Founded as the University of Islamabad in 1967, it was initially dedicated to the study of postgraduate education, but later expanded to an interdisciplinary university offering undergraduate and postgraduate education, and established as Quaid-i-Azam University in 1976.[2][5]
Overview
As of 2015[update], QAU has grown into the largest university in Islamabad with a total enrollment exceeding 13,000 students.[2] The university is on a 1700 acres (or 6.9 km2) campus on the foothills of the Margalla.[6] Divided into four faculties and nine affiliated research institutes, QAU is among Pakistan's largest and highest-ranked public universities.[7]
In the QS ranking 2024:
QAU is ranked 315th globally.
The Physics department is ranked 201-250.
The Mathematics department is ranked 150-200.
The Agriculture department is ranked 201-250.
In Emerging Economics, QAU is ranked 401-450.
QAU is ranked 86th in Asia.
The University of Islamabad was established on 22 July 1967 by the Government of Pakistan. It was renamed as Quaid-i-Azam University in honor of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan in 1976 - which was the year of his birth centenary. However, the spelling of the university's name were kept different i.e. "i" was used instead of "e" for Ezāfe that links the two words in Jinnah's title Quaid-e-Azam.
The university offered teaching and research programs for PhD and MPhil degrees in the beginning and later offered Masters programs. The university now offers undergraduate programs in both evening and morning shifts batches.
Quaid-i-Azam University has four different faculties and 38 departments, institutes, schools and centers.
Faculties and departments
Quaid-i-Azam University consists of four faculties. The following departments, institutes/schools work under these faculties:
Area Study Centre for Africa, North & South America
Chairs
Quaid-i-Azam Chair
Benzair Bhutto Chair
Rumi Chair
Central Library
The university has central library (CL), named as DR. Raziuddin Siddiqi memorial library situated at the centre of the university campus and having total covered area is approximately 102,500 sq. ft. On 06-02-1999, the Central Library (CL) was renamed the Dr. Raziuddin Siddiqi Mermorial (DRSM) Library in honour of Dr. Raziuddin Siddiqi's illustrious and meritorious achievements as the founding Vice Chancellor of Quaid-i-Azam University. University offers DRSM Library services for faculty and students of the university.
The link consists of Electronic version of all thesis produced in the QAU by students of Master, M.Phil. and Ph.D. The resource on this link is under development phase.
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For QS Top 10 Asian universities, QAU was ranked 6th in the natural science category in 2010.[13] The university was overall ranked between 100 and 200 among the QS world top universities in 2007 and 2009.[13] According to the 2019 ranking of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam University is ranked first in the general category.[14] According to Times Higher Education Latest Rankings 2023, QAU is ranked among the world top 401 to 500 universities.