Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is a public central university, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in 1875.The main campus of AMU is located in the city of Aligarh. Additionally it has three off-campus centres in Malappuram (Kerala), AMU Murshidabad centre (West Bengal), and Kishanganj Centre (Bihar). The university offers more than 300 courses in traditional and modern branches of education, and is an institute of national importance, under the declared under seventh schedule of the Constitution of India at its commencement. The university has been ranked 801-1000 in the QS World University Rankings of 2018, and 18 in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework in 2017. Various clubs and societies function under the aegis of the university and it has various notable academicians, literary figures, politicians, jurists, lawyers, sportsperson, among others as its alumni. Aligarh Muslim University is a fully residential university having 13 faculties, 7 constituent colleges (5 colleges academic programs), 15 Centres, 3 Institutes, 10 schools. Recently the university opened faculty of International Studies. The university's Faculty of Theology has two departments, one for the Shi'a school of thought and another for the Sunni school of thought. Aligarh Muslim University has established three centres at Malappuram (Kerala; the AMU Malappuram Campus), Murshidabad (West Bengal) and Kishanganj (Bihar), while a site has been identified for Aurangabad, (Maharashtra) centre. Internationally, AMU was ranked 801-1000 in the QS World University Rankings of 2020. The same rankings ranked it 214 in Asia and 138 among BRICS nations. It was ranked 801-1000 in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2019, 182 in Asia and 157 among BRICS and Emerging Economies in 2017. It was ranked 18 in India overall by the National Institutional Ranking Framework in 2019 and 11th among universities.
