University of Okara

The University of Okara (UO) is a public sector university in Okara, Punjab. It was set up under the University of Okara Act passed by the Punjab Assembly in 2016 and now serves more than 20,000 students across its faculties, according to figures published on the official website. The campus sits on Multan Road near the Renala Khurd bypass on the Lahore-Multan highway (N-5), which makes it the main degree-level option for students of Okara, Depalpur, Renala Khurd and nearby districts of central Punjab. UO is known for a wide spread of BS programmes in computing, life sciences, education and management, plus a Doctor of Pharmacy programme and a fine arts stream.

Quick Facts

City	Okara
Province	Punjab
Established	2016 (University of Okara Act 2016)
Sector	Public
HEC recognition	Recognised — listed on HEC university page
Official website	uo.edu.pk
Admissions portal	uoadmissions.uo.edu.pk

Faculties and Undergraduate Programs

The official website groups academic departments under six faculties and one institute. The list below follows the structure published on uo.edu.pk; the exact BS programmes open in any given semester are confirmed only through the online admission portal.

Faculty of Computing — Computer Science and IT, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Data Science
Faculty of Management and Social Sciences — Management Sciences, Commerce, Economics, Banking and Finance, Political Science, International Relations, Sociology, Media and Communication Studies, English, English Linguistics, Urdu, Islamic Studies, Social Work, Library and Information Sciences, Fine Arts, Anthropology and the School of Law
Faculty of Life Sciences — Zoology, Botany, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Bioinformatics, Genetics, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Wildlife and Ecology, Home Economics, Geography and related departments
Faculty of Sciences — Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Statistics and the Centre for Nanosciences
Faculty of Education — Teacher Education, Special Education, Early Childhood Education, Educational Planning and Management, Digital Science Education and others
Faculty of Allied Health Sciences — Pharmacy (Pharm.D.), Allied Health Sciences, Public Health, Psychology, Sports Sciences and Physical Education
Institute of Environmental and Agricultural Sciences — Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, Sustainability

Browse the full department list at uo.edu.pk/programs/undergraduate or see our programs archive for programme-level pages.

Admission Process

UO runs its main undergraduate intake in the Fall semester (applications usually open in June–July, with classes starting around September–October). A smaller Spring intake has been advertised in some years; whether Spring 2027 opens will be announced on the official site. The admission process is fully online:

Create an account with your CNIC or B-Form number on the admission portal.
Fill in personal and academic details and upload scanned documents (Matric and Intermediate certificates, CNIC/B-Form, photograph, domicile).
Select one or more degree programmes. A processing fee challan is generated by the system — the amount is printed on the challan; confirm the current fee on the official website.
Pay the challan at the designated bank and mark it paid in the portal before the closing date.
Watch the merit list page and the portal for selection lists, then submit the semester fee by the deadline to secure your seat.

Entry Test and Merit

For most BS programmes, the University of Okara admits on open merit calculated from Intermediate (and Matric) marks; no university-wide written entry test for BS admissions is published on the official site. Programme-specific requirements (for example an aptitude or practical test for Fine Arts, or Pharm.D. criteria) are stated in the admission advertisement. The official merit formula is not published on the main site — check the prospectus or portal. Read the full breakdown on our UO entry test page.

Fee Structure

The University of Okara does not publish a consolidated undergraduate fee table on its public website; the fee schedule is shown inside the admission portal at admissions.uo.edu.pk/login/fee_structure and in the programme prospectus. For current per-semester tuition for your programme, check the official website or the portal before applying.

Scholarships and Financial Aid

UO has a Financial Aid Office (linked from uo.edu.pk) that handles need-based and merit-based fee concessions. As a public university in Punjab, its students are also normally eligible for provincial and federal schemes such as the Punjab HEC Honhaar scholarship and HEC need-based scholarships, subject to each scheme’s own criteria. Exact amounts and deadlines are not listed on the main site — check the official website. See our scholarships archive for scheme-wise guides.

Campuses

The university operates from its main campus at 2 KM Multan Road, Renala Khurd Bypass, Okara. No sub-campuses are listed on the official website.

Why Students Choose UO

Students pick the University of Okara mainly for access: it is the only general public university in the district, so it saves hostel and travel costs for families in Okara, Sahiwal division and Depalpur. The programme range is unusually broad for a young university, running from Pharm.D. and allied health to data science, law and fine arts, and the admission process is simple and online.