The University of the Punjab (PU) is a public research university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1882, it was one of the first universities created by the British government in the Indian subcontinent.
The first meeting of the University's Senate was on 14 October 1882 at Shimla (then Simla), which marked the formal establishment of the university. Punjab University was the fourth university to be established by the British colonial authorities in British India and the Indian subcontinent; the first three universities were established in other parts of British India.
There are 45,678 students (27,907 morning students, 16,552 evening students and 1,219 diploma students). The university has 19 faculties, of which there are 138 academic departments, research centres, and institutes. Punjab University has ranked first among large-sized multiple faculty universities by the HEC in 2012. There are two Nobel Laureates among the university's alumni and former staff. The university is also a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities of the United Kingdom. The university has campuses in Gujranwala, Jhelum, Khanaspur, and Pothohar Campus.
Contents
History
The University of Punjab was given its initial impetus in 1854 by Wood's despatch.
The Institute of Administrative Sciences was created in 1962. Many major institutions that were previously affiliated to the university have become independent universities, such as Government College University, Lahore and Medical and Engineering Colleges.
Pre Partition
On 1 January 1864, Government College, Lahore, (now Government College University, Lahore) was established. The Lieutenant Governor of Punjab Donald Friell McLeod appointed Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner as principal of Government College Lahore (now Government College University, Lahore). On 12 March 1868, a resolution was adopted at a public meeting in Lahore to establish University of the Punjab at Lahore. On 8 December 1869, Punjab University College was established in Lahore and on 14 October 1882, University of the Punjab was established.
Prof. Arthur Compton, who discovered Compton effect used to be an appointed lecturer in the university. He received the Nobel Prize in 1927.
Founding Colleges
After the resolution of 12 March (1868), in 1869 Punjab University College was established, consisting of Punjab University Law College and Oriental College, which are still the oldest departments and founding constituent colleges of Punjab University. Government College University was also made a part of University of the Punjab which was later separated and became an independent university in 2002.
Post Partition
The fate of the university after the partition of India in 1947, was deliberated at the Punjab Partition Committee, with representatives from East Punjab advocating for a division of the university. The senate of the university voted to split the university, and the matter reached the Partition Council at the centre, but a decision could not be made. The government in East Punjab was compelled to establish a new university, which eventually became the Panjab University in Chandigarh.
Campus
The university is divided into campuses across Punjab with one summer campus located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa:
Allama Iqbal Campus: also known as the old campus, located in the centre of Lahore, it is named after the South Asian thinker and mystic poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal. The campus houses the Senate, the Syndicate, the Selection Board and the Advanced Studies & Research Board are generally held there.
Quaid-i-Azam Campus: also known as the new campus, is named after the founder of Pakistan and is located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) to the south of the Allama Iqbal Campus. Spread over an area of 1,800 acres (7 km2). The campus is the centre of academic and administrative activities of the university. A canal divides the academic blocks from the student lodgings.
Gujranwala Campus: the faculties of Commerce, Economics and Management Sciences, Banking & Finance, Law, English, and Information Technology all conduct teaching in the campus. In addition to degree programs, campus provides short courses, facilitated by e-Rozgar program of Punjab Information Technology Board.
Khanspur Campus: the summer campus is located at a height of about 7,000 ft (2,100 m) in the Himalayan range near Ayubia. The campus, in addition to providing research facilities, is used as a recreational center for the faculty and the students.
Jhelum Campus: having opened in 2012, it offers studies relating to the faculties of Commerce, Economics and Management Sciences, Law and Computer Science.
Pothohar Campus: located in Gujar Khan (77PH+F4), it began classes in 2023 in a rented building while the permanent campus is under construction on about 800 kanals (approximately 100 acres) of land. It currently offers programs in Information Technology and Law.
Academics
Rankings
University of the Punjab is ranked 542 Internationally in the QS World University Rankings for the year 2025 and 2nd nationally. It is also ranked #18 in Asian universities by QS Rankings.
Faculties
There are 19 faculties with 10 constituent colleges, 73 departments, centers, and institutes. It has 1006 full-time and 300 part-time faculty members involved in teaching/research and over 6,000 non-teaching/supporting staff with 45,678 on campus students (27,907 Morning students, 16,552 Evening students and 1,219 Diploma students):
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Faculty of Agriculture
Faculty of Geo-Sciences
Faculty of Information & Media Studies
Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Faculty of Commerce
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Engineering & Technology
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Islamic Studies
Faculty of Life-Sciences
Faculty of Oriental Learning
Faculty of Pharmacy
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Quality & Industrial Systems Engineering
Constituent colleges
College of Art and Design (PUCAD)
Punjab University Law College (PULC)
Hailey College of Banking & Finance
Hailey College of Commerce (HCC)
University College of Pharmacy Punjab University College of Pharmacy (PUCP)
Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT)
College of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences
College of Engineering & Emerging computing
College of Earth and Environmental Sciences (CEES)
University Oriental College lahore (PUOC)
Institutes
Institute of Business Administration
Institute of Administrative Sciences
Institute of Business and Information Technology
Institute of Information Management
Institute of Botany
Institute of Zoology
Institute of Geography
Institute of Special Education
Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology
Institute of Applied Psychology
Institute of Social and Cultural Studies
Institute of Geology
Institute of Electrical Electronics and Computer Engineering
Institute of Polymer and Textile Engineering
Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology
Institute of Metallurgy and Material Engineering
Metallurgical Laboratory
Institute of English
Institute of Punjabi and Cultural Studies
Institute of Urdu Language and Literature
Facilities
Library
The library is one of the largest libraries among the universities of Pakistan. The library has more than 500,000 books, magazines and periodicals, in nine national and international languages, in print and on CD, DVD, microfilm, microfiche, video and audio cassette, and manuscript.
