Rangjung Yeshe Institute featured in The Kathmandu Post
“There is a richness here in Kathmandu that you cannot emulate anywhere else in the world.”
Dr. Julia Stenzel
Director of Studies
KU-CBS / RYI
On Saturday, July 28, The Kathmandu Post featured RYI in a full-length article exploring how Kathmandu is becoming a global centre for Buddhist higher education. Journalist Baala Shakya spoke with students, faculty, and Director of Studies Julia Stenzel about what draws scholars from more than 40 countries to study on the grounds of Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Boudha.
The article traces RYI’s growth from 36 students in 2002 to 169 enrolled today — with a further hundred attending Summer Intensive courses — and highlights the institute’s distinctive approach: combining traditional monastic scholarship, classical language training in Tibetan and Sanskrit, and Western academic inquiry under one roof.
The article also profiles students including Vera Hogg (New York), Elijah Wilkins (University of Hawaii), and Svenja Sender (Germany) — each of whom spoke about the irreplaceable value of studying within a living tradition, where teachers are practitioners and research takes place inside active monasteries.
