University of Kashmir

The University of Kashmir (UoK), informally known as Kashmir University (KU), is a collegiate public state university located on the western side of Dal Lake in the city of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir which was established in 1948. The main campus of the university is divided into three parts; Hazratbal Campus, Naseem Bagh Campus, and Mirza Bagh Campus.

The university offers undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programs in the fields of liberal arts, business, commerce & management studies, education, law, applied sciences & Technology, biological sciences, physical & material sciences, social sciences, medicine, dentistry, engineering, oriental learning, and music & fine arts. It has been awarded Grade "A+" by the NAAC on 20 May 2019. It has also been awarded rank "33" by NIRF ranking 2023.

History
The inception of the University of Kashmir dates back to the establishment of Jammu and Kashmir University in 1948. Contribution of academicians of various faculties needs special mention. Notable alumni are spread around globe, have made a name for country and for the university. In 1969, it was made into two full-fledged universities: University of Kashmir at Srinagar and University of Jammu at Jammu.

The University of Kashmir, since its establishment, has been focused at Hazratbal and encompasses three adjacent areas: Amar Singh Bagh, Naseem Bagh and Mirza Bagh. This campus is spread over 263 acre. It is the largest university by a number of full-time students in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

A major part of Amar Singh Bagh and Naseem Bagh constitute the Hazratbal campus which is laid out on the northeastern bank of Dal Lake. Earlier, many postgraduate departments, research and other centres were housed in Naseem Bagh. But the university resolved to develop Naseem Bagh into a heritage site and, thereafter, many departments were shifted to other areas of the Hazratbal campus. Zakura Campus is being developed on 300 kanals of land in close proximity to Hazratbal campus to meet expansion requirements of the university. Mirza Bagh or "University Town" constitutes buildings housing quarters for the university staff.

The idea of extending postgraduate programmes to colleges and establishing new campuses at Ananthnag and Baramulla was conceived by the then Vice Chancellor Prof Raees Ahmad in 2002. He mobilised over 30 crores for the development of the university from the prime minister's fund for the overall development of the main campus and the establishment of the new campuses. The foundation stones were laid by Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and the plans of buildings were approved. The locations of the campuses had to be changed because of likely floods. After Prof Tareen the development of campuses took a long time and became operational in 2008/2009. The new social science block, the life science block, the examination block, the humanities block, the distance education block, the media block and many other buildings were constructed in 2001 and 2004 during Prof Tareen's period out of the PMs special fund. The 200-capacity convention centre was also completed.

The South Campus established on 259 kanals of land at Fateh Garh, Anantnag was started in October 2008. The North Campus on 559 kanals at Delina, Baramulla was started in December 2009. Three more campuses at Kupwara, Kargil and Leh are coming up.

Present form
There are 12 faculties, 47 academic departments, 21 centres, 36 colleges and six (privately managed) recognised institutes spread all over the state. The two largest departments in student enrolment include Faculty of Law and the Business School.

The Faculty of Law being one of the oldest departments runs three courses LLB, LLM and B.A, LLB(Hons). The department's student body, "Law Society," actively organises debates, seminars, and moot court competitions. The faculty publishes a refereed research journal, Kashmir University Law Review (KULR).

The business school has been renamed as the Department of management studies before the NAAC visit, that was held in 2019. It was changed because they added some other courses as well and thus the name Department of management studies other than the business school. It is still called as the business school but on papers the name has changed

The courses offered by the department of Media Education Research Centre (MERC) are in mass communication and journalism. In 2014 the university started its engineering college – Institute of Technology at the newly acquired Zakura Campus. Currently, the college offers four-year BTech courses in Mechanical Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering and Electrical Engineering.

Campus
The university has 247 acres campus in Hazratbal. In order to make education more accessible to people living in remote areas of Kashmir valley, the university has established Satellite Campuses at Anantnag (South Campus), Zakura Campus (Institute of Technology), and Baramulla (North Campus). Three more Satellite Campuses at Kupwara, Kargil and Leh are being established.

Library
The university has a central library called Allama Iqbal Library. It has a collection of over 600,000 books including 415 rare manuscripts. It was established to cater the needs of scholars, researchers and students of the university. With the split of university in 1969, the library was shared by the two universities (University of Kashmir and University of Jammu).

