University of Swat

On 29 May 2010 the establishment of the University of Swat was announced by the prime minister of Pakistan during his visit to Swat valley. The university came into formal existence in July 2010 by the order of Honorable Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mr. Awais Ahmad Ghani with the prior approval of the President of Pakistan. Its first Vice Chancellor Dr. Muhammad Farooq Khan (Shaheed) was appointed in August 2010. The Higher Education Department handed over two buildings to the university located at Saidu sharif swat. Land Acquisition for the university's own campus has been carried out and construction on the project is ongoing. Various buildings have been completed and recently the two departments have been shifted to main campus under supervision of Dr. Muhammad Jamal, Vice Chancellor.

In its first academic session (2010–11) the university opened seven departments.[2]

• Dr. Muhammad Farooq Khan
• Prof. Dr. Muhammad Farooq Swati (acting)
• Prof. Dr. Muhammad Jahanzeb Khan Yosafzai – from 3 Dec 2011 to 2 Dec 2015
• Prof. Dr. Jehan Bakht (acting) – from 7 Dec 2015 t0 Jun 9, 2017
• Prof. Dr. Muhammad Jamal Khan – from 20 Dec 2017 till 18 December 2022
• Prof. Dr. Hassan Sher (Acting) - from 18 December, 2022 till 07 October 2022.
• Prof. Dr. Hassan Sher - 07 October 2022, till date

• Mr. Imtiaz Ali Khan
• Mr. Muhammad Riaz
• Mr. Mahboob Ur Rahman
• Mr. Zahid Ullah
• Dr. Hassan Sher
• Mr. Sher Alam Khan

• Mr. Fayyaz Ahmed Khan

• Mr. Hamdullah Younas

• Mr. Arshad Ali Khan

• Mr. Azizur Rehman

• Mr. Fayyaz Ahmed Khan – Deputy Registrar Academics

• Special Technology Zone (STZ): University of Swat, in collaboration with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa IT Board, is in the process of establishing a state-of-the-art building having various facilities for IT companies under one roof. The high-rise building has fifteen levels, the lower three levels for commercial uses, five levels for IT companies, three levels for IT and incubation centers, one level for STZ offices, and two levels for Cloud and services centre and for auditoriums.
• CMS and ERP: University of Swat is in the process of shifting towards a digital and paperless environment. The CMS will automate the overall process of student life cycle and ERP will shift the university business life cycle.
• Online Distance Learning and Online Blended Learning: University of Swat in collaboration with Virtual University of Pakistan is in the process of starting hybrid education for knowledge economy. In this project, Virtual University of Pakistan has established a state of the art computer lab at University of Swat to provide hybrid education. University of Swat also introduced the bus bio lab at Swat, where students at the university and affiliated colleges get their practical of Life Sciences in Bio Lab Bus.
• LAN Infrastructure: University of Swat is in the process of implementing fibre optics based LAN infrastructure on the main campus. This project will enable the university to have high speed internet, intranet and phone line facilities. This will also provide a state of the art network monitoring system (NMS) to enable the university team to handle a network break within the system, to monitor and to resolve the issue without much human interference on a 24/7 basis. In this project, National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) has gifted a fiber optics connection from their last miles at Mingora to the server room at University of Swat and a GPON/MSAC system under the slogan of Digital Year 2023

Allama Iqbal declamation contest are yearly held in the University of Swat to promote new talent in regarding Debates, Declamations. Most raging debtors of University are Riaz Ali (Dept. of Law and Sharia), Izhar Ahmad (Dept. of Economics), Fahad Khan (Dept. of commerce and management sciences), Kabir (Dept. of Law and Sharia), Arshad Ali (Dept. of Law and Sharia), Rahseed Ahmad Faizi (Dept. of Law and Sharia).

The university shortlisted top students based on merit from the most senior batches of all Bachelor and master's degree Programs and communicated. The ten students were interviewed by the directorate of sports and youth affairs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two students (Biotechnology 7th semester student Mr. Ashfaq Ahmad[3][4] and one female student of zoology Department ) were finalized to represent University of Swat during Inter Provincial Youth Exchange program (IPYEP) 2016. They were part of delegation which represented KPK in Karachi and Islamabad/AJK one week trip.[5]

In its first session (2010–11) the university opened the following eight disciplines:

• Department of Business Administration
• Department of Computer Science
• Department of Development Studies
• Department of Mass Communication
• Department of Economics
• Department of Education
• Department of Law and Shari'a
• Department of Statistics
• Department of Environmental Science

In the 2011–12 session, one discipline of Software Engineering and four more departments, of Zoology, Microbiology and Environmental Sciences at BS level, were introduced. There are now the following schools/institutes/departments with 3500+ students:

• Center for Agriculture Sciences and Forestry
• Center for Animal Science and Fisheries
• Center for Biotechnology & Microbiology
• Center for Earth Sciences
• Center for Education and Staff Training
• Center for Management & Commerce
• Center for Plant Science and Biodiversity
• Department of Applied Physical and Material Sciences
• Department of Computer and Software Technologies
• Department of Economics and Development Studies
• Department of English and Foreign Languages
• Department of Environmental and Conservation Sciences
• Department of Forensic Studies
• Department of Health and Physical Education
• Department of Islamic and Arabic Studies
• Department of Law & Shari’a
• Department of Library and Information Studies
• Department of Mathematics & Statistics
• Department of Media & Communication Studies
• Department of Political and International Studies
• Department of Psychological Studies
• Department of Social and Gender Studies
• Institute of Chemical Sciences
• Institute of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality Management

• Institute of Culture Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality Management (ICHTHM)

The Institute of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality Management has been established with a view to save the cultural heritage of the Swat region, to establish an archaeological and ethnic profile of the region, to explore the genesis of the cultural activities, to trace the complex and rich historical past of the ancient period of the country, to promote Eco- and cultural tourism of Pakistan in general and the Malakand division and the Northern Areas in particular, and to impart quality education at graduate, undergraduate and postgraduate levels at par with the international standards. The present Head of Department is Dr. Zarawar Khan and the coordinator is Muhammad Wali Ullah.

The Chancellor Prof. Dr. Muhammad Jahanzeb Khan established the Institute of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality Management.

• Center for Biotechnology & Microbiology(CBM)[6]

The Center for Biotechnology & Microbiology is a newly launched discipline at University of Swat.

The focus of the institute is on the applied aspect of Biotechnology, Microbiology and Genetics. The aim of the department is to produce experts in the fields of medicine, agriculture, industry, the environment, genetics and Recombinant DNA technology.

• https://uswat.edu.pk/2023/04/higher-education-ranking/
• In Pakistan ranked 124 according to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan in 2012
• Chartered by Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on 17 in 2012

Books Related to the University of Swat:

• Kashmir Issue (Urdu & English), by Former Vice Chancellor University of Swat Muhammad Farooq Khan(late).
• Dialogue with the West (English), by Former Vice Chancellor University of Swat Muhammad Farooq Khan(late).
• Hidden Treasures of Swat (2014), by Dildar Ali Khan (Student at Institute of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality Management University of Swat.

• University of Swat unofficial Facebook Page