Islamia University Bahawalpur, the largest university in South Punjab, plays a key role in providing quality education to thousands of students from across the country.
Ninety percent domine of all education are taught in this university. Giving an exclusive interview to our correspondent, Engineer Prof. Dr. Athar Mehboob, Vice Chancellor, Islamia University, Bahawalpur said that the university has a total of five campuses, three of which are in Bahawalpur, one in Bahawalnagar and the other in Rahim Yar Khan. Dr. Athar said that the largest campus is Baghdad-e-Jadeed. Eighty percent of the students are studying in this campus. There are 5,500 students in Bahawalnagar and 4,000 in Rahim Yar Khan. He said that there is an old campus in Bahawalpur city called Abbasia Campus and it has been set up on 30 acres of land. This campus was built by Nawab Sadiq Khan.
According to the Vice Chancellor, the large campus of the university has various departments including research farms, solar energy parks and faculty buildings. In addition, there are 13 faculties and four colleges in Management Science, Computer Science, Arts, Social Sciences, Education, etc. In terms of knowledge, ninety percent domine of the education are taught here from bachelors to PhDs.
Research on cotton is being carried out at this university as this area is very famous for cotton crop that is why this university is trying to produce a seed which is less affected by climate change and seasonal diseases. So far, cotton has introduced several types of packages and more work is underway for more verities of seed. In response to a question, he said that it is a general public university and its campuses are residential campuses. Each campus has a hostel and the university can accommodate 6,000 students. They have the capacity to accommodate three and a half thousand female students as well as two and a half thousand male students in its hostels.
Students from all over the country are studying in this university in which nine hundred students from Balochistan have been studying. large numbers of students from Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir, the former FATA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and other parts of the country are studying here he added. He said that this area is very famous for cotton and for some time the landowners were suffering from various diseases on cotton. We have introduced a seed that can give maximum products with less expenditures after undergoing various experiments. We are also working on orchards in the field of agriculture, and horticulture especially fruit orchards. Our agricultural scientists are working very diligently on this, which will lead to a revolution in the field of agriculture.
Replying to a question, he said that department of environmental sciences ets is working under the name of Cholistan Institute of Desert Studies which is also working with various other institutes on wildlife in Cholistan so that to work on wildlife which available here they could also be promoted and protected.
In terms of resources, we are very optimistic. Our 4,000 students are working in the media sector and information technology can also be used in it so that we can revolutionize the media sector through it. We must also take care of water resources so that we can achieve our goal without wasting water.
He said that it was established in the style of Al-Azhar University, where in the beginning work was also done on medicine and surgery. Responding to a question, he said that the Institute of Cultural Heritage was being set up which would play a key role in conservation preserving the culture of the region. This includes the local community. And Hakra civilization will preserve as well as other civilizations. This university has produced great personalities including Javed Chaudhry, bureaucracy who have also studied here.
Bahawalpur itself is a museum with numerous forts and palaces and the university is also playing a role in preserving this civilization. This university has revolutionized academically. We are now opening a nursing college. Regarding the educational expenses, he said that education is provided here at a very reasonable fee. There is still a fee of Rs 20,000 per semester. In the last session, 11,000 students were given scholarships of Rs 400 million. 25 per cent of our total budget. It becomes a hundred. A total of 71 female students from the United Kingdom received scholarships.
In response to a question about the Botanical Garden, he said that this area was a sand dune and a desert and we turned it into a garden by this university. At the moment we have ten thousand successful trees and ten thousand more plants to be planted. Similarly, 60,000 trees have been planted in the Baghdadul Jadeed campus. One lakh more sapling will be planted in that campus and the prize is won every year by university. The university has more than a thousand faculty members. In addition, there are twelve hundred visiting faculty members who teach on our campuses. Our program is to have three hundred faculty members in the next six months and five hundred faculty members in twelve months. Regarding the difficulties, he said that there are difficulties and challenges in resources but he hoped that the government would definitely cooperate with us.
Our first goal was to provide quality education and we strive to make it one of the top 100 universities in the world. He said in his message to the younger generation that education like the environment of old kings and princes is being imparted here in Bahawalpur and it should be utilized.
When our correspondent asked him that how much he can support students of backward area of Chitral, he said that it is the only university in which Punjab domicile is not necessary for admission on open merit. Yes, students of Chitral. There will be all kinds of cooperation with the students and the university will also arrange scholarships for them so that the deserving students can get free education here. It is to be noted that about 46000 students are benefiting from this university in the pursuit of knowledge which is definitely a great service not only for this region but also for the people of each corner of the country and Azad Kashmir.
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