Varsity denies plans for Lahore campus at Nawaz Sharif IT City, calls ‘all such claims incorrect’
LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The Imperial College London has refuted the Punjab government’s recent claim that it is opening a campus at the Nawaz Sharif IT City in Lahore, clarifying that all of its campuses are based exclusively in the United Kingdom (UK).
The clarification came after the Punjab government and senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders, including Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, publicly announced that a campus of Imperial College London would be established at the newly launched Nawaz Sharif IT City, along with a 300-bed hospital.
On October 18, the PML-N’s official account on social media platform X shared details of a meeting chaired by the chief minister, stating that “a campus of Imperial College London will open at the Nawaz Sharif IT City,” with the foundation stone expected to be laid in November. The same post added that a “modern 300-bed hospital” would also be built within the campus.
Nawaz Sharif IT City will have an Imperial College London campus.
🔹The foundation stone for the local campus of Imperial College London will be laid in November.
🔹A modern 300-bed hospital will also be built within the Imperial College campus. pic.twitter.com/41JXSAOGbk
— PMLN (@pmln_org) October 18, 2025
Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb had posted similar details on her official X account, reiterating the claim. Her post, which has since been deleted, said: “A campus of Imperial College London will be established in the Nawaz Sharif IT City, which will also include a state-of-the-art 300-bed hospital, and its foundation stone will be laid in November.” The official X account of the Punjab government later repeated the same announcement.
نواز شریف آئی ٹی سٹی میں ایمپریل کالج لندن کا کیمپس قائم کیا جائے گا۔۔۔ pic.twitter.com/zUoFza9HBl
— Government of Punjab (@GovtofPunjabPK) October 18, 2025
However, in a categorical statement posted on its official website on Monday, the world-renowned UK university denied the claims as “incorrect.”
“Reports that Imperial College London plans to open a campus overseas are incorrect,” the university said.
“There have been erroneous reports in the media and online that Imperial is opening a campus at Nawaz Sharif IT City in Lahore, Pakistan. Imperial has no such plans, with all the university’s campuses based in the UK,” the statement added.
The university further directed those seeking information about its international engagements to its International Relations Office webpage.
Following the clarification, the Punjab Central Business District Development Authority (CBD) — the provincial department overseeing the Nawaz Sharif IT City project — issued a separate statement to clarify the situation. It said the “planned healthcare university and medical college” at the site would not be an Imperial College London campus but a collaboration between NovaCare and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT), a UK-based independent National Health Service (NHS) institution.
Official Clarification
The upcoming Healthcare University and Affiliated Medical College at CBD NSIT is a collaborative initiative between NovaCare and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (UK) — an independent NHS institution.
The project remains firmly on track under the…
— Central Business District Punjab (@CBDPunjab) October 22, 2025
“The upcoming healthcare university and affiliated medical college at CBD NSIT (Nawaz Sharif IT City) is a collaborative initiative between NovaCare and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (UK)—an independent NHS institution,” the CBD said.
It further maintained that the project “remains firmly on track under the NovaCare–ICHT partnership,” adding that it aims to “establish a world-class hub for healthcare education, research, and innovation at CBD NSIT, Lahore, under the direct supervision of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.”
The clarification from the provincial authority sought to draw a distinction between Imperial College London, a globally ranked university, and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which operates hospitals affiliated with the university but functions as a separate legal entity under the UK’s public health system.
Earlier, Javed Hassan, former chairman of the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) and an alumnus of Imperial College London, commented on social media that he was “bemused” by the Punjab government’s announcement.
“As an Imperial alumnus, I was briefly bemused by the bold claim of a campus in Nawaz Sharif IT City. Turns out Imperial College is less adventurous—its campus plans remain firmly UK-bound. Verification, it seems, is still a novel concept,” he wrote.
As an Imperial alumnus, I was briefly bemused by the bold claim of a campus in Nawaz Sharif IT City. Turns out Imperial College is less adventurous — its campus plans remain firmly UK-bound. Verification, it seems, is still a novel concept. pic.twitter.com/zuptEIoxlB
— Javed Hassan (@javedhassan) October 21, 2025
The episode has raised questions about the vetting of official information released by the provincial government, especially in light of its high-profile promotion of the Nawaz Sharif IT City project.
The Nawaz Sharif IT City, which spans 853 acres, was commercially inaugurated in May last year by CM Maryam Nawaz, who described it as a “landmark initiative” to attract global technology firms and investors. The project has been declared a tax-free zone for 10 years, with the chief minister earlier claiming that several international tech giants had already shown interest, while “10 companies were in advanced stages of setting up offices” at the site.
For now, however, the latest clarification from Imperial College London underscores that no foreign academic campus under its name is planned in Pakistan—leaving the provincial government’s earlier statements open to renewed scrutiny.
