The academic council of Karachi University has approved the introduction of an Artificial Intelligence programme across all its faculties, marking a significant expansion of the university’s academic offerings in the field of emerging technology. The decision was taken during a council meeting held on Monday, reflecting a university wide commitment to incorporating AI education into its curriculum rather than confining it to a single department or faculty.
The academic council’s session was chaired by acting Vice Chancellor Prof Muhammad Tufail Jokhio at the Chinese Teachers Memorial Auditorium, bringing together senior academic leadership to deliberate on the proposed AI programme alongside other agenda items during the same meeting. Following the approval in principle, departmental chairpersons and directors of research centres and institutes across the university have been tasked with preparing detailed recommendations for how the AI programme should be structured and implemented within their respective areas. These recommendations are expected to be reviewed during the council’s next meeting, suggesting the university intends to move deliberately through a structured planning phase before finalizing the programme’s specific curriculum and implementation details.
The scope of introducing an AI programme across all faculties, rather than limiting it to computer science or engineering departments alone, suggests Karachi University is approaching artificial intelligence education as a cross disciplinary requirement relevant to students across a wide range of academic fields. This approach mirrors a broader global trend in higher education, where universities increasingly view basic AI literacy and applied skills as valuable across disciplines ranging from the sciences and social sciences to humanities and professional fields, rather than treating it as a specialized technical subject relevant only to computing students.
During the same session, the academic council also addressed separate proposals from the Faculty of Law, which will need to secure approval from both the Pakistan Bar Council and the Higher Education Commission in Islamabad before being brought back before the academic council for further discussion and eventual implementation. This additional approval process for the Faculty of Law’s proposals highlights the layered regulatory requirements that certain academic changes must pass through, particularly for professional faculties such as law that fall under the jurisdiction of external regulatory bodies beyond the university’s own internal governance structures. As Karachi University moves forward with both the AI programme rollout and the separate law faculty proposals, the coming council meetings are expected to bring further clarity on the specific structure, timeline, and departmental implementation plans for these parallel academic initiatives.
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