It is indeed an honor and immense pleasure to be part of KIU in general and KIU-Hunza Campus in particular.
The idea of opening campus in Hunza took almost three years and there were many people involved behind this success story who worked day and night and Alhamdulillah the abstract idea is now a concrete form in front of us. I am very happy in sharing that the beginning has been magnificent. There are many reasons but let me share few. Firstly, the president of Pakistan Mr. Mamnoon Hussain himself inaugurated the campus. Secondly, after comprehensive evaluation of all the required parameters, HEC accreditation and attestation team granted NOC to run eight (BS and Masters) academic programs after their first visit to the campus. More than six imminent Vice Chancellors/Rectors of different renowned universities conducted sessions and lectures for the students, faculty members and staff on a variety of topics. And the list goes on…
We started the campus with 95 students 2017 and Allahmdullilah in 2021 more than 500 students currently enrolled in the campus. The students are from different districts of Gilgit-Baltistan. They are very talented and always ready to learn. The campus has very committed staff. They are working very hard in supporting and mentoring the system. I am quite sanguine that the newly born campus will be an example in itself in producing youngsters with skills and knowledge aptly needed for the time.
People in this part of world came to know decades ago that “education enables a person to walk with confidence on unfamiliar grounds”. Therefore, to compete with the “unfamiliar grounds”, they started sending their sons and daughters to the southern parts of the country in pursuit of higher and quality education. According to the reports, thousands of students from Gilgit-Baltistan especially from Hunza moved to cities for higher education. For parents, paying the huge amounts of tuition fee has never been easy. But they strived to pay for all the expenditures sometimes by taking loans or by selling their property to support educational and living expenses of their children outside their home towns. The trend continues even today. But we have a dream that the establishment of this campus will give cessation to the migration of young boys and girls as this campus will open the real opportunities right here in their own valley.
“The man of Faith who fails to pursue intellectual search is likely to have only a limited comprehension of Allah’s creation. Indeed, it is man’s intellect that enables him to expand his vision of that creation”.