Thimphu (PTI): High school pass-outs in Bhutan can now study in the country's first private college, classes of which will begin on Monday.

The Royal Thimphu College (RTC) was inaugurated on Friday by Queen Grandmother Kesang Choeden Wangchuck.

A two-day orientation and first semester comprising RTC's first batch of 318 undergraduates, with one foreign student from Korea, begins tomorrow. About 56 per cent of the students are females.

Spread over a 25-acre area in Nagbephu, about 10 km from here, the college affiliated to the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) will offer bachelor programmes in computer application, business administration, commerce and arts programmes in English, economics, environmental science, Dzongkha (national language), sociology and political science.

With its first phase completed, the college has 16 buildings, comprising hostels that can accommodate 290 students, dining facilities, a bookstore and sports facilities like a football ground and a gymnasium.

"We started this project as a way to address the shortage of seats in higher education within Bhutan and to provide an alternative to the traditional teaching-learning pedagogy," said chief executive of RTC Tenzing Yonten said.

One of the objectives of RTC is to provide quality education at a reasonable cost, he said.

The construction of RTC is expected to be completed by 2011. The total cost of the project is USD 11 million.