Allama Iqbal Open University is a public university in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is named after Allama Iqbal. The university is the world's second largest institution of higher learning, with an annual enrollment of 1,121,038 students (as of 2010[update]), the majority are women and course enrollment of 3,305,948 (2011).[4] Students can gain admission in Matriculation, Intermediate, Bachelor, Master, MPhil and Ph.D. programmes at the university.[5]
علامہ اقبال اوپن یونیورسٹی | |
 | |
Other name | AIOU |
|---|---|
| Motto | 'Education for All' |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1974 |
| Endowment | Government of Pakistan |
| Chancellor | President of Pakistan |
| Vice-Chancellor | Prof. Dr. Zia Ul-Qayyum[1] |
Academic staff | 2899 |
| Students | 1,326,266 |
| Location | , 33°40′58″N 73°03′26″E / 33.68285319081896°N 73.05725156600758°ECoordinates: 33°40′58″N 73°03′26″E / 33.68285319081896°N 73.05725156600758°E |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colours | Sky blue, orange, white |
| Affiliations | Higher Education Commission (Pakistan)[2] Pakistan Engineering Council[3] |
| Website | www |
The university has 44 regional campuses and centers throughout Pakistan including in Faisalabad Millat Road, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan.[2][6][7]
Objectives and missionEdit
Established in 1974, it is Asia's first open university with a strong emphasis on providing distance education in philosophy, natural science and social sciences.[6][7][8] It has the most applicants per year of any university in Pakistan.
AIOU offers extensive undergraduate and post-graduate programs in academic disciplines.[9] After witnessing the success of the Open University in the United Kingdom, AIOU was established as a public university in 1974.[4]
AIOU is noted for its cost-effective policy to provide higher and lifelong education to people learning from their homes and places of work at a minimum cost through a specialized fund managed by the government.[6][4]
AIOU is open to everyone and provides education to all without any discrimination.[6]
Administration and governanceEdit
- Chancellor (President of Pakistan)
- Pro-Chancellor (Federal Minister for Education, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training)
- Vice-Chancellor (Chief Executive Officer/Head of the institution)
- Executive Council (Governing Body)
Faculties and departmentsEdit
Faculty of Arabic and Islamic StudiesEdit
Established in 1974, the faculty was upgraded as the Faculty of Arabic and Islamic Studies in 1998, with the following departments:
- Arabic Language and Literature
- Hadith and Seerah
- Islamic Law (Fiqh)
- Islamic Thought, History and Culture
- Qur'an and Tafseer
The Faculty of Arabic and Islamic Studies also operates an Indexing and Abstracting Agency "Islamic Research Index". The Islamic Research Index is the first and largest repository of Arabic and Islamic Studies Research Journals.
Faculty of EducationEdit
Established in 1984, the Faculty of Education's origin predates the university. A National Institute of Education was established in 1973 as a part of the Federal Ministry of Education, to improve education at school levels through in-service training of Master Trainers. This institute became a part of the university in June 1975.
The Faculty of Education has the following departments:
- Adult and Continuing Education[6]
- Distance and Non-Formal Education[6]
- Educational Planning and Management
- Science Education
- Special Education
- Teacher Education (Secondary)
- Teacher Education (Elementary)
Faculty of SciencesEdit
Renamed as Faculty of Sciences, the Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences was established in 1982. It comprises the following nine departments:
- Agricultural Sciences
- Biology
- Botany[2]
- Chemistry
- Information Technology
- Computer Science[2]
- Engineering and Technology
- Environmental Sciences[2][1]
- Home and Health Sciences
- Mathematics and Statistics[1][2]
- Physics[2][1]
- Telecommunications[3]
Faculty of Social Sciences and HumanitiesEdit
The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities was established in 1982. The 16 departments of the faculty are:
- Business Administration
- Management Sciences[1]
- Commerce
- Economics
- English Language and Applied Linguistics
- History
- Iqbal Studies
- Library and information sciences
- Mass Communication[2]
- Pakistan Studies
- Pakistani languages
- Sociology, Social Work and Population Studies
- Gender and Women's Studies
Future goals of AIOUEdit
- BS (4-Years) Specialization in Distance
- Non-Formal and Continuing Education
- Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Technology
- Postgraduate Diplomas in Distance Education
- Postgraduate Diplomas in Non-Formal Education
Commemorative postage stampEdit
On the university's 25th anniversary, Pakistan Post issued a commemorative postage stamp for it on 20 November 1999.[6]
ReferencesEdit
- ^ a b c d e "Education options: Nine new academic courses at Allama Iqbal Open University". The Express Tribune (newspaper). 16 January 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Fayyaz, Usama (22 July 2019). "Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) launches four-year BS programmes". Business Recorder. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
- ^ a b "Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) gets accreditation of BE Telecom from Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC)". Associated Press of Pakistan website. 1 May 2014. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
- ^ a b c "Brief history". Archived from the original on 15 September 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
- ^ "Programmes". aiou.edu.pk. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g "25 Years of Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad (scroll down to this section with University Profile)". paknetmag.com website. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
- ^ a b Malik, Fahad (1 September 2016). "Online learning". Dawn. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ "Listing programs". Listing programs. Archived from the original on 19 September 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
- ^ "Education programs at AIOU". Education programs at AIOU. Archived from the original on 24 September 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2020.