ISLAMIA College University became functional on Monday by granting admissions to about 800 students in various disciplines. The highest marks were required for getting admission in Bachelor of Business Administration, followed by the departments of Botany, Zoology and Chemistry. Admissions in BBA were stopped at 830 marks.

Talking to Dawn by telephone, vice-chancellor Ajmal Khan expressed pleasant surprise over the high merit. He said that they had introduced four-year BS Integrated Programme in the university abolishing the two-year bachelor programme. The BS programme would lead to MS and then to PhD, he said.

Islamia College Peshawar was declared Islamia College University in June 2008. The vice-chancellor said that under the four-year programme a student would have to study three subjects during the first two semesters but after completing the second semester he/she would have to select a single subject. “We will allot a single subject to student in the third semester as a major discipline of study keeping in view choice of student and merit,” he added.

Mr Khan said that completing the process of admission in a single day was an uphill task, however the staff and members of admission committees worked zealously and completed the process. He termed it a historic day for the province as according to him the upgradation of Islamia College to the status of university was a longstanding demand of the teachers of this ancient educational institution of Frontier.

Students will have to study a combination of three subjects. The combinations of science subjects are: Botany, Zoology and Chemistry; Botany, Zoology and Geography; Botany, Geography and Chemistry; Geography, Zoology and Chemistry; Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry; Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science; Mathematics, Physics and Statistics; Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science and Mathematics, Statistics and Economics.

While subject combinations for students of Humanities are: English, Law and Political Science; English, Law and Islamic Theology; English, Political Science and Economics; English, Islamic Theology and Sharia & Law; Law, Islamic Theology and Sharia & Law and Political Science, Economics and Sharia & Law.

Besides sciences and humanities, BBA, BCs and BIC are the other departments where students can get admission in the four-year programme.

About the space on the premises of the university, the vice-chancellor said that they had specified Takbeer Block for the newly-admitted students. He said that regular classes would begin in the university from October 13. When asked whether the university would lessen the burden on Peshawar University, Mr Khan said that there were thousands of students in the province and the burden could not be lessened only with the setting up of a new university. “There is need for many more universities to accommodate all the students,” he added. The vice-chancellor hoped that next year they would be in a better position to grant admissions to more students.

Dr Hussain Farooq, a member of the admission committee, said that they had constituted seven different committees with Dr Naeem Khalid as their head to complete the admission process in a single day. About the need for more teachers in the university, he said that the administration had advertised a lot of vacancies in different departments.

“Hopefully recruitments in all departments would be completed before the commencement of classes,” he added.

He said that students were given an open choice to select their subjects of interest. He said that all the departments had been given a fund of Rs200,000 each to establish seminar libraries. “We will provide students with the books needed in first and second semester,” Dr Hussain said. He added that all faculty members were in high spirit owing to the smooth admission process.