Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) is a public central university located in New Delhi, India. Founded during the Indian freedom movement, it was established as an institution committed to nationalist education independent of British colonial patronage. The Urdu name translates roughly as "National Islamic University", though the institution functions as a secular, multi-disciplinary central university open to students of all communities.
| Name | Jamia Millia Islamia |
|---|---|
| Type | Public central university |
| Founded | 1920, Aligarh |
| Location | Jamia Nagar, New Delhi, India |
| Status | Central university (since 1988) |
| Country | India |
Background
Jamia Millia Islamia was founded in 1920 at Aligarh in the context of the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements, when a group of nationalist Muslim leaders and educationists sought to create an institution outside the framework of the colonial education system. Among those associated with its founding and early years were Mahmud Hasan, Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, Abdul Majeed Khwaja and Zakir Husain, who later became President of India.
The institution was shifted from Aligarh to Karol Bagh in Delhi in 1925, and subsequently to its present location at Okhla, in southern Delhi, in 1935. The neighbourhood that grew around the campus came to be known as Jamia Nagar.
Timeline
- 1920: Established at Aligarh during the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat movements.
- 1925: Relocated to Karol Bagh, Delhi.
- 1935: Shifted to its present site at Okhla.
- 1939: Registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act.
- 1962: Declared a deemed-to-be university by the University Grants Commission.
- 1988: Conferred the status of a central university by an Act of Parliament, the Jamia Millia Islamia Act, 1988.
Academics and structure
As a central university, Jamia Millia Islamia is funded primarily through the Government of India and regulated under its parent statute. The university is organised into several faculties covering humanities and languages, social sciences, natural sciences, engineering and technology, law, education, fine arts, architecture and ekistics, dentistry, and Islamic studies. It also runs a number of specialised centres and institutes, including units for media studies, nanoscience and nanotechnology, and academic programmes in mass communication associated with the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre.
The university offers undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and diploma programmes, and maintains schools attached to the campus that provide secondary and senior secondary education.
Campus
The main campus is situated in Jamia Nagar, in the Okhla area of South East Delhi, near the Yamuna river. The campus houses academic faculties, residential hostels, libraries, sports facilities, and administrative offices. The Jamia Millia Islamia metro station on the Delhi Metro Magenta Line provides connectivity to the university.
Significance
Jamia Millia Islamia is regarded as one of the institutions that emerged directly from the Indian freedom struggle, alongside bodies such as the Kashi Vidyapith and Gujarat Vidyapith. Its early association with figures of the national movement, and the leadership of Zakir Husain in stabilising and expanding the institution during difficult years, gave it a distinctive place in the history of higher education in India. In subsequent decades, it has developed into a comprehensive university with national reach in fields ranging from engineering and the sciences to mass communication, social sciences, and the arts.
Related topics
- Zakir Husain
- Mohammad Ali Jauhar
- Hakim Ajmal Khan
- Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari
- Khilafat Movement
- Non-Cooperation Movement
- Central Universities in India
- University Grants Commission
- Delhi
References
- Wikidata entity: Q2340211
- The Jamia Millia Islamia Act, 1988, Government of India.