The programmes and activities of the Centre are guided by the following objectives:

• To plan and conduct research on the problems of national integration and impact of modernization;
• To promote and undertake studies on current development issues, ethnic diversities, change in traditional political values, and cultural studies of Nepal, SAARC and other Asian countries;
• To undertake issue-specific research on environment studies, gender studies, population studies, and migration studies, applied linguistic and sociolinguistic studies;
• To encourage academic exchanges with other research organizations both within and outside Nepal;
• To act as a venue for contact, affiliation, and co-ordination of research activities of Nepali and foreign scholars working on Nepali studies;
• To maintain a comprehensive bibliographic database on Nepal, SAARC, and South Asia;
• To organize national and international seminars on current social and cultural issues;
• To disseminate research works on Nepal through publications; and
• Various aspects of SAARC and other Asian Countries