Agriculture palace

ORIGINS
The University of Agriculture, Faisalabad is a university in the city of Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan. It was established in 1906 as the first major institution of higher agricultural education in the undivided Punjab.

At independence in 1947, Pakistan was a predominantly agricultural country. In spite of subsequent industrialization and development, agriculture remains central to its economy. After independence, the Government of Pakistan appointed the National Commissions on Food and Education to reform the existing agrarian system and to formulate measures for developing better agricultural potential. The commissions made a plea for the establishment of an agricultural university for research and education. It was established by upgrading the former Punjab Agricultural College and Research Institute in 1961. It was the first university built by the British Empire in 1906 with the foundation stone laying ceremony by Sir Louis Dane, the then Lieutenant and Governor of the Punjab.

The 1,950-acre campus represents both history and the present era. The new campus is lush green with a conglomeration of monolithic blocks built in modern style. The old campus is reminiscent of traditional Muslim architecture. The main campus is situated in the centre of the city (12 km northeast of the Faisalabad International Airport), about 2 km away from city centre/ clock tower.

UAF owns and operates major cultural assets such as the Zoology Museum, University Library

The university's faculty employs more than 800 teachers. The university has boys and girls hostels. It accommodates over 5,000 students and approximately 3,000 day scholars. Premier hostels are Jinnah Hostel (named after the founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah), Iqbal Hall, Fatima Jinnah Hostel and Haley Hall.

Organisation and administration

Faculties and departments

UAF is organised into faculties of Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Food Nutrition and Home Economics, Social sciences, Animal Husbandry, Food Sciences, Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Plant and Animal Breeding, Veterinary Science, Doctor of Pharmacy, Mathematics, Statistics and Sciences. A community college is on the main campus in Faisalabad. The College of Veterinary Sciences at Lahore was affiliated and is now a distinct entity known as the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore (UVAS).

These units offer programmes leading to bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees in agriculture and allied fields. HEC ranks the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad as the best in the agriculture/veterinary field in Pakistan. The University of Agriculture Faisalabad ranked number 4 among the top 10 universities in Pakistan.

Faculty of Agriculture

The Faculty of Agriculture comprises

six departments — Agronomy, Plant Breeding and Genetics, Agricultural Entomology, Plant Pathology, Crop Physiology and Forestry, Wildlife & Range Management
four institutes — Institute of Soil & Environmental Sciences, and Institute of Horticultural Sciences, National Institute of Food Science and Technology, and Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology and Biochemistry
seven allied disciplines — Agricultural Economics, Marketing & Agribusiness, Agricultural Extension, Animal Sciences, Computer Science, Mathematics and Statistics

A building (CAS) is constructed with the collaboration of USA for food security and research purposes.

Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology

The faculty includes the departments of Structural and Environmental Engineering, Irrigation and Drainage, Food Engineering, Farm Machinery, and Power and Fibre Technology. Courses of study lead to the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering, Food Engineering, Textile Technology,; M.Sc. in Food Technology, Fibre Technology, Agricultural Engineering; and Doctor of Philosophy in Food Technology and Agricultural Engineering.

Department of Agricultural Engineering & Technology was established in 1961 when the Punjab Agriculture College, Lyallpur was given the status of University of Agriculture, Lyallpur. The main objective of the faculty was to train manpower to cater to the growing needs of mechanized farming in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. This is one of the pioneer faculties in the field of agriculture in Pakistan.

Department of Food Engineering

The University of Agriculture, Faisalabad is the pioneer in launching the Food Engineering Program in Pakistan.The Food Engineering Department has the highest merit since 2013 & leading in the country with phenomenal and creative engineers.The Department admitted the first students in 2011-12 academic years.The mission of Food Engineering Department is to educate Food Engineers with required knowledge and skills to design and to produce safe, high quality, and economical food products and processes; to conduct research and development for the benefits of growing food industry and society.

In order to accomplish this mission the department has identified four educational goals for the Degree:

1) To educate the students to practice their profession in an effective way by providing extensive training in applications and food engineering fundamentals.

2) Prepare them to compete in the 21st century technological developments , providing them with the appropriate skills and capacity for food engineering profession, professional and personal

3) Educate and train them to gain the knowledge and skills to analyze and design considering the effects of food engineering practices for health, the environment , and social aspects.

4) To encourage students to be aware of continuous professional improvement and lifelong learning. Currently, the Department offers B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree programs in Food Engineering and is planning to offer PhD Program in near future.

Department of Farm Machinery and Power

The department is one of the prime departments of the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology.

This department, in collaboration with other departments, offers a baccalaureate program in Agri. Engineering.