Hostels
The university provides residential facilities on a first-come-first-served basis to the teaching and non-teaching staff as well as to students.
 * Gani Kashmiri Hostel for research scholars pursuing M.Phil. and PhD programmes
 * Habba Khatoon Girls Hostel for female students
 * Mehboob-ul-Aalam Hostel for postgraduate male students
 * Shiekh-ul-Aalam (A.R) Hostel for male students
 * Maulana Anwar Shah Kashmiri Hostel for male students

Affiliated colleges
The University of Kashmir has 45 affiliated and 21 constituent colleges.

Constituent colleges
 * Government Medical College, Srinagar
 * Government Medical College, Anantnag
 * Government Medical College, Baramulla
 * Government Dental College, Srinagar
 * Government College of Education, Srinagar
 * Institute of Music & Fine Arts, Srinagar
 * Government College of Physical Education, Ganderbal
 * DOEACC, Rangreth Srinagar
 * Composite Regional Centre

Permanently affiliated government colleges


 * Islamia College of Science and Commerce, Srinagar
 * Government College for Women, Anantnag
 * Government College for Women, Baramulla
 * Government College for Women, Nawakadal Srinagar
 * Government Degree College for Boys, Anantnag
 * Government College for Boys, Baramulla
 * Government Degree College, Bemina
 * Government Degree College, Kupwara
 * Government Degree College, Sogam lolab
 * Government Degree College, Handwara
 * Government Degree College, Sopore
 * Government Degree College, Pulwama
 * Government Degree College, Tral
 * Government Degree College, Shopian
 * Government Degree College, Ganderbal
 * Government Degree College, Kulgam
 * Government Degree College, Kelam
 * Government Degree College, Doru
 * Government Degree College, Pattan
 * Government Degree College, Beerwah
 * Government Degree College, Uri
 * Government Degree College, Bijbehara
 * Government Degree College, Budgam
 * Government Degree College, Bandipora
 * Government Degree College for Women, Sopore
 * Government Model Degree College Tangmarg Gulmarg
 * Vishwa Bharti Women's College, Srinagar
 * Government Degree College, Bomai Sopore

Faculties, departments, and centres

 * School of Arts, Languages and Literature


 * Department of Arabic
 * Department of Urdu
 * Department of English
 * Department of Kashmiri
 * Department of Foreign Languages
 * Department of Library and Information Science
 * Department of Linguistics
 * Department of Persian
 * Department of Sanskrit
 * Department of Hindi
 * School of Social Sciences
 * Department of Economics
 * Department of History
 * Department of Shah-i-Hamadan(A.R) Institute of Islamic Studies
 * Media Education Research Center (MERC)
 * Department of Political Science
 * Department of Sociology & Social Work
 * Department of Psychology
 * Department of Philosophy
 * Department of Library & Information Sciences (LIS)
 * Faculty of Business & Financial Studies & Management
 * Department of Business & Financial Studies (Erstwhile department of Commerce)
 * Department of Management Studies
 * Faculty of Education
 * Department of Education
 * Department of Physical Education
 * Faculty of Medicine
 * Faculty of Dentistry
 * School of Unani and Ayurvedic Medicine
 * Faculty of Engineering
 * Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering (Zakura Campus)
 * Department of Mechanical Engineering (Zakura Campus)
 * Department of Electrical Engineering (Zakura Campus)
 * Department of Civil Engineering (Zakura Campus)
 * Department of Computer Science and Engineering (North Campus, Delina Baramulla)
 * Faculty of Law
 * Department of Law
 * Faculty of Music & Fine Arts
 * Faculty of Oriental Learning
 * Faculty of Biological Sciences
 * Department of Botany
 * Department of Biochemistry
 * Department of Zoology
 * Department of Biotechnology
 * Department of Clinical Biochemistry
 * Faculty of Physical & Material Sciences
 * Department of Chemistry
 * Department of Geology & Geophysics
 * Department of Mathematics
 * Department of Physics
 * Department of Statistics
 * School of Earth and Environment Sciences
 * Department of Earth Sciences
 * Department of Environmental Science
 * Department of Geography & Regional Development
 * Department of Geoinformatics
 * Faculty of Applied Sciences & Technology
 * Electronics & Instrumentation Technology
 * Institute of Home Science
 * Pharmaceutical Science
 * Department of Computer Science
 * Department of Food Science & Technology
 * Department of Information Technology ( currently under IT&SS)
 * Centres
 * Directorate of Physical Education & Sports
 * Directorate of Distance Education
 * Directorate of Life Long Learning
 * Directorate of Information Technology & Support System (IT & SS)
 * Directorate of Internal Quality Assurance (DIQA)
 * Directorate of Watch & Ward
 * Directorate of Hygiene & Environment
 * Directorate of Convocation Complex
 * Centre of Central Asian Studies (CCAS)
 * Centre of Research for Development (CORD)
 * Centre for Energy Studies
 * Centre for Biodiversity & Taxonomy
 * University Science & Instrumentation Centre
 * Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMMRC)
 * State Resource Centre (SRC)
 * Public Relations Centre (PRC)
 * Centre for Career Planning and Counselling(CCPC)
 * Population Research Centre (PRC)
 * Allama Iqbal(A.R) Institute of Culture & Philosophy
 * Institute of Music & Fine Arts
 * Regional Study Center


