The Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University (PMAS Arid Agriculture University) is based in Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan and began as an agricultural college in the 1970s.
It gained university status in 1994 and was named after the Chishti Sufi saint Pir Mehr Ali Shah. PMAS-AAUR aims to produce high-quality agricultural scientists and to build a scientific infrastructure for teaching and research for the development of dry land regions in Pakistan. This also helps narrow the gap in income between the rich and the poor and those living in irrigated and arid areas.
PMAS-AAUR teaches courses in four faculties: the faculty of crop and food sciences, the faculty of sciences, the faculty of forestry, range management and wildlife and the faculty of veterinary and animal sciences. There is also several research institutes; the Institute of Education and Research, Management Sciences, Information Technology and Biochemistry and Biotechnology.
The university building is located on Murree Road, which is equidistant from the cosmopolitan cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad (the capital of Pakistan). On-campus facilities include an auditorium, a library and a museum.
There is also the PMAS-AAUR Sub-Campus Khusab, 2km away from the main campus, for students of veterinary science and short course to study. An agriculture and livestock department is being added in the future.
The university has agreed on Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad; Agricultural University of Hebei, China; International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry land Areas (ICARDA), Syria and Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department to assist each other in teaching, research and extension activities.