Department of Structures & Environmental Engineering

The department provides facilities like updated research laboratories, lecture rooms for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and computer laboratory. A wide range of state-of-the-art equipment has been provided to facilitate high tech research work.

Department of Irrigation & Drainage

Department of Fibre and Textile Technology

The department of Fibre Technology was established in the Faculty of Agriculture Engineering & Technology in 1964. It is the sole department in the country which offers a master's degree programme in Fibre Technology. The main objective of this department is to impart scientific knowledge and technological training to the students in the field of Fibre science, Textile Technology (spinning, knitting, dyeing, finishing, testing & quality control), pulp, paper and cardboard technology to meet the demand of the fast growing industry.

Faculty of Veterinary Science

The faculty includes the department of Anatomy, Institute of Pharmacy Physiology and Pharmacology, Pathology, Parasitology, Microbiology, Clinical Medicine and Surgery, and Theriogenology. Candidates who hold degrees in biological sciences are considered for graduate admission in non-clinical subjects. The students are enrolled for the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.), Pharm. D, M.Phil and Ph.D. degrees. Prof Dr. Ahrar Khan is Dean.

Faculty of Social Sciences

The Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, established in 1963, with its constituent departments of Agricultural Economics, Farm Management, Agricultural Marketing, Cooperation and Credit and Rural Sociology, has now been functioning for over 51 years in the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. It has endeavored to keep abreast with requirements in terms of academic programmes/activities over these years. However, looking at the likely shape of agricultural development, the direction and quality of research and the make-up of trained manpower output in the discipline of agricultural social sciences, the future trends need to be looked into seriously so as to be able to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

A perusal of the functioning of the constituent departments of the faculty showed that over the years the programmes of some of the departments had become less demanding in academic and research output in line with the present day requirements. Especially under WTO set up, where there has been a shift from subsistence agriculture to commercial agriculture putting further pressure to shift the emphasis to resource management strategy. Therefore, there was a strong need for a meaningful restructuring and fine tuning of the faculty to meet the challenges of the emerging requirements of the economy in the coming years.

Keeping in view this need of time, the Faculty was restructured in 2012. The name of faculty was changed to Faculty of Social Sciences. The departments of Agricultural Economics, Development Economics, and Environmental & Resource Economics were merged into a new institute, Institute of Agricultural & Resource Economics (IARE). Professor Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq is the first director of IARE, having served from June 2012.

Institute of Agricultural and Resource Economics now offers degree programs serving the needs of society:

BSc (Hons) Agricultural & Resource Economics (4 years)
MSc (Hons) Agricultural Economics (2 years)
MSc (Hons) Development Economics (2 years)
MSc (Hons) Environmental & Resource Economics (2 years)
MSc Economics (Distance Learning Program) (2 years)
M.Phil Economics (2 years)
PhD Agricultural Economics
PhD Environmental & Resource Economics
PhD Economics

The Faculty of Social Sciences is divided in following institutes:

Institute of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Institute of Business Management Sciences (offers programs at undergraduate and postgraduate level)
Institute of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development (offers programs at undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral level)
Department of Rural Sociology (offers programs at postgraduate level as well as PhD program)

Professor Dr Muhammad Iqbal Zafar is dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Faculty of Humanities

This includes the Department of Arts, Languages and Cultures, Art History, Classics and Ancient History, Linguistics, Religions and Theology and the University Language Centre.

Faculty of Animal Husbandry

The faculty includes the Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, the Department of Livestock Management, the Department of Animal Nutrition and the Department of Poultry Science. It offers the degree of B.Sc. (Hons.) Animal Sciences and B.Sc. (Hons) Dairy Science at the main campus and B.Sc.(Hons) Poultry Science at one of the subcampuses, Toba Tek Singh. It also offers supporting courses for students of D.V.M., B.Sc. (Hons.) Agriculture and Food Sciences. It provides research facilities concerning livestock, poultry and their products to departments in the university and it provides advisory services to livestock and poultry farmers. Postgraduate courses leading to M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees are offered by all four departments in the faculty. Prof. Dr. M. Sajjad Khan is the Dean.

Faculty of Sciences

The faculty includes the departments of Botany, Zoology and Fisheries, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Statistics, Business Management Sciences, Computer Science, Social Sciences and Humanities, and Islamic Studies. It offers undergraduate courses in physical, biological and social sciences and postgraduate degree programmes in Botany, Zoology and Fisheries, Chemistry, Bio-Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, Computer Science, Business Management and Commerce. Graduates of pure sciences from other institutions are eligible for admission to courses leading to M.Sc., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees. Graduates having a relevant bachelor's degree may also seek admission to MBA and M.Com. degree programmes. Prof. Dr. Munir Ahmad Sheikh is the Dean of the faculty.

