The Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (; commonly referred as GIKI), is a private research university located in Topi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. The institute has a campus that is located in the vicinity of Swabi District.
It was founded by the former President of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, in 1993. Since its establishment, the institute has consistently attracted the country's most influential scientists such as Abdul Qadeer Khan, Asghar Qadir, and Shaukat Hameed Khan, who played a role in elevating the institute as one of world's finest science and engineering college. GIKI is known to be a competitive institution with a low acceptance rate requiring students to show extraordinary academic excellence and capabilities with strong financial footing to be accommodated.
GIK is one of the top institutions ranked by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
History
The GIK Institute is a private educational institution, named after former bureaucrat and former President of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan. The project was delegated to Pakistani scientist, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, who was one of the founding members of the institute and was once registered as an associate professor of physics. The genesis of the Institute can be traced back to the early 1950s when Mr. Ghulam Ishaq Khan (late) became acutely aware of Pakistan's dependence on foreign expertise and imported technology. Out of his frequent interaction with the foreign and local experts emerged the idea that a center of excellence in engineering sciences and production technology ought to be established in the country, a center whose standards of education are comparable to those of its counterparts in the advanced countries. The transformation of this idea into a practical proposition took place in December 1985 when the Benevolent Community Care and Infaq Foundation donated Rs. 50 million for setting up an institute in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for promotion of science and technology.
Major founding donors include Nouman Benevolent Community Care, Infaq Foundation, Chiniot Anjuman-e-Islamia, Dawood Group of Industries, and the Government of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa which has donated land at Topi.
A milestone in the evolution of the institute was the registration in June, 1988 of its parent body, namely, Society for the Promotion of Engineering Sciences and Technology in Pakistan (SOPREST). Mr. Ghulam Ishaq Khan (late), then the President of the country, was elected the President of the Society for life and Mr. H. U. Beg was appointed its Honorary Executive Director and Mr. Samiullah Marwat the first full-time Secretary.
The task of conceiving and formulating the basic form and features of the institute was entrusted to a group of eminent scientists and engineers. These professionals started transformation of the dream into reality at a galloping pace. The civil works at the campus site were started in early 1990. An interim office of the institute was set up in August 1992 where senior professionals with outstanding backgrounds worked in a cohesive group to evolve the educational aims and philosophy of the institute, its curricula and details of state-of-the-art equipment for its laboratories and workshops. In March 1993 an "Ordinance" was promulgated by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (Provincial) Government for the establishment of the Institute under the umbrella of SOPREST, and the first batch of students was inducted the same year in October. Since an Ordinance has a limited life, it was ratified through an "Act" by the Provincial Assembly in July 1994.
The Institute symbolizes the immense altruism and concern for collective welfare that exists in the private sector. It is the first privately funded institute of its kind in the country and dedicated to bringing our engineering education at par with the advanced countries. The tuition fee has to be in consonance with the high cost of education. However, what the students are charged hardly covers the annual expenditure. Total capital outlay of the institute to-date on historical cost basis works out to more than Rs. 2.5 billion for which funds were mobilized from diverse sources including a major donation of Rs. 750 million from Infaq Foundation and land measuring donated by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In 1998, the Clinton Administration sanctioned the GIKI for alleged unspecified involvement in nuclear or missile activities.
Campus
The institute has a campus that is located in the vicinity of Swabi District.