Fact-check: Imperial College London denies claims of opening campus in Lahore's Nawaz Sharif IT City

Punjab’s Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and the official accounts of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have claimed that the Imperial College London will be establishing a campus in the government’s Nawaz Sharif IT City in Lahore.

The claim is false. The British college rubbishes any such developments.

Claim

“Important decisions made in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif,” wrote Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on her X (Twitter) account on October 18, “A campus of Imperial College London will be established in Nawaz Sharif IT City.”

The post has been viewed over 24,000 times, reposted 240 times and liked over 770 times to date.

On the same day, the Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif reshared a post by the official X account of the Pakistan Muslim League-N which read: “Imperial College London to establish campus at Nawaz Sharif IT City with a 300-bed hospital.”

Fact

The Imperial College London denies that it has any plans to establish a campus in Lahore in the government’s IT project.

In a statement released on October 21, on its official webpage, and shared with Geo Fact Check the Imperial College London stated: “Reports that Imperial College London plans to open a campus overseas are incorrect.”

The press office added in the clarification that there have been “erroneous reports” in the media and online that Imperial is opening a campus at Nawaz Sharif IT City in Lahore, Pakistan.

“Imperial has no such plans, with all the university’s campuses based in the UK,” the statement added.

The clarification by Imperial College London can be read here.

It must be mentioned that Punjab’s Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb later also deleted her post on X without an explanation.

Four days after the claim was made, and following Imperial College’s clarification on October 22, the Central Business District — where the Nawaz Sharif IT City is located — also issued a clarification stating that the healthcare university and its affiliated college were a collaborative effort between NovaCare and the Imperial College Healthcare Trust in the UK, the latter being an independent institution under the UK’s National Health Service.

Verdict: Imperial College London has denied any plans to establish a campus in Lahore.

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