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Introduction
The Department of Public Administration, which is now the Institute of Administrative Sciences (IAS), was established in 1962 after the government of Pakistan decided to move the postgraduate program of Public Administration, first of its kind in the country, to the University of the Punjab from the University of Karachi. The Institute of Business and Public Administration (IBPA), which later became IBA, was established at the University of Karachi in 1959 with the technical assistance provided by the U.S. AID Mission to Pakistan. The IBPA started two separate postgraduate degrees in Business Administration and Public Administration. However Public Administration program was discontinued without producing any graduates.
The newly established Department of Public Administration (DPA) of the University of the Punjab continued to receive technical assistance under a U.S. AID funded project. Under this project, a team of professors from the University of Southern California (USC) under the headship of Professor Dr. Don R. Larson developed the academic programs and local faculty members were inducted who were later sent to USC for doctoral studies. This US trained faculty, after the departure of American professors, on completion of the U.S. AID’s project, led and managed the Department of Public Administration in the later years, a tradition which still continues. The name of the department was later changed to the Department of Administrative Science.
Initially, the department started offering two M.A. programs: 1) M.A. in Public Administration for fresh graduates; and 2) M.A. in Administrative Science for in-service individuals. In 1971, a third program M.A. in Business Administration was launched which was the second postgraduate program in business administration in the entire country. However after one year, this program was transferred to a newly established Department of Business Administration which is now the Institute of Business Administration.
In 1974, the Department of Administrative Science extended academic support to the Gomal University for establishing the teaching departments of Public and Business Administration. Beside this, several national training institutions and government departments utilized the expertise of our department. In 1998, MPA Executive Program was launched which replaced the MAS program. With all these achievements, IAS can rightly claim to be a mother institution of Business and Public Administration in Punjab and Khybar Pakhtunkhwa (former NWFP) and the first and the oldest institution offering postgraduate degree in public administration in the country.
The year of 2000 marked a new beginning for the department. It was upgraded to the Institute of Administrative Sciences (IAS) which allowed expansion of its programs both vertically and horizontally. At undergraduate level, 4 years BS (Hons) in Management was launched. This program was first of its kind in the entire public sector universities in the country. In a span of few years specialized master degree programs, in addition to MPA, were initiated with great success. During the same years, IAS also embarked upon long desired research degree programs MS/MPhil/Ph.D. All these programs reflected the latest trends in higher education in general and in the field of public administration and management in particular.
Keeping its tradition of innovation and excellence, IAS is now engaged in the process of upgradation of old Masters programs (2 year degree after 14 years of education) in line with HEC’s road map for business and management education. Once again taking the lead, we have upgraded our MPA program which is a 2 years research based degree after 16 years of education and is equivalent to MS/MPhil. Master of Health Administration is also being revamped on the same lines. However, Master of Human Resource Management and Master of Marketing will remain a 2 years degree after 14 years of education, for the time being to give BA/BSc degree holders an equal opportunity for university education. In the same spirit, we have recently revamped our MHRM program to bring it at par with our BS (Hons.) program in terms of its knowledge contents and field based research.
The faculty, staff and alumni of IAS take pride in IAS’s continuous journey of innovation and excellence and in its rich heritage of being the pioneering institution in the field of public administration and management in the country.
Vision
To create and disseminate globally and locally relevant knowledge, to improve quality of life for people and communities, through effective leadership and management of organizations.
Mission
Keeping in view the vision of IAS our aspiration is to prepare students with complete arena of knowledge, skills, attitude and experience that will equip them for leadership roles required by the society at large.