Spread
over 1200 acres of land, University of Karachi was established through the
parliament as a Federal University in 1951. However, through another act of the
parliament in 1962 its status was redefined as university of the province of
Sindh. On 23rd October, 1950 the Karachi University Act was passed and after an
amendment in 1951, it was enacted and Prof A. B. A Haleem was appointed as its
first Vice Chancellor. For the first two years, the University of Karachi
remained as an examination University for the affiliated colleges. In the year
1953, it started its teaching and research activities at two Faculties of Arts
and Science. Opened with an initial intake of 50 students, the university is
now a sprawling structure of 53 Departments and 20 world class and highly
reputable Research Centers and Institutes, under eight faculties of Arts,
Science, Islamic Studies, Pharmacy, Management and Administrative Sciences,
Law, Education and Medicine. At present, the enrolment of regular students at
the Campus is slightly over 24,000. There are over 800 teachers and more than
2500 supporting staff.
The University in the beginning was housed in small buildings
adjacent to the Civil Hospital. Meanwhile, due to rapid expansion, it began to
be felt that the space in which the university was functioning was not enough
for its needs. Moreover, the atmosphere of the congested and polluted area was
not conducive to higher education and research. Thus, a plot of 1279 acres of
land was acquired on the Country Club Road (now University Road) and on 18th
January 1960 the university was shifted to the new campus. Thus began, a new
phase in the life of the university. The day is still commemorated by various
old students' Association and the University administration jointly.
Karachi University always proudly mentions the names of renowned
educationists and scholars associated with this institution of higher learning
like, Dr. I. H. Qureshi, Dr. Mahmud Hussain, Dr. Salemuzzaman Siddiqui, Dr.
Afzal Hussain Qadri, Dr. M. M. Ahmed, Dr Mujtaba Karim, Prof. M. Ilyas, Prof.
Q. Fareed, Dr. Ibadur Rehman Khan, Prof Muntakhib ul Haq, Prof. Memony, Dr. S.
M. Yousuf, Dr. M.A Wali and Dr. Karawala. The faculty was drawn not only from
Pakistan but also included eminent educationists from Europe and America.
Karachi University today
The Karachi University today is the biggest university in the
country. It comprises eight faculties with which all the colleges of the city
are affiliated. B.S., M.S., M.Phil. and Ph.D. classes under five of these
faculties Arts, Science, Pharmacy, Management and Administrative Science and
Islamic Learning are conducted on the campus, while under the Faculties of
Medicine, law and Education it examines the students admitted to their
affiliated colleges. Research programmers leading to M.Phil and Ph.D Degree are
offered under all the faculties.
Science
The Science Faculty which consists of 23 departments and five
research Institutes can be said to be the biggest scientific centre in the
country. The Research Institutes include the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry,
which is world renowned and has also been designated World Academy of Science.
It is the prime research institute of the country and has high level research
faculties for chemical science particularly Natural Product Chemistry.
Other Institutes are Dr. Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicines
and Drug Research, Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Dr
Afzal Hussain Qadri Biological Research Centre, which is a common research
facility for all the biological science departments; the Marine Resources
Collection and Research Centre, which is the biggest repository of marine life
from the Arabian Sea. National Nematological Research Centre, which undertakes
research in plant pest control. Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology, a federally
founded centre for the study of marine fauna of the Arabian Sea; the Institute
of Environmental Studies, Institute of Molecular Genetics and Umair Basha
Institute of Information Technology which houses the department of Computer
Science.
It is noteworthy that the number of M.Phil/Ph.D in science
produced by the Karachi University far exceeds the number produced in any other
university of the country. So far, about 600 M.Phil, 300 Ph.D, 7 D.Sc and 7
D.Litt. degrees in Science have been awarded by the university. The University
teachers are also involved in various research projects and contribute
regularly to publications of home and abroad. Only in 2006 the number of
research papers published by the faculty of the university was 506.
Library
The library of the university is one of the largest library in
the country. Housed in spacious building, it has a collection of over 360,000
books, and over 110,000 copies of national and foreign journals and
periodicals. There is also a microfilm section which has copies of rare
manuscripts from the British museum, the India Office Library and the Bodleian
and Cambridge University libraries.
A highlight of the library is the Quaid-i-Azam's personal
collection of books, many of which carry his own signature. Copies of the All
India Muslim League papers are also available. Work is in progress for setting
up a resource centre, equipped with internet and scanner microfiche. Now, the
Central Library is being gradually digitalized and will be able to cater the
larger number of students. The LEJ National Science Centre is the most
significant addition to the Karachi University which is a recent development.
The centre not only houses one of the largest digital one
libraries of the mechanism and capacity to assist other campus library by
resources and provide leadership in the application of technology to help the
researchers, scientists, scholars and students of academic and R&D
institutions of Pakistan Facilities of video conferencing are available and
fully operative. Beside the central library, every department also has its own
seminar library equipped with the necessary books.
