Ways of learning among undergraduate urban youth in everyday life in Nepal

This paper uses narrative inquiry to explore the formal-informal learning continuum in the context of a higher education institution in Kathmandu, Nepal. The paper finds a gap within the official curriculum and pedagogy in its lack of recognition for informal ways of learning. Similarly, the everyday life activities and the cultural context of youth are not reflected within the formal structure of university programmes. Youth learn from collaborating with their peers in informal and incidental ways. Such informal ways of learning complement and contest the formal learning situation and process. The research concludes that for higher education to be relevant to youth, attention needs to be paid to these forms of informal learning that reflect their everyday learning and prepare them for lifelong learning.