Home

About RTC

Admissions

Academics

Student Life

Careers at RTC

GLOBAL EDUCATION

Others

Articles

Bhutan's First and Only A+ Accredited Institution      Inspiring Education in Bhutan

Updates on campus operations - Spring 2022

April 4th, 2022 - 10:00 AM

As the nation transitions into its next phase of Covid management with further relaxations, we count our blessings and offer our continued gratitude to His Majesty and the government for their efforts towards keeping us all safe. With the generous provision of full vaccination including boosters, we have relatively strong immunity towards severe illness at the present. The recent relaxations have been initiated since the severity and hospitalisation in positive cases have been negligible. Therefore, the College was able to open for all CE programmes in the face-to-face mode from Wednesday 30th March 2022 and for all regular programmes from April 4th. The class schedules are the same as the current online schedule, and students may check their class schedules in the results.rtc.bt portal. We have been fortunate to be able to maintain our academic continuity so far, thanks to the cooperation of our students and the support from their families, and the hard work of our faculty members and staff. 

Health and safety: The health and safety management at the College will now shift focus to mitigating risks from the growing number of cases. As per the nation’s strategy, while natural infections will spread rapidly and reach nearly all individuals, due to the vaccinations and boosters, our immunity is at its best position currently to ward off severe illness. The risk context at the College will be no different than elsewhere in Thimphu. With the gradual spread, our management plan will focus on care for symptomatic cases as we would normally do for any students who fall ill. Such students will be provided with all essential care and services by the student services team on-campus. Our infirmary and on-campus health-in-charge have appropriate resources including medications for the treatment of basic flu-like symptoms. The emergency protocols are in place 24/7 to transport anyone in need to the JDW National Referral Hospital.

While there will not be mass testing, the College will regularly test frontline service staff, particularly at our dining facilities, our key student services staff, drivers, etc. Beyond that, the main operating plan will be that symptomatic individuals will be given the support they need and can stay home until they feel better. Strict contact tracing, isolation, or containment will not feature in the plan. Everyone should maintain the basic hygiene and masking protocols. The reality is that most individuals will go through this without significant impact on their day-to-day lives. Besides vaccination, the best advice is for everyone to maintain their general health and well-being through good daily routines and habits of proper meals, physical activity, adequate rest, and avoiding exacerbating factors such as alcohol, tobacco, and drugs.

We are all in this together. I look forward to continuing our academic session together in person soon.

With best wishes,

President Tshewang Tandin

Key contacts are:

February 23rd, 2022 - 4:00 PM

The National COVID-19 Taskforce announced a further lockdown of Thimphu and Paro from 23rd February 2022 with the emergence of more COVID-19 community cases, and considering the need to assess and contain the disease spread. There are no cases detected in the RTC Zone.

The College’s offices including its academic department will continue to operate through the remote working mode. We were fortunate to be able to complete our usual semester-opening preparations with all our faculty members and staff on-campus during the prior week. Preparations are now underway for the start of all classes tomorrow, 24th February 2022, in the online mode. As with prior lockdowns, the College has been preparing for such contingencies. We understand that the adjustment to online classes may be initially challenging to those who have not experienced these before, but we have seen previously that the adaptability and hard work of the students and tutors will ensure we are successful in ensuring the continuity of the students’ learning. We remain hopeful that the lockdown will resolve and that we resume face-to-face classes once the lockdown lifts.

Campus and Reporting: All residence and dining facilities are open on campus and boarding students may join as soon as they get movement permission to come to the campus. Logistical support for stranded students is being provided directly to those in need. For those in need of support for reporting to the campus facilities, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  / 77794595 / 17982500, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / 17334497. Please check the complete Campus Operations February 2022 Guidelines for campus details.

Academics: Online classes for all programmes will begin from 24th February as scheduled; all students will find information on their classes through the VLE, and class schedules will be conveyed by the respective programmes. The Microsoft Teams platform will be used for online classes. Reassessment examinations for the RUB programmes are postponed and will take place 5-6th March.

Internet data support for online classes: For any students not on campus including boarding students genuinely unable to report to their residences, a tuition credit of Nu. 800 towards the cost of internet data will be applied for every 30 calendar days (or prorated portion thereof) that classes need to be held in online mode. For CE students, this will be Nu. 700 for upper-year students (years 2-4) and Nu. 600 for 1st year students due to the lesser number of modules. Due to continuing uncertainties, this credit will be reconciled at the end of the semester, and students should manage their data recharges themselves as per their convenience.

