Last Sunday, Imran Khan delivered another promise when his brainchild Namal College in Mianwali was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. After Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital in Lahore, its yet another gift from the Great Khan for the people of Pakistan. Located alongside of famous Namal Lake, Namal College will have full support from University of Bradford UK which has also granted it Associate College status. Although Imran has been working on this project since 2002, strangely, it got very little media attention until the launching ceremony of first phase of project. The idea is to gradually develop Namal College into an Oxford like world-class research university and knowledge city where scholars can work and study in an Oxford-like academic environment.
The most impressive part of this project is that majority of the students at the college/university will be on scholarships and come from areas where they would not have had the opportunities that the Namal College would offer. The Namal College will be of enormous benefit not only to the Mianwali district but also the whole of Pakistan. Over the long term, Namal College’s “Knowledge City” will act as a best practice model for other regions of Pakistan to extend its benefits nationally, like the Shaukat Khanum is doing today.
Imran Khan started to work on the idea to build a university beside Namal Lake (above) during 2002 elections when he was running his campaign in Mianwali District. He observed one of the highest level of unemployment rate among the youth who were mostly unskilled. Everyone young person he came across during that time, told him that they can’t get any job because of lack of education and technical skills. That’s when Imran decided that he would build a world class educational and they don’t have any technical training college in one of the most backward areas like Mianwali. A place like Namal College where even the children of poorest people can get quality education, technical training and employable skills, so that they could earn a decent living. Last Sunday saw the first phase of his dream come true.
According to The News:
A large number of people gathered on Sunday for the inauguration of the college, including government ministers, educationists, and donors alongside the people of Mianwali, who have so generously donated the land on which the college has been built.
Working alongside Imran for the last two years has been the University of Bradford, one of the leading universities in the UK, especially in engineering and management courses. The university has been ranked No 1 for graduate employment in the north of England in The Times League tables for the last five years and has a history of developing and delivering high quality and demand-driven degree programmes as well as an excellent reputation for research.
In December 2005, Imran was appointed the university’s first international chancellor, succeeding four previous chancellors, the first of whom was Harold Wilson, Labour Prime Minister of Britain.
The University of Bradford has granted ‘Associate College’ status to Namal College. Commenting on the importance of the partnership with the Namal College, Vice Chancellor of the University of Bradford Mark Cleary said, “The university does not award Associate College status lightly. In our 42-year history since we were granted our Royal Charter, we have given this status to only eight Associate Colleges in the United Kingdom and only three around the world. We were, however, inspired by the vision and values for Namal College, which we felt were very similar to our own and to the commitment for excellence, exemplified by Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, also a partner of the university, which we know will be demonstrated here at Namal College too.”
The Bradford University will be involved in designing the courses and curriculum, in ensuring quality assurance mechanism and training and development for the faculty. Courses will be delivered in 4 phases. The Phase I will offer certificate courses, Phase II diploma courses, Phase III degree course and Phase IV research degrees.
The initial curriculum will be focused in the following areas: Construction (masons, carpenters, electricians), automotive engineering, electrical engineering with emphasis on appliances repairs; agricultural equipment engineering, development and maintenance, and cement industry work.
Let us hope and pray that this project fulfills its objectives of providing the best quality educational, research and technical training opportunities to the poorest and most neglected segments of our society. Anyone interested in knowing more, how can s/he help and donate, please visit official website of Namal College or goto Tehreek-i-Insaf website. More information on Namal College can be found here, here and here.
Note: Most of the photographs have been provided by Ahsan Mansoor of PTI, Lahore. Click on the links for rest which will take you to original photographer’s website.
Imran khan is great pakistani. We all should support him as much as we can.
i am very glad to see this university.this is a great job, but i need to say that please introduce other cources also specially for medical science courses.again, you have did a great job.
I CONGRATULATE IMRAN KHAN WITH MY ALL BEST WISHES AND MY BEST PRAYERS FOR HIM FOR HIS WORTH APPRECIATING DEEDS FOR WELFARE OF HUMANBEINGS.MAP
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i think it is a wonderful project of mr imran khan to get rid off illetrecay !! kick the illetrecay….. be educatinost? GOD BLESS IMRAN KHAN !!AMEEN .PAKISTAN ZINDABAD .
