University of the Punjab

University of the Punjab (Punjabi, Urdu: جامعہ پنجاب) (abbreviated some time as PU), colloquially known as Punjab University, is located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The University of the Punjab was formally established with the convening of the first meeting of its Senate on October 14, 1882 at Simla. It was the fourth university to be established by the British colonial authorities on the Indian subcontinent (the first three universities were established by the British rulers at their initial strongholds of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras). According to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, Punjab University is one of the top ranked general universities in Pakistan.

Motto Urdu: ایمان ، اتحاد ، نظم
(Iman, Ittehad, Nazm)
Motto in English Faith, Unity, Discipline
Established 1882
Type Public
President Dr. Mujahid Kamran
Academic staff Nobel laureate= 2 Abdus Salam, Har Gobind Khorana
Students 30,000
Location Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Campus Urban

History

The University of the Punjab came into existence as a result of a long drawn struggle of the people of Punjab after the Indian Mutiny in 1857. Prof Dr GW Leitner was the founder of the university. Contrary to the three previously established universities, which were only examining institutions, the University of the Punjab was both teaching as well as examining body right from beginning.

From its formation in 1882 until 1947, the University of the Punjab served the educational needs of the entire region of pre-partition Punjab and northern India. Mohindra College, Patiala was the first college of higher learning to affiliate with University of Punjab in 1882; followed by St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. The partition of India in 1947 reduced the geographical jurisdiction of the university. The current Institute of Administrative Sciences was created in 1962.

Many major institutions that were previously affiliated to Punjab University have now become independent universities on their own, such as Government College University and Medical and Engineering Colleges.

Campus

Allama Iqbal Campus

The University of Punjab has several campuses in Pakistan including:

• Allama Iqbal Campus: Also known as the Old Campus, it is named after the great South Asian thinker and mystic poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal. The building has an Islamic architectural design and is located in the middle of the bustling city of Lahore.

University of the Punjab at Gujranwala

• Quaid-i-Azam Campus: Also known as the New Campus, it is named after the name of the father of the Nation and is located 12 kilometers to the South of Allama Iqbal Campus. Spread over an area of 1,800 acres (7 km²) of lush green landscape, this campus is the center of academic and administrative activities of the University. A canal divides the academic blocks from the student lodgings.

• Gujranwala Campus: The campus has four disciplines i.e. Business Administration, Commerce, Law and Information Technology.

• Khanaspur Campus: The summer campus at Khanaspur is located at a height of about 7,000 ft (2,100 m). in the Himalayan range near Ayubia. This campus, in addition to providing research facilities, is also used as a recreational center for the faculty and the students.

Academics

It is the country’s leading university, offering a broad program of studies at the undergraduate, MSc, MPhil and PhD levels. It also offers BS honors in subjects including software engineering, computer science, information technology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, statistics and environmental sciences. The university has about 25,000 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. They also sale the seats to sahiwal’s colleges

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.(Information: Hamza Nihal) Under the leadership of Professor Dr. Mujahid Kamran, the University of the Punjab has set a new landmark of a hattrick of producing more than 100 PhDs per year during the last three years.(Information: Muhammad Sarwar)

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.

• Faculty of Arts and Humanities
• Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences
• Faculty of Commerce
• Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences
• Faculty of Education
• Faculty of Engineering & Technology
• Faculty of Islamic Studies
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of Life-Sciences
• Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
• Faculty of Oriental Learning
• Faculty of Pharmacy
• 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/collaborating with others globally:

United States

• Cornell University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
• San José State University.

United Kingdom

• University of Manchester
• University of Luton

China

• Beijing University of Chemical Technology
• City University of Hong Kong
• Wuhan University, School of Foreign Languages and Literature
• University People’s Republic of China
• Sichuan University
• Zhengzhou Medical University

Iran

• Markaz Nashr-e-Miras-e-Maktoob
• Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
• University of Tehran, The Faculty of Foreign Languages
• Tarbiat Modares University

Punjab University Library

Punjab University Library is one of the biggest libraries in universities of Pakistan. The library has more than 500,000 collection of books, magazines and periodicals. This collection is in nine different national and international languages and different types as print material, CDs, DVDs, Microfilms, Microfiches, Video and Audio Cassettes and Manuscripts. Punjab University Library has beautiful two storey building and total area of the building is 1,02,000 sq. feet. There are reading halls in both ground and 1st floor with approximately seating capacity of 2500 readers. The library has internet lab for the students to research according to the new technologies of 21st century. In the library there is computerized “WINISIS” catalogue for searching material.