Tribhuvan University(TU) is a public university in Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal. Established in 1959, TU is the oldest university in Nepal. A huge number of students, approximately 272,746 from all over Nepal and abroad, makes it the biggest university in Nepal.

The University provides both undergraduate and graduate education. Currently, more than 2,400 courses are offered, of which 300 are for intermediate level courses (equivalent to Higher Secondary School), 1,079 are for undergraduate and 1,000 are for Postgraduate programs. The university has 65 integral colleges and more than 200 affiliated colleges throughout the country. Since it is government financed, it is less expensive than other private universities.

Tribhuvan University also hosts four think tanks.

During its 48 years, the state-owned university has expanded its programs in different disciplines. There are five technical institutes and four non-technical faculties, which offer 300 courses in certificate, 1079 courses in bachelor and 1000 courses in master level. Currently, the total courses offered by the university number more than 2400.

Both technical and non-technical Ph.D. programs are available in different disciplines. TU offers a variety of courses of study as required by the nation. Recently TU decided to offer Biotechnology, Dietician, eMBA, Distance Learning Courses at the Master Level and an M.A. in Conflict Peace and Development. M.Phil courses have been started in the faculty of Management, Humanities and Education.

Before 1980, TU offered courses through its constituent campuses only. With the increasing number of students wishing to study at Tribhuvan University, it became necessary to establish colleges in the private sector; the constituent campuses of the university alone could not meet the demand. From 1980, TU began to accord affiliation to private colleges to conduct a variety of programs at different levels. In that year 24 colleges were affiliated to offer the certificate programs. So far 416 colleges, located throughout Nepal, have received affiliation.

There are altogether 272,746 students at TU who study at various levels. The majority of the students (167,114, or 61.27%) are in its 60 constituent campuses spread throughout the country and the remaining 105,632 (or 38.73%) are in the 416 affiliated colleges. Because of the lower fees and easy access,the number of students in constituent campuses is very high.

Tribhuvan University has 6,160 teaching faculty members and 6,952 non-teaching staff, including support staff, in its constituent campuses.