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IIU to set up more campuses: Meraj Khalid

ISLAMABAD: The International Islamic University (IIU) will set up its more campuses in various parts of Pakistan and other Islamic countries because it is a symbol of unity of Muslim Ummah.

Former caretaker prime minister Malik Meraj Khalid said this while talking to APP on Thursday.

Commenting on the importance of the IIU, he said this university is a unique institution for higher learning and training. It reflects the aspirations and re-awakening of the entire Muslim Ummah.

The university has six faculties including law, ussol-e-din, economics, Management Sciences and languages. Some new faculties and departments will be opened including Informaton Technology besides an important faculty of social sciences, Persian and French languages, he said.

Giving the historical background of the university, Meraj Khalid said the university was set up to take bold initiatives for the promotion of learning culture among the Muslim countries to specifically shun sectarianism.

"It is a fully autonomous body with academic as well as administrative freedom and governed by a board of governors and a board of trustees," he mentioned.

The President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan is the Chancellor of the university according to the constitutional provision, he said.

The university is catering to the academic needs of more than 60 nationalities including states where Muslims are in minority such as Muslims from China, Thailand, eastern Europe, central Asia, Spain, South Africa etc. The university faculty members consists of learned scholars from almost 10 countries including Pakistan, IIU President Dr. Shafie.

One of the main feature of this university is its bilinguality with Arabic and English as its medium of instructions, the president said.

Giving the details about the faculties, Dr. Shafie said Arabic is the main language for teaching Islamic and Arabic subjects whereas modern disciplines are taught through English language in the faculties of Management Sciences, Law and Economics.

The university is awarding B.A. (Hons), B.Sc (Hons), M.A., MSc and Ph.D degree in various specialisations. All degrees of this university are recognised nationally and internationally, he added.

A total 2,923 male and female students have graduated from this university in the fields of Law, Economics, Computer Science, Information Technology and Business Administration, he told.

Shari'ah Academy, which organises training to judges, lawyers and police officers besides publication and research programmes in Islamic law; and Da'Wah Academy, which is engaged in training of Imams and army officers in addition to research and publication programmes for projection of Islam from authentic sources throughout the world, he further added.

The government of Pakistan, rightly responding to the need of the university, has donated a spacious piece of land covering 2.8 million sq. meters in the heart of the city with an estimated market price $300 million for the construction of a proper campus of the International Islamic University.

The university has laid down an academic plan for a period of 25 years to be implemented in five phases of five years duration each. A master plan for the construction of the new campus has been prepared in the light of this academic plan, he said.ÑAPP