The GIK Institute is a private educational institution, named after former bureaucrat and former
President of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan. The project was delegated to Pakistani scientist, Dr.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, who was one of the founding members of the institute and was once registered as an
associate professor of
physics. The genesis of the Institute can be traced back to the early 1950s when
Ghulam Ishaq Khan became acutely aware of Pakistan's dependence on foreign expertise and imported technology. Out of his frequent interaction with the foreign and local experts emerged the idea that a centre of excellence in engineering sciences and production technology ought to be established in the country, whose standards of education are comparable to those of its counterparts in the advanced countries. The transformation of this idea into a practical proposition took place in December 1985 when the Benevolent Community Care and Infaq Foundation donated Rs. 50 million for setting up an institute in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for promotion of science and technology. Major founding donors include Nouman Benevolent Community Care, Infaq Foundation, Chiniot Anjuman-e-Islamia,
Dawood Group of Industries, and the
Government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa which has donated land at
Topi. In June, 1988 its parent body, Society for the Promotion of Engineering Sciences and Technology in Pakistan (SOPREST) was established with
Ghulam Ishaq Khan, then the President of the country being elected the President of the Society for life. The task of conceiving and formulating the basic form and features of the institute was entrusted to a group of eminent scientists and engineers. The civil works at the campus site were started in early 1990. An interim office of the institute was set up in August 1992 where senior professionals with notable backgrounds worked in a cohesive group to evolve the educational aims and philosophy of the institute, its curricula and details of the equipment for its laboratories and workshops. In March 1993, the
Government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa established the institute under the umbrella of SOPREST, and the first batch of students was inducted the same year in October. The Institute is the first privately funded institute of its kind in the country. The tuition fee has to be in consonance with the high cost of education. However, what the students are charged hardly covers the annual expenditure. Total capital outlay of the institute to-date on historical cost basis works out to more than Rs. 2.5 billion for which funds were mobilised from diverse sources including a major donation of Rs. 750 million from Infaq Foundation and land measuring donated by the
Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In 1998, the
Clinton Administration sanctioned the GIKI for alleged unspecified involvement in nuclear or missile activities. . == Campus ==