Health and safety: The health and safety of the College community members continues to be the first priority. Our health and safety protocols were developed and implemented since mid-2020. We are confident that the facilities and protocols in place meet the requirements of the health and education ministries for educational institutions. Students will be provided with all essential care and services by the student services team on-campus

Key contacts are:

  • For academics, the Academic Affairs Department, programme leaders and tutors will be in touch with the students directly on the ways forward with the online classes. Students should log on to the VLE in preparation for the conduct of online classes, if any. For general academic queries, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
  • For health and well-being, please contact the College nurse Ms. Deepanjali Dewan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 17581088) or the College counsellors, Ms. Tenzing Choden (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 77775557) and Ms.Junias Rasaily (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 77389559).
  • For residence-related needs, please contact the Residence Assistants (RAs), the Male Mentor Mr. Tashi (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 17894357), or the Female Mentor Ms. Pema Yangchen (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 17653422).
  • For estate-related needs including electricity and water, please contact the Sr. Estate Officer Namgay Wangdi at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 17942223.
  • For IT-related needs, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., drop a message on the RTC IT Support Facebook Page, connect via the RTC IT Support WhatsApp, or dial the dedicated IT Support Hotline Number (77457548).

February 7th, 2022 - 6:00 PM

rtc snow

The government announced a nationwide lockdown on 16th January 2022 to allow time for thorough contact tracing of a positive COVID19 case detected in Wangduephodrang. The government has undertaken strenuous efforts to combat the pandemic while minimizing hardships for everyone in the country. We remain grateful for the tireless efforts of His Majesty and the government towards keeping us all safe.

The College’s offices including its academic department have continued to operate through remote working mode since the start of the lockdown. Amidst the lockdown and despite challenges thereof, the College has been able to facilitate the arrival of our new expatriate faculty with the support from various agencies; also, almost all of our returning faculty members have also been able to arrive back into the Country after their winter break. Further additional activities in preparation for the Spring Semester 2022 are being pursued actively by the respective offices for the resumption of the semester for the remaining students.

We are fortunate that the RTC zone and the Thimphu South Megazone remain free of any COVID19 cases. Along with the start of classes for the BSc in Nursing & Midwifery programme from 1st February 2022, we have been able to welcome resident students that are able to join after testing, while classes for all are proceeding in the online mode. Logistical support for stranded students is being provided directly to those in need.

As with prior lockdowns, the College has been preparing for such contingencies -- this has been possible through the adaptability and hard work of the students and tutors, and the kind cooperation and understanding from the parents throughout the past nearly two years. We were relatively fortunate to avoid any disturbances to our academic calendar through 2021, and despite the ongoing challenges, we will continue to ensure the continuity of the students’ learning throughout this year as well. We remain hopeful that the lockdown will resolve in the coming days and we could resume face-to-face classes once the lockdown lifts, but will be prepared for alternatives nonetheless. Our plans will continue to evolve as we get further guidance from the authorities.

As of now, the academic dates for the rest of the programmes remain as planned in our Academic Calendar with minor adjustments:

  • Nursing students: resident students may report as soon as it is possible for them to do so. Classes have begun in the online mode.
  • All other resident students should report on 23rd February; student leaders will also report at this time.
  • The first day of classes for all non-Nursing programmes will be on 24th February (online or in-person).
  • We strongly encourage all students outside of Thimphu to arrange their travel in advance rather than waiting until the last minute so as not to overwhelm the various Dzongkhag Task Forces with travel pass requests. For those in need of confirmation letters on the reporting dates, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / 77794595 / 17982500, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / 17334497. For those that have to arrive a day or two early, the College will facilitate your arrival also.
  • Reassessment examinations for the RUB programmes are postponed and will take place 26-27th February.

Internet data support for online classes: For any students not on campus including boarding students genuinely unable to report to their residences, a tuition credit of Nu. 800 towards the cost of internet data will be applied for every 30 calendar days (or prorated portion thereof) that classes need to be held in online mode. For CE students, this will be Nu. 700 for upper-year students (years 2-4) and Nu. 600 for 1st year students due to the lesser number of modules. Due to continuing uncertainties, this credit will be reconciled at the end of the semester, and students should manage their data recharges themselves as per their convenience.

The health and safety of the College community members continue to be the first priority. Our health and safety protocols were developed and implemented since mid-2020. We are confident that the facilities and protocols in place meet the requirements of the health and education ministries for educational institutions. Students will be provided with all essential care and services by the student services team on-campus.

Key contacts are:

  • For academics, the Academic Affairs Department, programme leaders and tutors will be in touch with the students directly on the ways forward with the online classes. Students should log on to the https://vle.rtc.bt in preparation for the conduct of online classes, if any. For general academic queries, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
  • For health and well-being, please contact the College nurse Ms. Deepanjali Dewan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 17581088) or the College counsellors, Ms. Tenzing Choden (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 77775557) and Ms.Junias Rasaily (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 77389559).
  • For residence-related needs, please contact the Residence Assistants (RAs), the Male Mentor Mr. Tashi (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 17894357), or the Female Mentor Ms. Pema Yangchen (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 17653422).
  • For estate-related needs including electricity and water, please contact the Sr. Estate Officer Namgay Wangdi at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 17942223.
  • For IT-related needs, please correspond by e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or for urgent needs, Mr. Namgay Tshering the IT Manager’s support hotline is 77457546. 

 

[Full archive of past updates]