Fact-check: Did PTI govt set up 14 public universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa?

On its official X (Twitter) account, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government claimed that it established 14 new public sector universities in the province after 2013, following the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) coming into power.

The post further asserted that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa currently has 34 public sector universities, with 14 of them established under the PTI government.

The claim is true.

Claim

On January 8, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government posted a video clip of over two minutes on its X (formerly Twitter) account with the caption: “Under the vision of Imran Khan, 14 new public sector universities have been established in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2013.”

The post further stated that the province now has a total of 34 public sector universities, of which 14 were established during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s tenure in government.

The post listed the following universities:

• Abbottabad University of Science and Technology

• Women University Swabi

• University of Chitral

• University of Buner

• University of Technology Shaheed APS Nowshera

• Pak Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology Haripur

• Women University Mardan

• University of Shangla

• Agriculture University Dera Ismail Khan

• Agriculture University Swat

• University of Engineering and Technology Mardan

• University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Swat

• University of Engineering and Applied Sciences Swat

The post has been viewed more than 9,221 times, reshared 420 times, and liked over 1,100 times.

Social media users questioned the accuracy of the claim in the comments section of the post.

Fact

Official records of both the Higher Education Commission in Islamabad and the Higher Education Department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa confirm the establishment of more than 14 public sector universities in the province after 2013.

Waseem Khaliq Dad, the deputy director media at the Higher Education Commission in Islamabad, which regulates higher education institutions, confirmed to Geo Fact Check via email that HEC records currently recognise 47 universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These include 36 public sector and 11 private sector universities.

The data shows that not 14, but 16 public sector universities have been established in the province since 2013.

HEC data includes the universities listed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s social media post, as well as FATA University Kohat and the University of Lakki Marwat. Kalam Bibi International Women’s Institute Bannu, however, was established by the federal and provincial government in June 2023.

An official from the Higher Education Department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who requested anonymity, told Geo Fact Check that while 16 universities were set up in the province after 2013, some institutions were upgraded from sub-campuses to full-fledged independent universities during this period.

Verdict: The claim that 14 new public sector universities were established or upgraded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after 2013 is true.

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