Aligarh University
Victoria gate, a prominent building at the university
Aligarh Muslim University is a university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. It was the first university set up in British India for Muslims. Many prominent Muslim leaders, and Urdu writers of the subcontinent have attended the University.
The University grew out of the work of Syed Ahmed Khan who in the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny felt that it was important for Muslims to gain a modern education and become involved in the politics of India at that time. The British decisions to end education in Arabic and Persian in the 1830s had angered Muslims, and Khan tried to remedy this by encouraging a western education for Muslims. He began the road to the formation of Aligarh University by starting various schools. In 1864, the Scientific Society of Aligarh was set up to disseminate Western works into native languages.
In 1875, Khan set up the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College in Aligarh. He patterned the college after Oxford and Cambridge, schools that he had visited on a trip to England. He wanted to build a college built in the British system, but with Islamic influences.
The school at Aligarh was responsible for creating a new educated class of Muslims who were active in the political system of the British Raj, and who would serve as a catalyst to change among not only the Muslim population of India, but of the entire subcontinent.
The college was originally affiliated with Allahbad University. Near the turn of the century it began publishing its own magazine, and established a law school. It was also around this time that a movement began to have it develop into a university to stand on its own. To achieve this goal, many expansions were made with more and more programs added to the curriculum. A school for girls was established in 1907.
The main mosque of the town, located on campus
In 1920, the College was made a Central University, and its name changed to Aligarh Muslim University. Its growth continued. The first chancellor of the university was a female, Sultan Jahan Begum. In 1927, a school for the blind was established, and in the next year, a Medical school. By the end of the 1930s, the school had grown to include an Engineering college.
Upon independence of India, it was made a University in India via an amendment in 1951. The University received many high-profile visitors such as Jawaharlal Nehru (for whom the medical school was renamed), the Shah of Iran, and King Saud. These high profile visitors also earned the university contributions from across the globe, including from the United States; a dorm was named for President Kennedy in honor of this gift.
Currently the University has almost thirty thousand students, and over two thousand faculty members with over eighty departments of study. It continues to function as an important education institution in India, and draws many foreign students.
