Shah Abdul Latif University, is a public research university located in ruralKhairpur of Sindh, Pakistan. The university is named after the mystic poet and spiritualist Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. The university also maintains teaching campuses in Shikarpur, Shahdadkot and Ghotki. Founded in 1976 as a single campus, the university has grown in both keeping its reputation and physical enlargement whilst developing a strong and transparent system of higher education in the north of Sindh. The university offers undergraduate, post-graduate, and doctorate programmes in various academic disciplines. The university is noted for its academic staff consisting of foreign scholars, and research directed towards the development of humanities, archaeology, Sindh studies, natural and social sciences. In addition, it is ranked as one of the top institution of high learning by the HEC on "general" category. Nearly ~7000 students currently enrolled in the university, the university's main focus is committed to enabling its graduates to lead and serve the nation apart from their own better well-being.
History
Initial foundation
In 1974-75 the University of Sindh with its solitary campus in Jamshoro could not keep pace with the growing need of the Sindh Province for higher education. Another campus was therefore set up at Khairpur Mirs, named after the national poet of Sindh, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. The campus was meant to provide higher education facilities in various modern and scientific fields to the people in the northern part of the Province of Sindh, which had a rich tradition of producing highly educated and intelligent people.
In 1986, the Sindh provincial assembly passed an act to make the campus a full-fledged and independent university. The act came into force in 1987, making the university functional, under then-Chief Minister Ghous Ali Shah. Its campus covers an area of of lush green lawns, playgrounds and trees. The landscape includes three canals nearby which serve as picnic spots for the students and the faculty. The university has over 4,000 students in various programmes. There are 3,500 undergraduate and 1,500 graduate students. About 75 percent of students are male and 25 percent female. Despite seven student hostels, the university has also provided an arranged-transport facility for students, and the majority of them commute daily from their homes. The university is ranked at number twenty in the general category of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan rankings.
Research
To encourage research, the university has established:
The teaching programmes under the Faculty of Law are conducted exclusively through affiliated professional Law colleges. The university teaching departments, institutions and centers offer programmes leading to the award of four-year Bachelor's degrees and two-year Master's degrees equivalent as M.Phil. University also offers Ph.D degrees in various disciplines. The two-year Bachelor's degree programmes are conducted through various affiliated degree colleges within the jurisdiction of the university. Post-graduate degree classes in specific disciplines are also conducted in specified Degree College. The university is recognised by the Pakistan Bar Council and the LL.B. degree of the University is recognised as a qualifying law degree for an individual to be admitted to a Bar in Pakistan.
