# Information Technology University

The Information Technology University (ITU) (Urdu: جامعہ اطلاعیات) is a public university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 2012, the university was founded and headed by Umar Saif and is modeled after the MIT.
The university is located within the high-rise Arfa Software Technology Park, while its permanent 183 acre campus is under construction on Barki Road. The university has varying degrees of partnerships with the Harvard University and also publishes the MIT Technology Review, Pakistan edition. The university is home to several tenured academics, Pakistan's largest startup incubator and maintains partnerships with EdX, IBM and the US State Department. It hosted International Development Design Summit, organised by IDIN and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

## History
### Foundation

ITU was established in 2013.

## Faculty

The university was formerly led by Umar Saif (PhD from University of Cambridge) who has previously taught at the Cambridge–MIT Institute. Dr. Sarfraz Khurshid (PhD from MIT) was the second Vice Chancellor of the University. Prof. Dr. Adnan Noor Mian (PostDoc from University of Cambridge) is the current Vice Chancellor of the University.
It has four faculties:
* Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
* Faculty of Business and Management Sciences
* Faculty of Sciences
* Faculty of Engineering

## Offered Degrees

The university currently offers the following degrees:
* BS Economics with Data Science
* BS Management and Technology
* BS Computer Engineering
* BS Electrical Engineering
* BS Computer Science
* Executive MBA (EMBA)
* MS Public Policy and Society
* MS Management and Technology
* MS Development Studies: DEVELOPMENT, TECHNOLOGY AND POLICY
* MS Data Science
* MS Electrical Engineering
* MS Computer Science
* PhD Computer Science
* PhD Electrical Engineering

## Research

ITU is home to several research centers and labs:
* Center for Technology and Governance (CTG)
* Technology and Research in Emerging Networks and Distributed Systems (TRENDS)
* Neighborhood for Emerging World Technologies (NEWT)
* Abdus Salam International Center of Mathematics
* Center For Speech and Language Technologies
* National Centre For Academic Integrity
* Bio-Inspired Simulation & Modelling of Intelligent Life
* Embedded Computing Laboratory
* Scientometrics Lab
* Data Science Lab
* Business Analytics Lab
* Vision Processing Lab
* Innovations for Poverty Alleviation Lab (IPAL)
Between 2013 and 2016 the university has conducted PKR 700 million (approx. US$7 million) in research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). It has received research funding from Higher Education Commission (Pakistan), Government of the Punjab, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), World Bank and Department for International Development (DfID).

## First Convocation

The university's first convocation was held on December 17, 2017. The university awarded its first Honorary Doctorate Degree awarded to Dr. Adil Najam, the inaugural Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, and former Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). 139 students of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering graduated in the first convocation.

## Lahore Technology Award

ITU gave Lahore Technology Award at its first convocation to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Nergis Mavalvala for her work in the gravitational theory.