Claim: Imperial College London is set to build a campus in the Nawaz Sharif IT City in Lahore.
Fact: Imperial College London has clarified that it has no such plans to build its campus in Lahore.
On 18 October 2025, the Punjab government — which is led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — and Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced that Imperial College London is scheduled “to establish [a] campus at [the] Nawaz Sharif IT City with a 300-bed hospital”. They further claimed that the university’s foundation stone would be laid in November this year (archives 1, 2, 3).
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s close aide, Aurangzeb holds multiple provincial portfolios, including Planning and Development, Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife, Environment Protection and Climate Change, CM’s Special Initiatives, and Tourism, Archaeology, and Museums.
The Nawaz Sharif IT City is a PML-N-led project, which aims “to establish Lahore as a distinguished global business hub” and is part of the Central Business District (CBD) Punjab, alternatively called the Punjab Central Business District Development Authority (PCBDDA).
At the foundation stone-laying ceremony on 18 May 2024, Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz had said that international universities would set up campuses in the Knowledge City and that multiple global tech giants had shown interest in the IT City.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check searched for any announcements issued by Imperial College London in this regard and found a statement refuting the claim.
In its 21 October statement (archive), titled “Correction to reports that Imperial plans to open an overseas campus,” the university said the reports are “incorrect”.
“There have been erroneous reports in the media and online that Imperial is opening a campus at [the] Nawaz Sharif IT City in Lahore, Pakistan. Imperial has no such plans, with all the university’s campuses based in the UK,” it said. “Information about Imperial’s global activity can be found on the university’s International Relations Office webpages.”
Four days after the claim made by Punjab government officials, the CBD Punjab issued an “official clarification” (archive) on 22 October, stating that the upcoming “Healthcare University and Affiliated Medical College” is actually a “collaborative initiative between NovaCare and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (UK) — an independent NHS institution”.
The project was “firmly on track”, the clarification added, noting that it was “under the direct supervision of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (UK)”.
It is important to note that the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is not the same as Imperial College London. The former is a public healthcare provider in the UK that runs several teaching hospitals, while the latter is a public research university.
When Soch Fact Check reached out to the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust’s press office, they directed us to a press release issued by Novacare Hospitals, available on its website, as well as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Novacare issued the statement “to clarify and nuance recent media reports and social media posts mischaracterising the entities and relationships involved in Novacare’s upcoming project at CBD NSIT Lahore”.
“Novacare has been affiliated with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust since March 2024, under the Trust’s International Affiliate Network,” it said, noting that this paved way for its first “250-bed tertiary hospital in Islamabad, now over 50% complete and scheduled to open in Q4 2026”.
“As part of its national expansion [plan], Novacare has been allotted land in CBD NSIT Lahore for its second project — an Academic Medical Centre integrating healthcare provision, education, research, and innovation within a world-class setting, benefiting from the cutting-edge technological and academic ecosystem under development by the Government of Punjab,” the company added.
“It is important to distinguish between Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London. The Trust is a UK National Health Service (NHS) organisation, operating five major hospitals in London and leading one of the UK’s largest teaching hospital groups. Imperial College London is a separate academic institution; while the two work together and collaborate closely in several areas, the university is not involved in the Trust’s International Affiliate Network, and hence issued a statement refuting its presence in Pakistan,” it clarified.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the Punjab government’s claim is false.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found multiple posts on the social media accounts of the PML-N, Aurangzeb, and the government of Punjab regurgitating the claim. These can be viewed here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here (archives 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).
Aurangzeb, however, deleted her post on X (formerly Twitter).
The claim was also shared here, here, and here on Facebook, here, here, and here on Instagram, and here and here on X.
Media outlets also published their respective reports without fact-checking the authenticity of the government’s claims. These included Dunya News’ English and Urdu websites, The Nation, Nawaiwaqt, Daily Pakistan, Express News’ Urdu website, WE News, Daily Jang, and Lahore Rang.
Conclusion: Imperial College London has clarified that it has no such plans to build its campus in Lahore.
Background image in cover photo: Naveed Janmohamed
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