Institute of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development

The Division of Education & Extension's larger part has been shifted to the Faculty of Social Sciences. Prof. Dr. Tanvir Ali (ex-director, Graduate Studies / ex-director, Division of Education and Extension) is now the director of the Institute of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Faculty of Social Sciences. The institute deals with disciplines like Agricultural Extension, Agricultural Education, Agricultural Information (Mass Communication), Rural Sociology, Population Science, Gender Studies, and Rural Development.

It offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs like B.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture (Agri. Extension Major); M.Sc., M.Sc.(Hons), and PhD. A quarterly agricultural journal is published for farmers. On August 14, 2012, the institute started FM Radio 100.4 for dissemination of agricultural innovations among adjoining farm communities in addition to providing information, education, and entertainment to the general public.

Research

The University of Agriculture Faisalabad is a major centre for research. It receives billions for research and development. It contributed very much to the community by introducing the modern techniques in agriculture. The university has two advanced scientific labs for research purposes, where university scientists do experiments. UAF has produced many scientists who are serving the world.

University of Agriculture Press

This is the university's academic publishing house. It publishes academic monographs, textbooks and journals, most of which are from university students and staff authors.

Student life

The university has huge hostels to accommodate a large number of students. The lush green environment provides aesthetic view to the campus. There are many sports courts, stadium, swimming pool, shooting arena, horse riding, and auditoriums for students.

The university has clubs and societies, i.e., Arts club, Media club, Dramatic club, Virsa (music) club, Debating club, UAF Model United Nations, and Agrarian society.

Sub-campuses

Sub-campus Burewala Vehari

A sub-campus of University of Agriculture Faisalabad was established in Burewala District Vehari, to spread the agriculture research all across the country, especially in southern area of Punjab.

Sub-campus Toba Tek Singh

A sub-campus of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad was established in Toba Tek Singh[7] on June 5, 2005 to study the poultry industry. B.Sc Poultry Science (4 year degree program) is offered at this campus. Special efforts for establishing this sub-campus were made by Prof. Dr. Bashir Ahmed (Ex- Vice Chancellor) and Chaudhry Muhammad Ashfaq (Ex- district Nazim).

Academic programmes

The following degree courses are offered:

Intermediate (pre-Agriculture)

This program was started in 2009. F.Sc. (Pre-Agriculture) 2-year program at UAF Community College in PARS Campus, Jhang Road, near Faisalabad International Airport. After this 2 year degree, students can take admission in any degree program offered by University of Agriculture Faisalabad.

Students are selected from all across Punjab district wise.

First degree courses

B.Sc.(Hons) Agriculture
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM)
B.Sc.(Hons) Agricultural Engineering
B.Sc.(Hons) Environmental Engineering
B.Sc.(Hons) Energy System Engineering
B.Sc.(Hons) Food Engineering
B.Sc.(Hons) Textile Technology
B.Sc.(Hons) (Home Economics)
BS Information Technology
BS Computer Science
BS Software Engineering
BS Bioinformatics
Bacholor of Business administration (BBA)
Doctor of Pharmacy (D.Pharma)
B.Sc.(Hons) Human Nutrition and Dietetics

Postgraduate degree programmes

M.Sc./M.Sc. (Hons.) four semesters, offered in 35 subjects, after completing first degree course,
M.Phil. in pure science four semesters, offered in five subjects after completing M.Sc. in the relevant subject,
Ph.D., offered in 28 subjects, four semesters, after completing M.Sc. in the relevant subject

An evening college has been started in the university where M.B.A. (Regular and Executive), M.Com. and M.Sc. Chemistry, Bio-Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, Physics, Fibre Technology, Home Economics (Food and Nutrition), Statistics and Computer Science is offered. The other programs like M.A. Economics, and M.A. Sociology have been stopped after few years of good experience.

Diploma and certificate courses

The university under the short courses program organises training facilities in agriculture and allied disciplines for in-service, pre-service and self-employed personnel, farmers, and others interested in agriculture. Separate courses are provided for ladies on the subjects and skills peculiar to womenfolk. The division has developed 124 courses leading to diplomas and certificates. Most of these courses have a practical bias.

The following diploma courses are offered:

C.T. Agriculture (boys)
Diploma in Rural Home Economics (girls)
Diploma in Arabic
Mali Class
Veterinary Assistant Diploma Course
Diploma in Grain Storage Management
Postgraduate Diploma Course in Food Science (for Army personnel)
Agricultural Business Management
Computer Science

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