KARACHI: Sindh Madressatul Islam University, the Karachi institution where Muhammad Ali Jinnah studied as a boy, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Women University Mardan to pursue joint research and open new opportunities for students and teachers in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The agreement was signed during a visit to SMIU by the Mardan university’s vice chancellor, Prof Dr Razia Sultana, in the presence of her host, Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujeebuddin Sahrai Memon.
Under its terms, the two universities will explore joint research projects, professional development for faculty, training programmes, academic conferences and seminars, and activities for students. Other academic fields of mutual interest are also covered.
Welcoming his guest, Dr Memon said collaboration between institutions of higher learning was central to exchanging knowledge, building research capacity and forging strong academic links between universities in different provinces.
Dr Sultana praised SMIU for bringing the partnership about. Such cooperation, she said, raises academic standards, fosters a culture of research and creates openings for students, faculty and researchers alike. She invited SMIU’s leadership and teachers to Mardan so that exchanges and joint work can be taken further.
A historian with more than three decades in teaching and university administration, Dr Sultana took charge at Mardan last year. She earlier headed Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University in Peshawar, where she worked on women’s education and institutional development.
During the visit she watched a documentary on SMIU’s history, academic record and development plans. She then toured the university’s Jinnah Museum and viewed artefacts associated with the Quaid-e-Azam.
The pairing carries a historical echo. In his will of 1939, Jinnah divided the residue of his estate among three institutions, two of them in what is now Pakistan: Sindh Madressatul Islam in Karachi and Islamia College in Peshawar. Eighty-seven years on, the Karachi beneficiary is building a formal bridge to a campus in the province of the other. The country marked the 78th anniversary of his death only last month.
Founded as a school in 1885 and raised to a university in 2012, SMIU has been widening its reach beyond Sindh. It signed a similar accord with Kinnaird College for Women in Lahore in 2021, and the Mardan agreement now gives it a partner in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well.
The ceremony was attended by Prof Dr Jamshed Ali Halipoto, dean of business administration and commerce; Prof Dr Stephen John, dean of education, language and culture; Prof Dr Abdul Hafeez Khan, dean of information technology; Dr Adnan, director of postgraduate studies; Registrar Ghulam Mustafa Shaikh; Qurat-ul-Ain Nazeer, who chairs the department of accounting, banking and finance; and Furqan Iftikhar.
Both universities described the accord as a step towards closer cooperation between the higher education sectors of the two provinces through shared research, academic exchange and professional development.
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