University of the Punjab
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| University of the Punjab | |
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| Established: | 1882 |
| Type: | Education and Research |
| Chancellor: | Governor of Punjab Khalid Maqbool |
| Students: | 3000 regular, over 27000 in autonomous affiliated colleges |
| Location: | Lahore and Gujranwala, Pakistan  |
| Campus: | 1,800 acres (7 km²) (Quaid-i-Azam Campus, LHR), 100 acre Allama Iqbal Campus, LHR and Gujranwala campus |
| Website: | www.pu.edu.pk |
The University of the Punjab (abbreviated as PU) (Urdu: جامعه پنجاب), 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).
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[edit] 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 War of Independence in 1857. Joseph Lwe was the funder 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 the 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 affliate 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.
Many major institutions that were previously affiliated to Punjab University have now become independent Universities on their own. Some of the examples are Government College University, Medical and Engineering Colleges, etc.
[edit] Campus
The University of Punjab has several campuses in Pakistan including[1]:
- 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 speaks aloud of Islamic architectural design and is located in the middle of the bustling city of Lahore.
- 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 centre of academic and administrative activities of the University. A canal dividing the academic blocks from the student lodgings adds to the beauty of the campus.
- Gujranwala Campus: The campus has four disciplines i.e. Business Administration, Commerce, Law and Information Technology. Few more disciplines will be added in near future.
- 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 centre for the faculty and the students.
[edit] Academics
It is the country's leading university, offering a very broad program of studies at the undergraduate, Postgraduate, MPhil, and PhD levels. The university has about 3000 full-time regular students and more 27,000 students in autonomous 434 affiliated colleges. The university acts as a certifying body for the autonomous colleges and does not participate in their day to day operation. The University also administers and grades the final or end of degree exams for all graduates of these autonomous affiliated colleges. Hence all graduates of these autonomous affiliated colleges are awarded their degree by the University of Punjab. The university also has several thousand private students mostly 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 highly qualified teaching faculty that provides instruction to students and conducts research in the fields of arts, science, technology and agriculture. 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]
[edit] Faculties
There are 14 faculties in the University with 9 constituent colleges, 64 Departments, Centers, Institutes. It has about a 100 permanent faculty members involved in teaching/research. [2]:
- Faculty of Arts and Humanities
- Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences
- Faculty of Commerce
- Faculty of Computer Sciences
- 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 (to be discontinued soon)
- Faculty of Oriental Learning
- Faculty of Pharmacy
- Faculty of Science
[edit] IT Restructuring
In the last four years, University of the Punjab has spent a large amount to develop the IT Infrastructure and serve the students in the best and latest possible ways. At the moment, the University has 9 MB bandwidth for students, faculty and researchers, which is the largest bandwidth amongst any Public Sector University in Pakistan. The University of the Punjab has the largest Fibre Optic Cables Local Area Network involving more than 35 km single and multimode fibre optic cable as backbone and more than 2,000 nodes, which connects all existing departments and hostels with each other. To manage all the activities of the overall IT infrastructure, like 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, the University of the Punjab has a full-fledged service department in Quaid-i-Azam Campus, namely the Information Technology Centre. It is working for the growth and smooth progress for the evolution of new IT developments.
[edit] Research and Collaborations
The university is working alongside a large variety of universities in the world including some of the following: Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT), City University of Hong Kong, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Cornell University Ithaca, Daito Bunka University, University of Dhaka, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM), The Faculty of Foreign Languages University of Tehran, Geumgang University Nonsan, Kyushu University, University of Luton, Markaz Nashr-e-Miras-e-Maktoob, Moscow State University, University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), National Research Center for Genetic Engineering and Bio Technology (NRCGEB), Osaka University of Foreign Studies, The San Jose State University, Tarbiat Modares University Tehran, The University of Tehran, University UTARA, 06010 UUM SINTOK, Kedah Darul Aman, School of Literature Wuhan, University People’s Republic of China, and University of Zimbabwe Harare.
[edit] Notable alumni
Two of the illustrious alumni of the University of the Punjab were awarded Nobel Prizes in 1968 and 1979.
- Dr Har Gobind Khorana, an Indian-American researcher, received the 1968 Nobel Prize winner in the category Physiology or Medicine, did his B.Sc. and M.Sc from the University of the Punjab in 1943 and 1945, respectively. He received the Nobel Prize for his work on the interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis.
- Dr Abdus Salam, a Pakistani theoretical physicist, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979 for his work in Electroweak Theory which is the mathematical and conceptual synthesis of the Electromagnetic and Weak interactions. He received his MA in mathematics in 1946 from the University of the Punjab.
