PESHAWAR, March 24: The NWFP government has decided to establish the third campus of the Peshawar-based NWFP University of Engineering and Technology (UET) at the southern city of Bannu.

Decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting, presided over by Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, here on Sunday.

The meeting, attended by Provincial Education Minister Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gilani, UET Vice-Chancellor Sardar Khan, Dean Roohullah and Bannu Zila Nazim Mohammad Iqbal, also decided to house the new campus in the existing building of the Comprehensive School, which, having a covered area of more than 90,000 square feet, would be shifted to an alternate place.

The second campus of the NWFP UET was established in the Scarp Colony of Mardan as part of a programme to make best utilization of the existing infrastructure, which has become vacant because of implementation of the reforms programme of the government.

According to an official statement, initially market-oriented three emerging technologies, Computer Engineering and Information Technology, Telecom Engineering and Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering have been introduced in the Mardan campus of the University. The disciplines to be introduced in the third campus of the university at Bannu would be announced shortly.

Speaking on the occasion, the governor said he would himself inspect the proposed site of the campus in the next few days. The objective of establishing the campus, he said, was to bring state-of-the-art education at the doorstep of the people of far-flung areas.

The students of the southern districts of the province, he added, would definitely benefit from the new campus to a great extent.

He, however, desired that the private sector should also come forward and join hands with the government in its efforts to promote quality education.

The meeting was informed that sufficient properties and buildings were available in different districts, specially at Mardan, Kohat and Nowshera, wherein professional colleges could easily be established on the basis of public-private partnership.