Punjab University Library has a two-storey building with a total area of 102,000 square feet. There are reading halls on the ground and first floors with a seating capacity of 2500 readers. The library has an internet lab. In the library there is a computerised "MLIMs" catalogue for searching material.
Notable alumni
Nobel Laureate
Abdus Salam (Nobel laureate 1979 – Physics)
Har Gobind Khorana (Nobel laureate 1968 – Medicine)
Prof. Arthur Holly Compton (Former Faculty member and appointed lecturer in PU. Nobel laureate 1927 – Physics for his discovery of Compton's effect)
Educationist
Niaz Ahmad Akhtar (Pakistani Academic)
Manzoor Mirza (Educationist, economist, and book author)
Farkhanda Manzoor - Former Vice-Chancellor of Lahore College for Women University
Politicians
Raja Anwar [Pakistan people party founder] and [writer of {جھوٹے روپ کے درشن }]
Asma Jahangir (Human rights activist and lawyer, co-founder of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan)
Choudhry Rahmat Ali (Founder of the Pakistan Movement, coined the name of Pakistan)
Inder Kumar Gujral (12th Prime Minister of India)
Liaqat Baloch (Politician and Islamic Activist)
Muhammad Iqbal (Urdu poet, philosopher, and politician)
Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury (Bangladeshi politician, former member of the standing committee of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP))
Shahbaz Bhatti (Catholic Pakistani politician and minority rights activist)
Syed Ali Shah Geelani (Pro-Pakistani, Kashmiri-separatist leader)
Yashwant Singh Parmar (founder of the state of Himachal Pradesh in India)
Yousaf Raza Gillani (18th Prime Minister of Pakistan)
Zahoor Ahmed Sajid (former Member of Provincial Assembly of Punjab)
Scientists
Athar Shah Khan (comedian, poet, and writer)
Bilal U. Haq (marine geoscientist and laureate of France's Prestwich Prize in geology)
Faqir Chand Kohli (father of the Indian IT Industry)
Ishfaq Ahmad (Theoretical and Nuclear physicist, chairman of PAEC during the first atomic tests in Pakistan in 1998)
Muhammad Sharif (Relativistic astrophysicist and cosmologist)
Muhammad Tahir Ul Qadri (Pakistani-Canadian Islamic scholar)
Sartaj Aziz (Pakistani economist, strategist and former National Security Advisor)
Satish Dhawan (Indian rocket scientist, chairman of ISRO, and director of the Indian Institute of Science)
Shoaib Mansoor (Pakistani movie director)
Wasiullah Khan (Pakistani-American founder of the East–West University in Chicago)
Yash Pal (Indian educator and scientist known for cosmic ray research as well as popularizing science education in India)
Lawyers
M.D Tahir
SM Zafar
Ali Ahmed Kurd
Sardar Latif Lhosa
Asma Jahangir
Naeem Bukhari
Judges
Javed Iqbal (Son of Allama Muhammad Iqbal)
Mian Saqib Nisar (25th Chief Justice of Pakistan)
Jawwad S. Khawaja (23rd Chief Justice of Pakistan)
Asif Saeed Khosa (26th Chief Justice of Pakistan)
Muhammad Afzal Zullah
Muhammad Munir (2nd Chief Justice of Pakistan)
Nasim Hasan Shah (12th Chief Justice of Pakistan)
Muhammad Yaqub Ali (CJP 1975–1977)
Mansoor Ali Shah
Nasira Iqbal
Irshad Hasan Khan (CJP 2000–2002)
Munib Akhtar
Azmat Saeed
Malik Shehzad Ahmed Khan
Architects
Nayyar Ali Dada (Sitara e Imtiaz)
Literature
Ashfaq Ahmed writer
Shahbaz Malik, writer, bibliographer and research scholar
Khalid Iqbal Yasir, poet
Abdul Ahad Azad, poet
Notable faculty
(Most of the alumni listed above also served in the University of the Punjab faculty, so their names are not repeated here)
Prof. Arthur Compton (Nobel Lauterate- 1927 in Physics for his discovery of Compton's effect)
Anwaar Ahmad (Writer and scholar, Received Pride of performance award for his literary services)
Anna Molka Ahmed (Artist, Tamgha e Imtiaz 1963 and Pride of Performance award 1969)
GF Bruce (Journalist and fashion editor for Town and Country)
Mian Shah Din (Barrister and judge)
Oliver Elton (English literary scholar)
Kanwal Ameen (2010 HEC Best University Teacher Award)
E.M. Forster (Famous English novelist. Nominated for Nobel Prize Awards in 20 separate years)
Omar Asghar Khan (Pakistani economist and founder of National Democratic Party)
Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner (British Orientalist)
Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi (Pakistani historian and received Sitara e Imitiaz)
Sir Ganga Ram (Indian architect who designed and built Aitchison College, Lahore Museum, General post office Lahore, Hailey College of Commerce and also Model Town and Gulberg)
Alfred Cooper Woolner (ex Vice chancellor of Punjab University)
Vice Chancellors
James Broadwood Lyall
Baden Henry Powell
George Robert Elsmie
William Henry Rattiga
William Mackworth Young
Charles Arthur Roe
Thomas Gordon Walker
Sir Lewis Tupper
Sir P. C. Chatterjee
Frederick Robertson (judge)
Sir James Ewing
H. J. Maynard
J. Stephenson
H. B. Durrand
Geoffrey Fitzhervey de Montmorency
A. C. Woolner
Malcolm Lyall Darling
George. D. Brane
B. H. Dobson
C. H. Rice
Muhammad Afzal Husain
Abdur Rahman (Pakistani judge)
Omar Hayat Malik
Mian Abdul Rashid
S. A. Rahman
Muhammad Ajmal
Lt. General Muhammad Safdar