Chartered in 1983, Aga Khan University is a private, autonomous university that promotes human welfare through research, teaching and community service. Based on the principles of quality, access, impact and relevance, the University has campuses and programmes in Afghanistan, East Africa, Egypt, Pakistan, Syria and the United Kingdom. Its facilities include teaching hospitals, Nursing Schools and a Medical College, Institutes for Educational Development, an Examination Board and an Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations. It occupies a pivotal place within Aga Khan Development Network.

AKU brings international expertise to bear upon the establishment and enhancement of its current and future programmes and services through ongoing partnerships with prestigious overseas institutions. Additionally, in line with its commitment to the advancement of the status and professional opportunities for women, the University seeks similar collaborations to strengthen women-oriented professions such as nursing and teaching.

AKU is a non-denominational institution open to all, irrespective of religion, ethnicity, gender or national origin. Forty-four per cent of the University's faculty are women, many in senior posts. Fifty per cent of students in the Medical College are also women. The University's admission policy is needs-blind and based on merit.

While the University sets its sights on the latest breakthroughs in health sciences and technology, as well as the application of well-proven and appropriate technologies that have been insufficiently applied in Pakistan, it also seeks to integrate systems of values, ethics and principles. In doing so, AKU is an important force for pluralism, teaching the skills of critical thinking, analysis and problem-solving, while inculcating moral reasoning, ethics and respect for others.

In its first two decades, AKU's major focus was in the fields of health and education. In the decade ahead, the University plans to step beyond professional education towards becoming a comprehensive university.

Following the liberal arts model, a Faculty of Arts and Sciences will be established on a new campus in Karachi and East Africa. It will develop skills in critical thinking and analysis, raise proficiency in verbal and written communication, enhance human resource development in the region, and advance understanding in particular academic disciplines.

Another programme under consideration is an Institute of Human Development, which will be dedicated to advancing the understanding of the effects and conditions of early childhood on subsequent well-being and performance, and the application of this understanding to the development of interventions and evaluation to assess their potential efficacy and applicability.

Aga Khan University (AKU) is an academic centre of Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a group of development agencies, institutions, and programmes that work primarily in the developing parts of Asia and Africa. The common goal of the programmes is to create real and lasting improvement in the lives of the poor in ways that lead to self-reliance rather than dependence. To this end, the agencies encourage the communities themselves to identify and plan for their needs, whether it is a community health centre or a national programme for teacher training. AKDN agencies conduct their programmes irrespective of caste, creed or gender.

When appropriate, the agencies take an integrated approach, simultaneous addressing a broad spectrum of development issues in the social, economic and cultural contexts.

Social Development

The University works closely with the AKDN institutions that operate in social development. Aga Khan Foundation makes and administers grants for integrated, community based development solutions in rural development, health care, education and NGP enhancement. It works primarily in resource-poor  rural and mountainous areas. AKU works collaboratively with the Aga Khan Health Services,  which is one of the most comprehensive non-profit health care systems in the developing world, in the field of family health, speciality and sub-speciality services, maternity care, dental facilities and day care surgery. It employs low-cost technologies of proven effectiveness, such as immunisation, systematic  prenatal care and oral rehydration therapy as part of  primary health care programmes designed to reach the most vulnerable groups in society, especially child-bearing women and young children. More than 2 million people are served each year in its five hospitals and 325 health centres around the world. AKU also works on curriculum development, teacher training, and school-based nutrition programmes with Aga Khan Education Services, which operates over 300 schools and day care centres in the developing world. It places particular emphasis on the education of girls. Aga Khan Planning and Building Services works to improve housing design and construction, village planning, natural hazard management, environmental sanitation, water supplies, and other factors that impact living conditions.

Co-Chairs of the Commission for the Establishment of the University of Central Asia in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, former President of AKU and the Minister of Education of Tajikistan helped to found in 2000 an institution specialising in the education of mountain societies. The University of Central Asia, an internationally chartered university founded in 2000, is dedicated to developing solutions for particular challenges in the vast mountain regions of Central Asia. Based in Khorog, Tajikistan, with satellite campuses in the other two countries, the University will serve a population of 25 million people. Its medium of instruction, like that of AKU, will be English.

Economic Development

The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, with its affiliates, Tourism Promotion Services, Industrial Promotion Services and Financial Services, works to create economic development into a wider system of support covering the social and cultural fields. It emphasises the development of human resources, particularly management, technical, marketing and financial expertise. Its projects range from hydroelectric plants in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan, hotels, micro-finance, to food processing in Africa.

Cultural Development

The  Aga Khan Trust for Culture co-ordinates the Network's cultural activities. Its programmes include The Aga Khan Award for Architecture (the prestigious prize given out every three years), the Historic Cities Support Programme and the Education and Culture Programme. Recent projects include the transformation of a 13-hectare site in historic Cairo into an urban park, the restoration of the Baltit Fort, a cultural landmark, in the Hunza valley of Pakistan.

An Ethic of Compassion

Inspiration for the creation of these institutions, some of which are over one hundred years old, derives from the Muslim ethic of compassion for the most vulnerable in society. AKDN institutions draw on the Ismaili community's traditions of philanthropy, volunteerism, self-help, education and social welfare. In every country these institutions work for the common good of all citizens, regardless of their gender, origin, religion or political persuasion.

Sources of Funding

His Highness the Aga Khan, Chancellor of AKU and the founder and chairman of the Board of Fund for Economic Development, Aga Khan Foundation and Aga Khan Trust for Culture, provides funding for new programmes and country initiatives, and for some core activities. The Ismaili community contributes invaluable volunteer time, professional services, and substantial financial resources. Other funding sources include income from investments and grants from government, institutional and private sector partners, as well as donations from individuals around the world. In addition, His Highness actively promotes philanthropic activity and the channelling of profits from commercial undertakings in support of social development and culture in developing and developed countries.