I THINK THIS IS WONDERFUL ENVIRONMENT AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOR EDUCATION I WISH IMRAN KHAN BUILD ONE TECHNICAL COLLEGE IN KOHAT NWFP THANKS IMRAN KHAN YOU ARE SO HARD WORKING FOR PAKISTAN PLEASE BUILD ONE TECHNICAL IN KOHAT MAY ALLAH BLESS YOU.
Every politician, de facto, is divisive; there are those who will follow and those who will oppose, that is the nature of the trade.
Now, to suggest that skills gained from philanthropy, and captaining a sports team to its apogee, are not translatable to leadership on a wider scale, or to posit that support cannot augment, is myopic. A good leader possesses the ability to build an effective team.
Existence of Namal college will encourage ground-breaking researchers/scientists from around the world to speak there, success will follow, support for Imran will increase, the best and the good will join his band wagon, and I must resist alliteration!
Ayesha, I agree that we have to agree to disagree on this but interesting exchange of views anyways.
I was referring to the seat adjustment thing before 1997 elections. If you recall, seat adjustment is done in almost every election weeks before polling between political parties. Jamat-i-Islami, for example, cannot win a single seat from Punjab (particularly urban areas) in my view without seat adjustment with NS and they benefited hugely in 2002. Seat adjustment with JI always help in defeating PPP in many closely contested seats in Punjab. You should analyze past election results and winning margins.
Since you were in Pakistan in 1997 so you probably remember that everyone thought IK would be a big impact in 1997 and NS’s vote bank was most likely to be most hurt. NS worried about this tried to do seat adjustment with JI and PTI and some others too. During that time NS was willing to withdraw his candidates from 50+ seats in favor of PTI all over Pakistan but IK, probably unaware of ground reality, refused it. Its a well known fact. I think he would have won many seats just because of NS’s overwhelming popularity at that time. Of course, nobody had even dreamt at that time that IK will lose in such a big way and NS will get such a heavy mandate.
Regarding PM ship offer in 2001-2, Gen. Musharraf has admitted that himself in one of his interviews so its not just a theory. I ‘ll see if I can find a video on youtube. During 2000-02, Musharraf was desperate to find a suitable face for his government. IK, despite his occasional tyrant attitude, would have brought good reputation, more acceptance and legitimacy for Musharraf’s regime. I am sure and I agree with you that he must have interviewed many and probably offered PMship to some others too (typical of our establishment). IK at that time was supporting Musharraf and was hot because of his good image in public. Remember that famous incident at SKMTH fund raising event when Musharraf saluted IK (photo here and youtube video here – watch the part after 4:50 secs) after which everyone thought IK would be next PM?
My own guess is that Musharraf wanted Imran Khan to be the next Prime Minister initially. However, he must have analyzed the ground situation and realized that PTI can only win a few seats and IK would not fit in his setup involving Shujaat and Pervez Ilahi so he dropped the idea. The choice of Shaukat Aziz came later when situation was completely different. I also agree that Amin Faheem must have been offered PMship too. It was probably a desperate attempt by Musharraf to stay in power after elections and he would have too, had Amin Faheem agreed.
But the point is, IK could have taken it by compromising a bit and keeping his mouth shut on few things which he didn’t. Its complicated I think. One may argue that had he accepted those offers, he would have become part of the system he wants to change and there are many examples of good politicians turning into villains. Even Musharraf can be counted in this category considering his excellent governance between 1999-2002. Once he decided to form that King’s party and hold elections drama he just kept on making mistakes after mistakes after that.
I know about Eidhi’s political career but he is not in the category of leaders and lacks charisma which IK, in my view has. Eidhi, Asma and may be Hoodbhoy can still win a seat but do they fall in leaders category or can they have a significant impact on political scenario? I think not.
Of course, I am not saying at all that anybody can win elections in US or France with their personal popularity. I am just comparing the chances of success in different political systems and I believe personal popularity is a much bigger factor in setups like US or France than in Pakistan.
Lastly, from what I have heard IK talks about Dr. Mahatir’s economic model and how he has turned Malaysia into a developed country. I ,too, admire Mahatir for how he has changed the fate of Malaysian people in just 2 decades (despite having my reservations about his treatment to some of his political enemies – Anwer Ibrahim topping the list). He is probably the only one in entire Muslim world who takes on West and US for their double standards. If you ask me, I would rather prefer someone with questionable democratic values who can deliver and bring economic growth and prosperity to miserable population of Pakistan over the so called democratic leaders who fail to deliver each time they are given a chance.
Btw, I think you ‘ll enjoy reading this :).