Introduction
Kohsar University, a breakthrough in the educational development of Murree and its adjoining areas, was recently established by the Government of the Punjab vide Kohsar University, Murree Act-2020, (IX of 2020). The University with its beautiful existing 4 Campuses is located Punjab House, Boys Campus-Jhika Gali near Kashmir point with its amazing view, Girls Campus near GPO, Mall Road and Resocurce Center Murree (Admn/Activities) at Kashmir point. The other campuses/centers of excellence including Murree Campus has been recently approved by the Government. The university comprises of these spacious and beautiful buildings surrounded by natural and scenic beauty of the Queen of Hills-Murree. The university is offering BS 4 year degree in the fields of Botany, English, Mathematics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Statistics, Urdu then Bio informatics, Microbiology, Computer Science, Forestry & Tourism & Hospitality.
The university will cater all the educational needs of the students of Murree and its adjoining areas in its future initiatives as well. The university will provide the best opportunities for the personal and educational grooming of the students through its highly qualified faculty enabling the students to cope with the challenges of modern age. It will be a great source of research work for all the concerned students; thus, sharpening their wisdom and capabilities for the future development of the country. Moreover, Intermediate classes will continue under the patronage and supervision of the university. Thus, students who pass their Intermediate examination will be able to get admission to BS classes as per University criteria because a vast range of BS subjects shall be available to them higher studies. It is expected that new vistas of research work and learning available to the learners of this area with a bright future ahead.
OUR VISION AND MISSION
OUR VISION:
The Kohsar University, Murree (KUM) envisions itself as a premium higher education institution that offers quality education in diverse academic disciplines, especially those in line with the needs of Mountainous areas through sustainable development and competitive excellence nationally and internationally.
OUR MISSION:
As a public sector University, KUM mission is to advance knowledge and transform lives of communities in particular by providing access to quality higher education, entrepreneurship and conducting research of the highest caliber. This will answer emerging questions and create solutions to the local needs and advances outreach engagement of vibrant and promising young brains especially those of Mountainous areas. KUM will be recognized as a University that develops a diverse and inclusive community of globally engaged, dynamic and skilled young leaders contributing in growth and development of communities.
University Profile
One of the cornerstones of Higher Education Commission’s (HEC’s) policies is to establish higher education institutions in the field of Applied Sciences. The Government of Pakistan has already heavily invested in training of critical human resource, and it further intends to develop a large pool of high-quality researchers and technicians in various fields of Science, Technology, and Allied Industries. In this connection, Kohsar University Murree (KUM) is an initiative of Government of Punjab to bring improvements in the tourism & hospitality linked economy as well as other interlinked areas to improve the overall health of Community, Environment, and Ecosystem. This is scheduled to be achieved by tightly linking basic research & translational research with entrepreneurial activities to build conducive on campus Serve to Solve-Ecosystem (https://kum.edu.pk/kum/index.php/message-of-the-vice-chancellor/). It is a well-known fact that the significant percentage of the mountain population in developing countries is considered vulnerable due to food insecurity and statistics are even worse if we consider their rural settings. We understand that community engagement models are not being taught at tertiary level effectively due to the lack of master trainers and of little interaction between applied scientists, social scientists, and industrial partners and KUM envisages filling this gap through establishment of conducive working environment for social scientists and applied scientists (https://kum.edu.pk/kum/index.php/faculty-members/). Thus, KUM has taken initiatives to offer degree programs (https://kum.edu.pk/kum/index.php/about-us/) in diverse fields as well as short diploma & certification programs where faculty & students are engaged in creating new knowledge and developing solutions (https://kum.edu.pk/kum/index.php/labs/) to real-life problems ranging from for environmental pollution, monitoring & surveillance of pathogens (plants, human & livestock/poultry) as well as catering needs of climate mitigation plan, tourism & hospitality industry, disaster management, horticulture, food security/nutrition, employing digital platforms where required for distant learning/educational program as well as developing innovative solutions for health, environment, water & energy sectors. The degree and training programs (https://kum.edu.pk/Faculties) being offered at KUM pertain to human resource development in important fields of Ecosystem preservation & restoration vis a vis sustainable tourism and allied fields. Hilly terrains like Murree, top tourism resort, and other such valleys can be brought under cultivation to meet not only the needs of healthy organic food and fruits but also to address the challenges of malnutrition as well as other challenges ranging from colossal food waste as well as forest material waste for developing sustainable tourism. Kohsar University Murree, ( which was declared the summer capital of Punjab Government in 1860 following the tradition of Simla and Outcoming) is an emerging player in developing social impact of scientific work by continuous quality supply chain for Higher Education by focusing on experiential learning tools within disciplines and beyond disciplines to gain optimal results for overall socioeconomic development of the country. Moreover, integrated approach of linking various disciplines and sectoral partners in strengthening the commercialization aspect of Science & Technology will create a window of opportunity to address local challenges and generating alternate means of decent work/livelihood, equal opportunities, and empowering youth as well as women.
The vision of Kohsar University Murree is to empower the students to fulfil their academic, research and professional passion in a university that is diverse, welcoming, and inclusive for all students, faculty, and staff (). KUM is on the road to create innovative connections among diverse academic disciplines i.e. digital world/computer sciences https://kum.edu.pk/kum/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Events-detail-for-CS-and-SE-department.pdf humanities, tourism & hospitality https://kum.edu.pk/kum/index.php/department-of-tourism-hospitality-and-hotel-management/ social sciences, health (—-) & environmental sciences https://kum.edu.pk/kum/index.php/department-of-environmental-sciences/ precision agriculture (—-) and art & design https://kum.edu.pk/kum/index.php/department-of-art-and-design/ by offering a rich skill-based Ecosystem with Entrepreneurial and community centric approach. KUM began its academic & research & development journey in 2020-21 aligned with the SDGs as it is a universal fact that the research, innovation, and discovery are the main activities of universities, rather than cosmetic activities (https://kum.edu.pk/kum/index.php/oric/). The balanced approach adopted by KUM will certainly address critical concerns of researchers and will undoubtedly contribute to rapid growth in science and technology intensive solutions. KUM strongly believes that preparedness and implementation of better educational models is vital to promote STEM education through effective engagement of all stakeholders by “do it yourself” approach. KUM has been assigned the task of promoting STEM in Punjab by engaging its vibrant youth (—). Thus, it is starting up a lab in beautiful Murree to run various modules for school, college, and university students. At community level, KUM has played its part in the relief and rehabilitation of flood victims in various affected regions of Pakistan in July-October 2022 and snow victims in Murree in January 2022. KUM has been organizing various activities to protect the environment and biodiversity through arts and social mobilization programs. In its short life, KUM organized various conferences, workshops (developed linkages/MOUs (with various national and international players, arranged invited talks from renowned experts such as from the UK (Oxford), Korea, and Netherlands (—-). Faculty members of this university also pay a due attention to research-related activities and thus the faculty have produced >100 impact factor research publication https://kum.edu.pk/kum/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/List-of-publications.pdf in one year with reasonably decent citations.
Kohsar University Murree, with its four beautiful campuses, is located right in the middle of scenic, serene, and amicable environment of Murree is offering diverse degree programs under the umbrella of following faculties