 * Faculty of Nursing

Academics
University of Kashmir offers 107 courses across 11 streams at undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. Under undergraduate programme, the university offers three-year Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Science streams, four-year Bachelor of Technology and five-year integrated BA LLB courses in different specializations. Under postgraduate programme, the university offers two-year Master of Arts, Master of Business Administration, MBA-FM, Master of Social Work, Master of Commerce, Master of Technology, Master of Pharmacy and Master of Computer Applications courses. These courses are offered by different schools of specialisations which fall under their respective departments and faculties.

Merit scholarships
Students selected for admission to various courses/programmes in the university are eligible to receive two merit scholarships which are paid to the top two merit holders. Merit scholarship in favour of previous year paid students is granted on the basis of merit in the entrance test to the course. In the final year, it is awarded on the basis of merit in the M.A/ MSc/ M.Com./ MLIS Previous/ 1st & 2nd semester examination. The scholarship is granted from the date of admission to the course up to the last date of the examination, subject to a maximum period of 12 calendar months.

Research scholarships
There are six departmental scholarships in each Department/Research Centre awarded for research leading to the award of PhD/M.Phil. degrees in addition to contingency grant payable annually for meeting miscellaneous expenses. The amount of scholarship paid to each selected scholar is Rs 10000/= per month for the period of maximum three years.

Students aid
The university has adopted a scheme called "Student Aid Fund" under which financial assistance is extended to students, particularly the meritorious ones from low-income groups. The Kashmir University Alumni Association also provides financial assistance to students with poor economic backgrounds with preference given to students who are orphans.

Rankings
Internationally, the University of Kashmir was ranked 451–500 in Asia in the QS World University Rankings for 2023. In India, the QS World University Rankings ranked the University of Kashmir 56-60 and the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranked it 58th overall. and 33rd among universities in 2023.

Sports
The Directorate of Physical Education & Sports was established in the university in the year 1948 with the objective of promoting sports culture among the youth for the overall development of personality. Since then, it has hosted various inter-university tournaments in various sports like water skiing, kayaking, canoeing, surfing, sailing, and dragon boating at zonal and national levels. The university students have also earned laurels to the university in International Winter Sports Championships. Adventure sports like mountaineering and trekking have also been introduced. Several training camps are also organised in the university to train the students pursuing different courses.

The university has cricket, hockey, football, volleyball, handball, baseball, tennis, and basketball courts/fields and gyms within the main campus.

Notable alumni

 * Agha Shahid Ali - Poet
 * Ayub Thakur - political activist / physician
 * Bilal Nazki - Chief Justice
 * Farooq Kathwari - Businessman
 * Farooq Nazki - Poet / Broadcaster and media personality
 * Ghulam Nabi Azad - Politician
 * Karan Singh - Politician / Philosopher
 * Mansoor Ahmad Mir - Judge
 * Mehbooba Mufti - Politician
 * Mirwaiz Umar Farooq - Politician / Religious cleric
 * Syed Ali Shah Geelani - Politician / Islamic theologist
 * Masarat Alam Bhat - politician
 * Saifuddin Soz - Professor
 * Syed Salahuddin - Islamic scholar / Preacher
 * Sunanda Pushkar - Businesswoman
 * Tarannum Riyaz - Writer
 * Z. G. Muhammad - Writer
 * Mohammad Yaqoob Mir - Judge
 * Malik Sajad - Graphic novelist
 * Irfan Mehraj - Indian journalist and Human rights activist
 * Davoud Danesh-Jafari, Iranian politician / Economist