History of Institute of Forestry in Nepal

The Institute of Forestry (IOF) is the only institution in Nepal for training middle and high level professional in forestry and natural resource management (NRM). Started as the Nepal Forestry Institute run by Singh Durbar, Kathmandu, in 1947, it was relocated to Suping (Bhim Phedi) from 1957-58 and again in Hetauda in 1965 for better physical facilities established by the Indian Cooperation Mission (ICM). The institute was managed by the Department of Forests until July 1972, when it was incorporated into the Tribhuvan University System. Here it started its new era as the Institute of Forestry (IOF). The IOF expanded its training programs in 1981 to Pokhara where the infrastructure of the Central campus was developed with technical and financial assistance from the World Bank, International Development Agency (IDA), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO)..

The IOF offered a two year Certificate Level in Forestry only at Hetauda until 1981, when in order to meet the growing demand for trained natural resource managers in the country, it intitiated two academic programs; a 2 year Technical certificate in Forestry (TCF) and a three year Bachelor of Science in Forestry (BScF). In 1995, the latter was increased to a four-year program in order for students to attain sixteen years of education after the completion of undergraduate level. Currently, IOF operates two separate campuses, one at Pokhara and the other at Hetauda which implement similar academic programs, i.e. Bachelor of Science in Forestry. From the year 2012 the Technical certificate in Forestry course is removed as directed by the Tribhuwan University (TU), Nepal. Now the Bachelor of Science in Forestry is taken by remaining batches of forestry, CTEVT (Forestry) and +2 science (HSEB). IOF has further grown and added a Master of Science in Forestry (M.SC. Forestry) in Pokhara from past few years in General Forestry and Natural Resource Management.

IOF has further grown and added Nine Master is different despairs degree programme, & with M.Phil & Ph.D. Community Forestry at Pokhara. IOF/TU is also collaborating currently with NORAGRIC of the Agricultural University of Norway (AUN) in implementing Master of Science in Management of Natural Resources and Sustainable Agriculture (M.Sc. in MNRSA) programme partially at Pokhara. IOF's two Campuses are administered by separate Campus Chiefs under the leadership of the Dean of the Institute of Forestry. The Dean is supported by two assistance deans in steering the course of IOF into the 21st century.