Information Technology University


The Information Technology University is a public university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 2012, the university was founded and headed by Umar Saif and is modeled after the MIT.
The university is located within the high-rise Arfa Software Technology Park, while its permanent 183 acre campus is under construction on Barki Road in eastern Lahore. The university has varying degrees of partnerships with the Harvard University and also publishes the MIT Technology Review, Pakistan edition. The university is home to several tenured academics, Pakistan's largest startup incubator and maintains partnerships with EdX, IBM and the US State Department. It hosted International Development Design Summit, organised by IDIN and United States Agency for International Development.

History

Foundation and Vision

ITU was established in 2012 in order to advance scholarship and innovation in the areas of science, technology and engineering. ITU aspires to emulate the success of Massachusetts Institute of Technology through focus on cross-disciplinary applied research, the cultivation of an entrepreneurial culture in teaching and research, the maintenance of a close collaboration with the Information and Communication Technology industry and the development of strong ties with government funding agencies. With a structure that combines the best features of both public and private sector universities, ITU aims to serve as a center for excellence in academia, research, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Faculty

The university was formerly led by Umar Saif who has previously taught at the Cambridge–MIT Institute.
Dr. Sarfraz Khurshid is the current Vice Chancellor of the University.
It has two faculties:
ITU offers following programs:
  10. Executive MBA in Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship

  12. Research

ITU is home to several research centers and labs:
Between 2013 and 2016 the university has conducted PKR 700 million in research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It has received research funding from Higher Education Commission, Government of the Punjab, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, World Bank and Department for International Development.

First Convocation

The university's first convocation held on December 17, 2017 at which its first Honorary Doctorate Degree was awarded to Dr. Adil Najam, the inaugural Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, and former Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences. 139 students of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering graduated in the first convocation.

Second Convocation

Information Technology University held its on March 6, 2019 at Aiwan-i-Iqbal, Lahore. In total 181 successful graduates were awarded degrees.
The successful graduates included 61 of BSCS, 56 of BSEE, 12 of EMBITE, 43 of MSCS and 9 of MSEE.

Lahore Technology Award

ITU gave Lahore Technology Award at its first convocation to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Nergis Mavalvala for her work in the gravitational theory.