Kandahar University - Overview

Overview

Kandahar University was established in 1990 based on the national developing policy of the government in the education sector within the framework of the Ministry of Higher Education. At first it had only one faculty of agriculture and after that faculties of medicine, engineering, education, sharia law, economics and Journalism were established in 1994, 2000, 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2012 correspondingly. In addition to that two faculties (Agricultural and Education) are established as a branch of Kandahar University in Helmand province. Currently, Kandahar University has around 5000 students and 162 full and part time professors are busy with teaching. Out of 162 professors 28have MSc and one professor has PhD. The university has 1039 alumni from 4 faculties including agricultural, medicine, engineering and education. The University has a night shift for students who are not able to attend the university during day and as well as in service employees of public, private and NGOs. Till 2003 the university did not have its own campus and was operating in a mobile form. It was provided with the current campus in 2003 which has the area of 93 hectares. The current 13 buildings are mainly constructed for dorm purposes (student housing facilities) which the university is serving them in addition to dorm purposes for administration and academic purposes as well. The university has an agricultural research farm within the campus and a teaching hospital outside the campus which was transferred to the university from the Afghan National Army properties in Kandahar City at the request of the university and approval of President Hamid Karzai.

The university has established a center for IT which was supplied by NATO and University planned to connect it to Optical Fiber project. The university has 161 computers in 5 PC Labs for students’ use. The university does not have a proper central library due to the lack of infrastructures and instead of that has 8 small libraries in various faculties and departments. There is no proper place of study for students and they have to manage it in their dorms or elsewhere which are very difficult since each room is shared by 10 to 12 students. The curriculums of the University for Different Faculties are prepared considering the need of the country and global developments. The educational credit system is used in the faculties of medicine and education. Some basic labs are being prepared for caring out some laboratory instruction in the faculties of education, agricultural, engineering and medicine.

The campus covers an area of more than 600,000 m2. It has 11 buildings, of which one is the Administration and Chancellor's office, four buildings for a hostel, one for each faculty and one for the Central Library. There is a separate girls' hostel. Other structures on the campus are the tomb of Allama Abdul Shakoor Rishad baba who was a writer, artist and poet of Afghanistan, and a mosque located beside the university for attending the Eid prayers each year.

In 2008 the Canadian government built a three-km perimeter of stone, brick and iron around the school campus. It has been dubbed the Great Wall of Kandahar. The new wall addresses security concerns. In 2012, with the assistance of the University of Arizona in the United States, Kandahar University began using solar energy for electricity.