Beaconhouse National University(Punjab)
In this immensely competitive and dynamic world, qualitatively superior education is an imperative for success. Over the years, higher education has assumed a pivotal role in the development of the required acumen of the students to better equip them to meet the emerging challenges. Universities and higher education institutions are thriving social and cultural centres with much to offer students of any age, nationality or social background. A modern university aims to provide its students with a wide array of courses and degrees to choose from, according to their embedded career interests and aptitudes. At BNU, we offer our students broad-based education in which a student studies a variety of different subjects in order to gain a better working knowledge of the world around him or herself, thus preparing them for a lifetime of opportunities and challenges.
BNU is the first Liberal Arts University of Pakistan. Chartered by the Government of Punjab, the Beaconhouse National University (BNU), was established in 2003 for the purpose of imparting education with a modern, rational, course content while ensuring that the history and culture of Pakistani society are respected. BNU is planned as a non‑profit, private university disseminating learning and encouraging research in diverse areas where the essential focus of the programs offered has been determined by the type of the work force identified for the future economic, business, academic, cultural and technological advancement of the country. As such, BNU offers students a range of subject areas which are of immense relevance to the country’s economy.
Over the years, Liberal Arts education has assumed a vital role. One armchair philosopher once said, "When the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail." All knowledge is one, a unified wholeness, and every field of study is but a piece or an angle or a way of partitioning this knowledge. Thus, to see how one's chosen area fits into the whole, to see the context of one's study, we at BNU believe, liberal education is not merely desirable, but necessary.
The diverse body of knowledge that a student gains at BNU, together with the tools of examination and analysis that one learns to use, will enable him or her to develop opinions, attitudes, values, and beliefs, based not upon authority or ignorance, whim, or prejudice, but upon ones own worthy evaluation of argument and evidence. We foster the development of an active engagement with knowledge, and not just the passive reception of facts.
At BNU, the knowledge disseminated will help you learn new subjects by one of the most common methods of learning--analogy. As George Herbert noted, people are best taught by using something they are familiar with, something they already understand, to explain something new and unfamiliar. The more you know and are familiar with, the more you can know, faster and more easily. Many times the mind will create its own analogies, almost unconsciously, to teach itself about the unfamiliar by means of the familiar. The education at BNU creates an improvement of perception and understanding.
This is done by a number of unique, innovative practices at BNU:
| • | An academic format which encourages the student to read across the curriculum allowing for cross registration in courses offered at Schools other than the one the student is registered in. These courses may be taken as minors or electives. |
| • | The University underscores the importance of the creative and performing arts which form an integral part of any liberal arts education. Open workshops and seminars are offered where students interact with scholars and practitioners of international repute. |
| • | Each student works with an academic advisor who helps design a program of study most suited to the individual student’s talent and is also available for personal guidance throughout the student’s stay at the University. |
| • | A system of education in which students learn in small, interactive class sessions. |
| • | A system of student evaluation based on frequent written assignments and research projects rather than a traditional method of examination. |
At Beaconhouse National University, education is enriched through a free exchange of ideas and debate which is expertly guided by qualified faculty. Most courses are intensive and year long in which students are encouraged to question assumptions, listen to diverse opinions and challenge convention. This strategy is further developed through disciplined and motivated work on the student’s part and the evaluation of individual progress through written reports and ongoing interaction between students and teachers.
The University is fully cognizant of the fact that the formative years of a young adult’s life i.e. the years spent at university must be enriched through a variety of experiences, both within and outside the classroom. Study tours therefore, form a regular feature of University life and serve as a means of research and exposure to life in other regions of the country and varied socio-economic groups.
BNU is a non-profit, apolitical, non-sectarian, equal-opportunity institution offering undergraduate and graduate programmes in modern disciplines, many of which are not offered anywhere else in Pakistan.
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