The establishment of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan is an act of historical significance by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Being located at the focal point, the area has witnessed the rise and fall of the famous civilizations that inspired the world with the glorious culture and civilized traditions devoted to learning and scholarship. Unfortunately, with the passage of time and onslaught by the bellicose tribes, the human achievements spanning thousands of years were got buried under the debris of time. The establishment of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan is a bold step forward to resurrect and bring back the same dazzling culture by mobilizing the intellectual resources of young scholars and to deepen their vision about the crying need to join together the human society irrespective of caste, colour or creed. AWKUM is administered by Prof. Dr. Ihsan Ali a distinguished academician, a promising son of the soil, with rich experiences and deep love for promoting the cause of higher education.
The University has introduced all the modern departments, teaching basic sciences, social and applied sciences with a credible base of quality education and research to equip the minds of young scholars with worthwhile objectives of life. The University will attract students from Swabi, Charsadda, Nowsehra, Mardan, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Dir, Chitral, Northern Punjab, Kohat, Southern parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the extensive Tribal region along the boundaries of the Province. Most of the young students of these areas who have the intellectual capability of receiving higher education can not avail this opportunity due to extreme poverty.
The establishment of AWKUM would facilitate in bringing their intellectual resources in the useful channels by equipping them with the latest knowledge and research being unfolded in the sphere of higher education. The people of the region and the leaders have been striving hard over the years and the establishment of AWKUM is the realization of their cherished dreams. The University will develop the intellectual, moral and physical resources of the youth and would channelize their inherent energies toward useful goals. They will be brain stormed and motivated with awareness to realise about the rapidly changing and progressing world around them. AWKUM would also usefully collaborate with the prestigious universities of the country and abroad to share the latest discoveries and research input in different fields of intellectual endeavour. The message of peace and universal brotherhood as practised and preached by the founding father (Late) Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan) will be the motto of the University to steer the organization in the years ahead which would induct Pakistan into the comity of respectable nations of the world.