Evening Program
The University of Karachi introduced the Evening program in 1995
to provide an opportunity to the in service peoples and professionals to pursue
higher education in the evening initially at a few departments The program
started while gradually the number of departments offering degree courses in
the evening has increased.
Four Year Degree Program: The latest development this year is
the introduction of four year degree program at the University to bring the
university education at par with the International standards. In the revised
curricula of four years program a number of new subject have been added to
enable the passed out students to have wider opportunities in the job market.
New Era of Development
The University of Karachi witnessed a new era of speedy
developments in all spheres when Dr. Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan took over as Governor
of Sindh and Chancellor of the universities in the province. His deep personal
interest and commitments in the university affairs is an ongoing source of
continued interest in academic, research and managements activates at the
intellectual growth at the campus.
The University has now embraced upon a gigantic process of
multifaceted progress with emphasis on capacity building and quality
enchantment. Ever since its inception, it is in this era that constitutional
and statutory bodies of the university are holding their meeting with regular
intervals, further bolstering the process.
Regular holding of Selection Boards has enabled the University to add more than two hundred new teachers to various faculties and departments in 2006-07. Many departments in faculties of science and Arts where strengthened by modernizing facilities recently to enhance their quality and productivity.
These include Departments of Physics, Chemistry, Statistics Food Science and Technology, Biotechnology, Computer Science and Mass Communications. For common facilities for science in various scientific disciplines a centralized science lab has been established. It has further enhanced the capabilities for scientific research. Some noteworthy developments which serve as land marks in the university include a highly sophisticated and well equipped Herbarium for research in plant science.
Regular holding of Selection Boards has enabled the University to add more than two hundred new teachers to various faculties and departments in 2006-07. Many departments in faculties of science and Arts where strengthened by modernizing facilities recently to enhance their quality and productivity.
These include Departments of Physics, Chemistry, Statistics Food Science and Technology, Biotechnology, Computer Science and Mass Communications. For common facilities for science in various scientific disciplines a centralized science lab has been established. It has further enhanced the capabilities for scientific research. Some noteworthy developments which serve as land marks in the university include a highly sophisticated and well equipped Herbarium for research in plant science.
Already completed Botanical Garden is first of its kind in the
country. The Garden adds plenty of beauty to the campus on the one hand while
on the other it serves as an open lab for the Plant scientists.
Construction of hostels for the visiting faculty and research
scholars and additional facilities for M.Phil/Ph.D scholars, have further
enhanced chances for quality and speedy research. The perennial residential
problems at the campus are also expected to solve partially with the completion
of new blocks of the staff apartments. All these and many other successes were
due to active encouragements the university received from the Higher Education
Commission and the Chancellor of the University.
A number of new development projects are on the anvil while many
others are at various stages of completion. The University is now moving fast
on the path of developments playing its due role in the national development.
Faculties
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Chemical Engineering (Accredited with PEC)
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Sirah Chair
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Commerce
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The University of Karachi has 7 medical and dental colleges
affiliated with it. The only public sector college is Karachi Medical &
Dental College and the Dean, Faculty of Medicine is the senior most professor
of Karachi Medical & Dental College. The colleges running both MBBS &
BDS programmes are Karachi Medical & Dental College, Jinnah Medical
Dental College and Liaquat College of Medicine and Dentistry. Those running
BDS programs alone are Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine and Fatima
Jinnah Dental College and those having MBBS programme alone are Liaquat
National Medical College and Sir Syed College of Medicine. Admissions in this
college are as per PMDC regulations.
Over the past years, there have been vast changes in the Undergraduate
and Postgraduate programmes of the University in the fields of Medicine and
Dentistry. The teaching methodology and the examination system of the
University has changed from MCQ system to the internationally acclaimed Short
Essay Questions and Best Choice Questions few years ago. In this
regard, training workshops for all faculty are held twice a year under the
supervision of the Dean. The Board of Studies has constituted 2 committees, a
Coordination Committee and a Quality Assurance Committee for examinations.
The Semester system is being studied for possible implementation within the
next year.
The Postgraduate programmes in clinical fields are the M.S.
and M.D. programmes and in Basic Sciences, the MPhil, PhD. Details of these
are available on the website.
The MS, MD programmes has changed from a 2 year programmes to
a full 4 year, structured programme with 1 year course work at the University
and 3 years clinical work in the supervisors department. For Admission,
clearing the University of Karachi Entry Test is mandatory. Subsequently,
candidates are chosen on the basis of merit. The synopsis of each
candidate is reviewed by the supervisor and the Dean before submission to the
Board of Advanced Studies & Research, University of Karachi for final
approval. Standardization of the Masters examination is ensured by having
external examiners only, a change which has been implemented recently. The
curriculum of each specialty is being reviewed by a M.S, M.D Curriculum
Committee headed by the Dean.
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Botany
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Genetics
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Geology
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Physics
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Zoology
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Arabic
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Bengali
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English
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Persian
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Sindhi
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Urdu
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