Aligarh Muslim University

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Aligarh Muslim University

1)The Anglo-Muhammadan Oriental College (now Aligarh Muslim University)was established at Aligarh in 1875

2)It was India’s first centre of Islamic and Western higher education, with instruction given in English and modelled on Oxford.

3) In 1875, Sir Syed founded the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College in Aligarh and devised the college after the Oxford and Cambridge Universities, which he had been to on a trip to England.

4) Sir Syed’s vision was to establish a college which was in sync with British education, while retaining its Islamic identity.

5) Despite the establishment of a number of universities and institutions of higher learning all over the country, this University has been maintaining its national and international character as an institution of excellence.

Historical background of Aligarh Muslim University

  1. The university grew out of the work of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the great Muslim reformer and statesman.
  2. After the Indian War of Independence of 1857,Sir Syed Ahmed Khan felt that it was important for Muslims to gain education and become involved in the public life and government services in India. 
  3. Sir Syed saw a need for Muslims to acquire proficiency in the English language and Western sciences.
  4.  He began to prepare a foundation for the formation of a Muslim University by starting schools at Moradabad (1858) and Ghazipur (1863). 
  5. His purpose for the establishment of the Scientific Society in 1864, in Aligarh, was to translate Western works into Indian languages so as to prepare the community to accept Western education and to inculcate scientific temperament among the Muslims. 
  6. The objective was to build a college in tune with the British education system but without compromising its Islamic values. 
  7. Over the years it gave rise to a new    educated class of Indian Muslims who were active in the political system of the British Raj. When viceroy to India Lord Curzon visited the college in 1901, he praised the work which was carried on and called it of “sovereign importance”.
  8. To achieve this goal, expansions were made and more academic programs added to the curriculum of the college. A school for girls was established in 1907. By 1920 the college was transformed into the Aligarh Muslim University.

Aims and Objectives of the Aligarh Muslim University

1)To facilitate the promotion of comparative study of Indian languages, literatures and culture.

2)To discover the patriotism, the common features and the common bonds of Indian languages and literatures.

3)To bring out  the essential unity of Indian languages through scientific study and inter-linguistic research.

4)It also offers Agricultural Sciences, Arts, Commerce, Engineering & Technology, Law etc., each comprising of several Departments of Studies to the enthusiastic candidates.