* Universities in Pakistan - A Brief Introduction

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University of the Punjab

Established in 1882 at Lahore, the University of the Punjab is the largest and the oldest seat of higher learning in Pakistan. It was the first to be established in the sub-continent in Muslim majority area. The fact that three Nobel laureates are from this University speaks volumes for its academic and research excellence.

Located in the historical and culturally alive city of Lahore, this University has played a leading role in higher education in the country. The University strives to provide a conducive environment for the pursuit of the academic activities. On account of its quality degrees, pleasant environment and low tuition fees the University remains the institution of first choice for admission seeking students.
Allama Iqbal Campus, named after the great South Asian thinker and mystic poet, with Islamic architectural design is in the middle of the bustling city of Lahore.

Quaid-i-Azam Campus, after the name of the father of the Nation, is located 12 kilometers to the South of Allama Iqbal Campus. Spread over an area of 1800 acres of lush green landscape, this campus is the centre of academic and administrative activities of the University. A canal dividing the academic blocks from the student lodgings and adds to the beauty of the campus.

The University has also a summer campus at Khanaspur, located at a height of about 7,000 ft. in the Himalayan range near Ayubia. This Campus, in addition to providing research facilities, is also used as a recreational centre for the faculty and the students.

The University has also started Campus at Gujranwala, with four disciplines i.e. Business Administration, Commerce, Law and Information Technology. Few more disciplines will be added in near future.

The University comprises of 4 Campuses, 13 Faculties, 9 constituent colleges, over 63 Departments, Centres, Institutes, and 500+ affiliated colleges. It has over 620 permanent faculty members involved in teaching/research and over 30,000 on campus students. Annually there are about 350 exams for 450,000 students.


facilities

The University of the Punjab provides several facilities to staff and students, which include health, hostel, transport, library, sports and various others.





HostelsThere are twenty-two hostels including four separate hostels for female students. The residential accommodation in each of these hostels comprises of cubicles and three-seat dormitories.

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Video ConferenceTo enhance students teachers interaction through distance learning, bridge the gap of good faculty, meet the shortage of faculty members at the universities located at farflung areas...

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HealthThe University provides medical support to both resident and day students as well as employees and their families.

SportsA variety of sports facilities including playing fields for cricket, hockey, football and athletics, a swimming pool for male students, squash courts and indoor game facilities in the hostels are ......

LibraryPunjab University Library is the largest resource center of knowledge and information in Pakistan, which came into existence in 1882.

Internet InfrastructureThe University has created an internet infrastructure within and between the two campuses.

Curricular ActivitiesApart from academic activities, the University also organizes extra curricular activities for the students which includes declamation contests in Urdu and English.



Vision

Punjab University intends to be a lead public university in providing affordable educational opportunities to develop scientific, socio-cultural, economic and political leadership, through learner-centred teaching and research, while strengthening our identity at National and International level.

Goals

Improvement in quality and standard of education to conform the national/international needs.

Promotion of development-oriented applied research.

Accountability in finances and academic programs.

Character development with emphasis on morality and growth of maturity.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide a holistic education as such an approach has a two fold benefit.

The first is that young people are nurtured to be sensitive, tolerant, humane and capable of thinking in a creative and critical way. The second is, that armed with a sense of history and equipped with knowledge and expertise, the graduates whom we send out into the world are in a better position to develop their leadership potential and make a positive contribution to public life. We hope that understanding as they do, their role in the wider community of human kind and responsible to it their action and attitudes will reflect their education.

Academics

It is the country's leading university, offering a broad program of studies at the undergraduate, MSc, MPhil and PhD levels.It is also offering BS honours in subjects including software engineering, computer science, information technology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, statistics and environmental sciences. The university has about 25000 full-time regular students and about 147,000 students in 434 affiliated colleges. With very few exceptions, these colleges offer a 2 year associate bachelors or 'bachelor pass' degree. The university acts as only as a certifying body for the autonomous colleges and also administers and grades the final or end of degree exams for all graduates of these autonomous affiliated colleges. The university does not participate in their day to day operation. All graduates of these autonomous affiliated colleges are awarded their degree by the University of Punjab. The university also has several thousand private students in the liberal arts subjects. These study on their own and take examinations held by the university to qualify for their degrees.

The University has a teaching faculty that provides instruction to students and conducts research. At present about a hundred students are registered in the PhD programs of various disciplines under the regular PhD scheme. The University aims to produce at least 100 PhDs every year.[citation needed]

Faculties

There are 13 faculties in the University with 10 constituent colleges, 63 Departments, Centers, Institutes. It has about 650 permanent faculty members involved in teaching/research. [2]:

1 Faculty of Arts and Humanities
2 Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences
3 Faculty of Commerce
4 Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences
5 Faculty of Education
6 Faculty of Engineering & Technology
7 Faculty of Islamic Studies
8 Faculty of Law
9 Faculty of Life-Sciences
10 Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
11 Faculty of Oriental Learning
12 Faculty of Pharmacy
13 Faculty of Science

IT Restructuring

The University has 9 MB bandwidth for students, faculty and researchers, which is the highest bandwidth amongst any public sector university in Pakistan. The university has the largest fibre optic Local Area Network involving more than 35 km single and multimode fiber optic cable as backbone and more than 2,000 nodes, which connects all existing departments and hostels with each other. The university has a service department in Quaid-i-Azam Campus (called the Information Technology Centre) to manage all the activities of the overall IT infrastructure, such as network development, expansion and maintenance, providing maintenance/troubleshooting services (network, hardware and software) to all departments, software development, database management and Website development, online announcement of examination results, and 24-hour internet facility.

Research and collaborations

The university is working alongside universities such as:

China
Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT). City University of Hong Kong. School of Literature Wuhan. University Peoples Republic of China.

USA
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Cornell University, Ithaca. The San Jose State University.

Iran
Markaz Nashr-e-Miras-e-Maktoob. Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM). The Faculty of Foreign Languages University of Tehran. Tarbiat Modares University Tehran. The University of Tehran,

UK
University of Manchester. University of Luton.

Others
University of Vienna, Institute of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies. Osaka University of Foreign Studies. Daito Bunka University. University of Dhaka. Geumgang University Nonsan. Kyushu University. Moscow State University. Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). National Research Center for Genetic Engineering and Bio Technology (NRCGEB). University Utara. Kedah Darul Aman. University of Zimbabwe Harare.

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