Peshawar University Approves Merger of 20 Departments Amid Declining Student Enrolment

PESHAWAR, August 12, 2026: The Syndicate of the University of Peshawar has approved the merger of 20 departments with low student enrolment into different academic units in view of declining admissions and the university’s financial difficulties. The final approval for the mergers will, however, be given by the university’s Senate.

According to a report published by Dawn, the decision was taken at a Syndicate meeting chaired by Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Johar Ali. A university teacher said declining student interest in some programmes was partly due to their lack of alignment with the requirements of local and international job markets.

According to official documents, the Department of Plant Biodiversity will be merged with the Department of Botany to establish a new Department of Botany and Plant Biodiversity. The Department of Urban and Regional Planning will be merged with Geography and Cartography to establish a Department of Geography, Cartography and Urban Planning, while the Persian Department will be merged with the Urdu Department to create a combined Urdu and Persian Department.

The departments of Sociology, Gender Studies and Social Anthropology will also be merged into a single academic unit. The Pashto Academy will be merged with the Pashto Department to establish the Pashto Department and Academy for Research and Literature.

The departments of Regional Studies, International Relations, History and Philosophy will be combined to form a Department of International Relations, History and Philosophy. The Department of Seerat will be merged with Islamic Studies to establish a combined Islamic and Seerat Studies Department.

Under the restructuring plan, programmes in Human Nutrition and Food Planning and Public Health currently offered at the College of Home Economics will be transferred to the Institute of Health Sciences, as they are considered more closely related to health sciences. The programmes of Fashion Design, Interior Design and Art and Design will also be brought under a combined academic unit.

University sources said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Higher Education Meena Khan Afridi had directed at the previous Senate meeting that departments with low enrolment should be merged to reduce the financial burden on the university and ensure more efficient use of available resources.

A committee was subsequently constituted to review student enrolment, faculty-to-student ratios, departmental salary expenditures and salary costs per student. The committee examined enrolment trends, academic relevance and the effectiveness of various programmes before recommending a phased restructuring and merger of departments.

University of Peshawar spokesperson Nauman Jan said the merger proposal had been initiated by the university’s Academic Council and subsequently endorsed by the Syndicate. He said the departments being merged belonged to the same faculties, while more than 70 BS programmes would continue to operate at the university.

According to the spokesperson, teaching staff would be transferred or adjusted in different departments based on their teaching workload, the restructuring of departments and the requirements of relevant programmes.

The university administration said the restructuring was aimed at making better use of academic resources, promoting interdisciplinary cooperation, reorganising programmes with low enrolment and reducing the university’s financial burden.

The administration said the initiative was part of efforts to align the university’s academic structure with current educational needs and make more effective use of limited resources. The proposed mergers will become final after approval by the Senate of the University of Peshawar.