JMI: An Historical Introduction

Jamia Millia Islamia was founded at Aligarh in 1920 during the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movements in response to Gandhiji's call to boycott government supported educational institutions. Among those who enthusiastically responded to this call were Shaikhul-Hind Maulana mahmud-ul-Hasan, Maulana Muhammad Ali, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, Abdul Majeed Khwaja and Dr. Zakir Hussain. These eminent personalities, along with some others, founded the Jamia Millia Islamia. They nurtured it through the changing vicissitudes of history at great personal risk and inconvenience.

The Jamia Millia Islamia moved from Aligarh to Delhi in 1925. Since then, it has been continuously growing, always refurbishing its methods, and branching out from time to time to meet new needs. True to the ideals of its founders, it has, over the years, tried to integrate the physical and mental development of its students. The Jamia Millia Islamia was made a Central University by an Act of Parliament in 1988 vide the Jamia Millia Islamia Act 1988 (No. 59 of 1988).

The Jamia Millia Islamia reflects the original concern of its founders which was to encourage the indigenous roots of education. It has cherished and has continued to encourage a critical appreciation of the country's history and culture and also the history of Islam with its rich cultural and intellectual traditions. It seeks to foster a national cosmopolitan perspective in its academic programmes as well as in co-curricular activities. Like the other universities, the Jamia Millia Islamia has kept itself abreast with development in education, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Engineering and Technology.

The objects of the University are to disseminate advance knowledge and provide instructional, research and extension facilities in various branches of learning.