Private Universities In Afghanistan in the North and Kabul

Background of the universities

1. Barlas University – Jawzjan Province
Barlas is a private higher-education institution in northern Afghanistan. Afghan statistical records list it as Barlas Higher Education Institution in Jawzjan. The 2017–18 statistical yearbook recorded 27 teaching staff and 639 students, including 191 female students. 

2. Rah-e Saadat University – Balkh Province
Rah-e Saadat University is a private institution in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh Province. Sources give 2010 as its founding year and identify it as officially recognized by Afghanistan's Ministry of Higher Education. It offered bachelor's-level programmes in several fields. 
An Afghan biography database identifies Ghulam Sarwar Saadat, a former member of the Afghan parliament, as the founder of Rah-e Saadat University in Mazar-i-Sharif. 

3. Turkistan University – Balkh Province
Turkistan University is a private higher-education institution in Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh. It is also listed in Afghan higher-education directories as the Turkestan Institute of Higher Education. 
Its academic activities include law and political science, and it has also operated a Faculty of Medicine. University material indicates that academic staff and administrators have included people with backgrounds in law, political science and administration. 

4. Azhar University – Badakhshan Province
Azhar is a private higher-education institution associated with Badakhshan Province. The institution should be distinguished from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the famous Egyptian Islamic university. Contemporary reporting confirms that Azhar was among the private institutions affected by regulatory action by the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education. 

5. Barna University – Badakhshan Province
Barna University is a private institution in Badakhshan. In 2020, Adina Mohammad Amini was identified as president of Barna University at a peace-related conference in Badakhshan. The event brought together university representatives, provincial officials and civil-society figures. 

6. Rashad University – Faryab Province
Rashad University is a private higher-education institution in Faryab Province, in northern Afghanistan. It was included in the group of universities whose licences were reportedly suspended for one year. 

7. Payam University – Kabul
The institution is more precisely referred to in official records as Payam Institute of Higher Education. It is a private institution in Kabul, established in 2012 according to available institutional records. The Afghan Ministry of Higher Education's register records its registration on 30 December 2012. 
Its programmes have included Sharia/Islamic studies, law, business administration, finance and banking, and administration and diplomacy. It remains listed as a private, officially recognized higher-education institution in current directories