Choosing Your COMPEX Course: Engineering, Pharmacy, Nursing and More

Under COMPEX, requests to change college, institution or university after placement are not entertained, and the scholarship cannot be transferred. In practice, the course and institute you are placed in are the ones you will graduate from. Students who choose quickly, or choose to please others, can end up in a programme they do not enjoy with no easy way out.

There is also a timing problem. You choose before you know your exam score, so you cannot simply pick the course that matches your result. The safest approach is to list only courses you would be genuinely happy to study, and treat the exam as the way to get there.

The courses split cleanly by stream. BE or B.Tech needs the PCM combination, with at least 60 percent in each of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. B. Pharmacy, B.Sc. Agriculture, B.Sc. Food Technology and B.Sc. Nursing need the PCB combination, with at least 55 percent in each of Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Every course also requires at least 60 percent aggregate and 50 percent in English in Class 12.

Since you can apply for at most two courses, most students pick two from the same stream, such as B. Pharmacy and B.Sc. Nursing, or apply for engineering alone. If you meet the criteria for both streams you can mix them, but you will then need to prepare both Mathematics and Biology for the exam.

For the 2026-27 cycle, the seat breakdown we list shows 220 seats in total: 160 for BE or B.Tech and 15 each for B.Sc. Nursing, B. Pharmacy, B.Sc. Food Technology and B.Sc. Agriculture. Seat numbers can change between years, so confirm them in the current notice.

Seat counts alone do not tell you how hard selection will be, because the number of applicants for each course is not published in the information we hold. What they do show is that each PCB course is small. With only 15 places, a few marks may separate selection from rejection, which is a good reason to use your second course choice thoughtfully.

Engineering is the largest COMPEX option and spans the widest range of institutes on the participating list, from National Institutes of Technology to private deemed universities. That breadth is an advantage, giving you more choice of location, campus size and specialisation. Note that admission to IITs and to some specific NITs requires a JEE score, while most other institutes on the list do not.

In Nepal, engineers who want to practise professionally register with the Nepal Engineering Council, which sets its own requirements for foreign degrees and registration. Abroad, an engineering degree from a recognised Indian institution is a common foundation for postgraduate study, and Nepalese engineering graduates can later look at schemes such as the Homi J. Bhabha Scholarship for an M.E. or M.Tech in India. Your branch matters for both paths, so think about fields with steady demand at home, such as civil engineering for infrastructure, electrical engineering for hydropower and computer engineering for the IT sector.

B. Pharmacy and B.Sc. Nursing lead to regulated professions. In Nepal, pharmacists register with the Nepal Pharmacy Council and nurses with the Nepal Nursing Council, and both councils set conditions for graduates of foreign institutions, which may include a licensing examination. Rules change over time, so check the current requirements with the relevant council before you commit, not after you graduate.

Pharmacy suits students who enjoy chemistry and are comfortable with detail and accuracy. Graduates work in hospital and community pharmacies, pharmaceutical manufacturing, quality control, sales and regulatory roles. Nursing suits students who want direct patient care and can handle long clinical hours, shift work and emotionally demanding situations.

Nursing qualifications are valued in many countries, but each destination has its own licensing process, so a degree alone does not guarantee you can work abroad. Both courses involve hospital or laboratory training from early on, so ask yourself honestly whether you would enjoy that daily reality, not just the title at the end.

B.Sc. Agriculture and B.Sc. Food Technology are often overlooked, partly because they carry less social prestige than engineering or health courses. That can be a mistake. Agriculture remains central to Nepal's economy, and graduates find roles in government agricultural services, research, extension work, agribusiness, input supply companies and development organisations.

Food Technology sits between science and industry. It covers food processing, preservation, packaging, nutrition and quality control, and graduates work in food manufacturing, dairy and beverage companies, testing laboratories and food safety regulation. If you enjoy chemistry and biology but prefer applied, industrial work to clinical work, it deserves a serious look.

Several institutes on the participating list are specialised agricultural universities, such as Punjab Agricultural University and Junagadh Agricultural University. For these courses, an institute with a dedicated agriculture or food science faculty can matter more than general brand recognition.

Use evidence rather than instinct. Look at your Class 12 marks and your subject-wise scores in our practice tests. A student whose Biology and Chemistry are consistently stronger than Physics may find pharmacy or food technology a better fit than a course that leans on physics. Someone who enjoys numerical problem-solving and is strong in Mathematics is likely to cope better with the first-year workload in engineering.

Then talk to people who have done the course, ideally graduates now working in Nepal. Ask what a typical working day looks like, how long it took them to find work and what they wish they had known at 18. These conversations cost nothing and are often more useful than any ranking table.

You can choose up to four institutes, in order of preference, from the list in the online form, and that order is fixed once you submit. Before choosing, confirm that each institute actually offers your course; many technical universities offer only engineering, while agricultural universities are relevant for agriculture and food technology. Remember too that nomination by the Embassy does not by itself guarantee admission, because the receiving institution must also accept you.

• Check whether an institute needs a JEE score for your course before listing it.
• Consider location, climate and distance from Nepal, since travelling home is easier from some regions than others.
• Read the institute's own website for course structure, hostel facilities and accreditation.
• Avoid listing four extremely competitive institutes; mix your strongest preference with realistic alternatives.

Tip: Start from the full participating university list on our COMPEX scholarship page and shortlist from there, rather than relying only on names you have heard from friends.