’s oldest university, agreed with Mr. Manandhar at a program on Saturday.

“The universities tend to make wrong academic and administrative decisions under political pressure, thus adversely affecting the quality of education,” Mr. Manandhar said. Youth wings of various political parties are active on the country’s campuses, and students and administrative officials often seriously disrupt teaching schedules by calling strikes and forcing universities to shut down, he said, adding that universities operate best when free from any kind of politics.

Earlier this month Nepal’s finance minister, who is also a top leader of the Maoists, who won national elections last April, said that his new government planned to give academic degrees to people who could not pursue education because they were involved in the Maoists’ armed conflict.

Faculty appointments have long been a problem at Tribhuvan University, said Mr. Manandhar, because political affiliation rather than competence takes precedence in hiring. He suggested a system of appointment based solely on expertise, qualifications, capabilities, and need. Nepal has six universities and has allotted funds for three new ones, he said, but there is no clarity on how the government grants would be used. —Shailaja Neelakantan