The Punjab government in Pakistan recently announced the establishment of a new campus of London’s Imperial College in Lahore. However, the UK-based university refuted the claim.
Days after the Maryam Nawaz-led Punjab government in Pakistan announced plans to open an Imperial College London campus at Lahore’s Nawaz Sharif IT City, the university denied the claim, stating it currently has no plans to establish a campus outside the UK.
Imperial College London refutes claims
Imperial College London on Tuesday rejected a claim by the provincial administration of Punjab that it would open an overseas campus in the eastern city of Lahore as part of the planned Nawaz Sharif IT City. The University stated that “reports that Imperial College London plans to open a campus overseas are incorrect”.
“There have been erroneous reports in the media and online that Imperial is opening a campus at Nawaz Sharif IT City in Lahore, Pakistan,” the UK-based university said in the statement.
The varsity also reaffirmed that “Imperial has no such plans, with all the university’s campuses based in the UK”.
For students seeking to enquire about the developments pertaining to the Imperial College of London, the institution said that it is necessary to check with its official statements.
Here’s what Pakitsan claimedย
On October 18, the Punjab government had posted on X that the UK-based institution would open a campus in the IT City, with the foundation stone expected to be laid in November. The post also mentioned that the campus would feature a 300-bed hospital.
Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a social media post on October 18 the chief minister had chaired a meeting in which “important decisions were made.” “An Imperial College London campus will be established in Nawaz Sharif IT City, which will also include a state-of-the-art 300-bed hospital,” she said. “The foundation stone for the project will be laid in November.”
“The Chief Minister directed that the Central Business District Project, Ravi Urban Development Authority, and Nawaz Sharif IT City be completed as soon as possible,” she added.ย
Pakistan left embarrassed
A former chairman of the Islamabad-based National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC), Javed Hassan, who is also an alumnus of Imperial College, slammed Maryam Nawaz’s government’s false claim.
“As an Imperial alumnus, I was briefly bemused by the bold claim of a campus in Nawaz Sharif IT City. Turns out Imperial College is less adventurous โ its campus plans remain firmly UK-bound. Verification, it seems, is still a novel concept,” Hassan posted on X.
The broader context is that the Nawaz Sharif IT City spans 853 acres, was commercially inaugurated by Maryam Nawaz last year, and has been designated as tax-free for ten years, with the government claiming that several international tech firms intend to set up offices there, as per the Dawn report.