Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is a residential academic institution located in the city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was established in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and in 1920 it was granted the status of Central University by an Act of the Indian Parliament. It is known for being the birth place of the Pakistan movement and the intelligentsia associated with the university played a pioneering role in the creation of the Islamic state of Pakistan.
Aligarh is situated at a distance of 130 km, south-east of Delhi on the Delhi-Kolkata Railway and Grand Trunk Road. Modelled on the University of Cambridge, it was among the first institutions of higher learning set up during the British Raj. Originally it was Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which was founded by a Muslim social reformer Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. Many prominent Muslim leaders, and Urdu writers and scholars of the subcontinent have graduated from the University.
Aligarh Muslim University offers more than 280 courses in the traditional and modern branches of education. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, a great social reformer of his age felt the need for modern education and started a school in 1875 which later became the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College and finally Aligarh Muslim University in 1920. This is a premier Central University with several faculties and maintained institutions and draws students from all corners of the world, especially Africa, West Asia and South East Asia. In some courses, places are reserved for students from SAARC and Commonwealth countries. The University is open to all irrespective of caste, creed, religion or gender.
The University Today
The University Today
Currently the University has almost thirty thousand students, and over two thousand faculty members with over eighty departments of study. It continues to function as a premiere educational institution in India, and draws students from a number of countries, especially countries in Africa, West Asia and South East Asia. In some courses, seats are reserved for students from SAARC and Commonwealth countries.
Faculties
It has currently composed of 12 Faculties viz.
- Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
- Faculty of Arts
- Faculty of Commerce
- Faculty of Engineering & Technology
- Faculty of Law
- Faculty of Life Sciences
- Faculty of Management Studies & Research
- Faculty of Medicine
- Faculty of Science
- Faculty of Social Sciences
- Faculty of Theology
- Faculty of Unani Medicine
Research Centres
The university also maintains some interdepartmental research centres such as:
There are 16 Halls of residence comprising 69 hostels – as under
- Interdisciplinary unit of Biotechnology
- Centre of Excellence in Material Science/Nanotechnology
- Centre for Comparative Study of Indian Languages & Culture
- Centre of West Asian Studies
- Centre of Woman Studies
- Centre of Nehru Studies
Schools
- Abdullah Girls High School
- Abdullah Nursery School
- A.B.K. Union High School (Boys)
- A.B.K. Union High School (Girls)
- City High School (Boys)
- City High School (Girls)
- S.T.S. High School (Minto Circle)
- Senior Secondary School (Boys)
- Senior Secondary School (Girls)
- Ahmadi School for the visually challanged
Colleges
- Zakir Hussain College of Engineering and Technology
- University Boys Polytechnic
- University Girls Polytechnic
- Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College
- Ajmal Khan Tibbiya College
- Abdullah Women's College
- UGC Academic Staff College
Maulana Azad Library
The Library complex of the University consists of a Central Library and over 80 college/departmental libraries. Libraries of the colleges, institutions and departments, cater to the needs of postgraduates and students of professional courses.
The Central Library was set up in 1875, when this institution was established as Madarsatul Uloom. In 1877, the Madarsa became Mohammadan Anglo-Oriental College. Lord Lytton, the viceroy of India, laid the foundation stone, and the library was named after him as Lytton Library. In 1960, it was named as Maulana Azad Library when the first Prime Minister, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, inaugurated its present building. The Seven storied building is surrounded by 4.75 acres (19,200 m2) of land in the form of beautiful lawns and gardens. It is the most beautiful building of the University and one of the few very attractive libraries in the country. The Library has about 1,100,000 books.
The collection consists of books, periodicals, pamphlets, manuscripts, paintings and photographs. The Library performs the functions of a National Library so far as its collection of Oriental manuscripts are concerned. It is because of these rich collections of immense research value that this Library is reckoned among major libraries of the world. The oldest manuscript owned by the library is more than fourteen hundred years old. It is a fragment of the Qur'an transcribed by Hazrat Ali, the fourth caliph of Islam and is written on parchment in Kufi script. Another rare collection is the unique Halnama of Beyazid Ansari.
The Library has a sizeable collection of early printed books in various languages. Among the large collection of Mughal paintings is the painting of Red Blossom, which is magnum opus of Mansoor Naqqash, the celebrated court artist of Emperor Jahangir. Some valuable Sanskrit works translated into Persian have also been preserved in the library. Other possessions worth mentioning is the Ayurved in Telugu and the Bhasa's in Malayalam script written on palm leaves. Abul Faiz Faizi, an eminent scholar of Akbar's court translated several Sanskrit works into Persian, such as Mahapurana, Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharat and Lilavati, these are also available.
More than 5,000 students, teachers and other members of the university daily visit the library and utilize its services.
Halls of residence
Halls of residence
- Abdullah Hall (for women)
- Aftab Hall
- Allama Iqbal Hall
- Hadi Hasan Hall
- Indira Gandhi Hall (for women)
- Mohsinul Mulk Hall
- Mohammad Habib Hall
- Nadeem Tarin Hall
- Ross Masood Hall
- Sir Syed Hall (North)
- Sir Syed Hall (South)
- Sir Sulaiman Hall
- Sir Ziauddin Hall
- Sarojini Naidu Hall (for Women)
- Viqarul Mulk Hall
- Sherwani Hall
- Sultan Jahan Begum Hall (for women)
- Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar Hall
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