Allama Iqbal Open University:

Allama Iqbal Open University was established in 1974. It is located in Islamabad, Pakistan. The university was established with a motto of providing education to all students relatively at a cheaper cost as compared to other institutes. There are about 1,121,038 students studying and enrolled here. During the last 34 years Allama Iqbal Open University has earned repute in the field of education. It is one of the biggest research centers in Asia that is having its sub branches in all over the country. Allama Iqbal Open University is abbreviated as AIOU University. It is offering courses starting from basic subjects to the higher doctoral programs.

Faculties and departments

Following are the departments at AIOU University

• Faculty of Arabic and Islamic Studies
• Faculty of education
• Faculty of sciences
• Faculty of social sciences
• Faculty of humanities

Tuition fee:

Allama Iqbal Open University is offering its services to the international students from United Kingdom, Bahrain, Sultanate of Oman, Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Kuwait and kingdom of Saudi Arabia. For details regarding fee structure visit http://del.aiou.edu.pk/index.php/information/admission-procedure and http://www.aiou.edu.pk/fee.asp

Virtual University:

The main campus of Virtual University is located in Lahore. The other sub campuses of Virtual University are present in all over the country. It was established as a center of research, computing and for management sciences. It has been affiliated by the Higher Education Commission. This university was established to educate those students of the country who cannot afford the high expense of other private universities. Virtual University is offering bachelor programs that are of four years time duration. These four years are split into 8 semesters. Each semester is of maximum 18 weeks. Virtual University is offering courses by means of satellite. Distance education learning programs are offered here for students who cannot visit the campus’s daily classes.

Faculties and departments:

Following are the courses offered at various departments of Virtual University

• Faculty of Engineering and technical sciences
• Faculty of Business Administration
• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Computing
• Masters programs and other doctoral programs

Tuition fee:

The tuition fee charges at Virtual University are fixed for all the students who want to join this university. Registration fees and other semester charges are paid at the start of each semester.  For details regarding fee structure, visit http://www.vu.edu.pk/default.aspx?body=http://www.vu.edu.pk/Admissions/Fee.aspx.

Allama Iqbal Open University VS Virtual University

Allama Iqbal Open University and Virtual University in Pakistan, both were established with a sense of educating the poor lot of country. It has been reported that Virtual University is better than Allama Iqbal Open University. It has been preferred by the people more as compared to Allama Iqbal Open University.Allama Iqbal Open University is considered among the good universities in Pakistan.