The University of the Punjab (Punjabi: پن٘جاب یونیورسٹی Urdu: جامعہ پنجاب ‎), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public research university located in Lahore, Punjab. It is the oldest public university in Pakistan. With multiple campuses in Gujranwala, Jhelum, and Khanspur, the university was formally established by the British Government after convening the first meeting for establishing higher education institutions in October 1882 at Simla. 

The university was designed by architect Bhai Ram Singh in 1911. University of the Punjab was the fourth university to be established by the British colonial authorities. 

Overview 

Established in Lahore in 1882, the University of Punjab is the largest and the oldest seat of higher learning in Pakistan. It was the first to be established in the sub-continent in a Muslim majority area.  Located in the historical and culturally alive city of Lahore, this university has played a leading role in spreading higher education in the country. 

The University strives to provide a conducive environment for the pursuit of academic activities. On account of its highly qualified and internationalized faculty, pleasant environment, and low tuition fees, the university remains the institution of the first choice for students. 

The University comprises five campuses, 19 Faculties, 10 Constituent Colleges, and 137 departments, centers, and institutes. The University also has 658 affiliated colleges. It has 991 full-time/regular and 300 part-time faculty members involved in teaching/research and 49,520 on-campus students. (29,588 Morning, 18,838 Evening and 1,094 Diploma students). Allama Iqbal Campus, named after the great South Asian thinker and poet-philosopher. Its Indo-Islamic architecture houses Colleges of Art and Design, IT and Pharmacy along with the most historic Oriental College, the first avatar of the University which was established in 1870. 

It is located on the Mall Road of Lahore. Quaid-e-Azam Campus, located in an area spread over 1800 acres of lush green landscape, was designed by the renowned Greek Architect A.C. Doxiadis who also designed Islamabad. This campus is the center of academic and administrative activities of the university. A canal dividing the academic blocks from the student lodgings adds to the beauty of the Campus. The University also has a summer campus at Khanaspur located at a height of about 7,000 feet in the Himalayan range near Ayubia. This campus, in addition to providing research facilities, is also used as a recreational center for the faculty and the students. 

The University has also established its sub-campuses at Gujranwala and Jhelum. Major disciplines at these campuses include Business Administration, Commerce, Law, and Information Technology. Newer disciplines are being added progressively to these campuses. History The University of Punjab was formally established with the convening of the first meeting of its Senate on October 14, 1882, at Simla. It was the fourth university to be established by the British colonial authorities in the Indian Sub-continent. 

The first three universities were established by the British colonizers at their initial strongholds of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. The University of the Punjab came into existence as a result of a long-drawn struggle of the people of Punjab after the War of Independence in 1857. Different from the three previously established universities, which were only examining institutions, the University of Punjab was both a teaching as well as an examining body right from the beginning. 

The contribution of Dr. G. W. Leitner, an enlightened Hungarian and a naturalized Britisher, was instrumental in the establishment of this university. He became its first Registrar. Prof. A. C. Woolner, who remained Vice-Chancellor of this university during 1928-1936, played a key role in its development during the initial decades of this century. His statue still stands in front of the Allama Iqbal Campus of the university. Until independence in 1947, the University of the Punjab fulfilled the educational needs of a vast region of the Subcontinent. Partition of the Subcontinent somewhat reduced the geographical limits of the jurisdiction of the university. However, for many years after independence, it still ranged over vast areas including Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Azad Jammu & Kashmir. 

New universities were later established in the country to share the responsibility for imparting higher education in the country. The strength of the university faculty was greatly reduced because of the migration of non-Muslim teachers and scholars at the time of independence. The university's full functioning was restored, mainly due to the efforts of eminent educationists like Dr. Umar Hayat Malik, who became the first Vice-Chancellor after the independence. New academic programs and departments were initiated soon after the independence.