PESHAWAR, Dec 4: NWFP Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai announced the upgradation of the Islamia College Peshawar to the status of a fully-fledged university at the annual general meeting of the Senior Alumni Association of the institution, held here on Tuesday.

The governor announced in the college’s packed-to-capacity Rose Keppel Hall that after upgradation the institution would be called the Islamia College University (ICU).

“The Islamia College Peshawar stands upgraded to a university,” the governor said, adding that a grant of Rs500 million had been approved for the purpose.

He said the college was fit to be transformed into a university as it had fulfilled all requirements of a varsity, said a handout.

NWFP Caretaker Chief Minister Shamsul Mulk, chairman of the Senior Alumni Association Azam Khan, other members of the association, faculty members and students of the college attended the ceremony.

In the shape of a separate section for girls on the college’s Peshawar campus and the Islamia College Swabi, the institution had achieved two milestones this year, said the governor.

Turning to the young women enrolled with the girls’ section of the college, the governor said: “You are the pioneers of this prestigious institution and you have big responsibility on your shoulders. I am sure that you will discharge your duties in a befitting manner.”

About the Islamia College Swabi, he said the institution would be built on the pattern of the Islamia College Peshawar.

He hoped that the construction work would start in June for which an amount of Rs200 million was made available. The governor on the occasion announced a grant of Rs2.5 million for different scholarships.