Allama Iqbal Open University is a public university in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is named after Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the country's national poet. It is the world's fifth largest institution of higher learning in terms of enrolment, with an annual enrollment of 1,121,038 students (as of 2010[update]), the majority are women and course enrollment of 3,305,948 (2011).[4] Students can gain admission in Matriculation, Intermediate, Bachelor, Master, MPhil and Ph.D. programmes at the university.[5]
Established in May 1974 under Act No. XXXIX passed by the Parliament of Pakistan,[8] it is Asia's first open university with a strong emphasis on providing distance education in philosophy, natural science and social sciences.[6][7][9] It has the most applicants per year of any university in Pakistan.
AIOU is noted for its cost-effective policy to provide higher and lifelong education to people learning from their homes and places of work at a minimum cost through a specialised fund managed by the government.[6][4]
AIOU is open to everyone and provides education to all without any discrimination.[6]
The Faculty of Arabic and Islamic Studies also operates an Indexing and Abstracting Agency "Islamic Research Index". The Islamic Research Index is the first and largest repository of Arabic and Islamic Studies Research Journals.
Faculty of Education
Established in 1984, the Faculty of Education's origin predates the university. A National Institute of Education was established in 1973 as a part of the Federal Ministry of Education, to improve education at school levels through in-service training of Master Trainers. This institute became a part of the university in June 1975.
The Faculty of Education has the following departments:
