Islamia University of Bahawalpur Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Athar Mahboob has said that due to the high standard of education and excellent facilities the university offers, it was making rapid academic and infrastructural progress and becoming the first choice for admission.
While talking to Minute Mirror, he stated that 150,000 candidates applied recently, most of them from across Punjab. In addition to this, students from Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan also applied for admission in the university in large numbers. He said that the popularity of IUB had increased a lot due to its modern and market-oriented programs.
“Since the establishment of the University Nursing College, the launch of classes, this programme has become the most popular after medical. Physiotherapy and medical laboratory technology programs are also very popular,” Prof. Mahboob said.
The University’s pharmacy program, he claimed, is unique in Pakistan. “Islamia University Bahawalpur is one of the few universities offering degree programs in Eastern Medicine and Homoeopathic,” he said, adding that the number of male and female students in the university had risen to 52,000 from 13,000 in 2019.
Similarly, the faculty had grown from 450 to 1,050, he added.
“Two years ago, there were only 12 professors in the university, but now we have 52. After the next selection board, 50 to 60 more professors will be added,” the vice chancellor said.
He said that the Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan campuses have become self-sufficient. “The Rahim Yar Khan Campus, which was in a state of decline, with only 800 students, now has 7,000,” he stated.
The number of teaching departments had increased from eight to 23. Keeping in view the needs of the area, 13 MPhil programmes had been started in Rahim Yar Khan campus, said Prof. Mahboob.
He said that development work in the university was in full swing. The foundation stone of Ahmadpur East Campus had been laid while Agribusiness Institute and the Department of Mechanical Engineering were being set up in collaboration with the federal government.
He further revealed that, a new faculty building, four new hostels and a teaching building were being constructed at Bahawalpur Campus.
He added that university cotton varieties were already being cultivated on 45 percent of the area of Punjab and now, wheat rust fortification was also becoming very popular.
Urdu Department is organizing Faiz Literary Festival while those of Persian, Arabic and English literature were also very active, he further said.
Prof Mahboob said that after joining the top 1.000 universities of the world, the Islamia University of Bahawalpur was fast moving towards the target of joining the top 100.
