ISLAMABAD, Sept 25: A state of the art university of engineering and technology will be set up in Sialkot, and the first phase of the project has been approved in a recent meeting of the Central Developmental Working Party, an official announcement said.

The country in collaboration with some developed countries would have six top class engineering universities. The university in Sialkot will be set up with the help of Sweden. The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm and a consortium of Swedish universities will help in this regard.

The chosen site of Sialkot will help promote industrial and commercial potential of the local region and the likelihood of the centre developing as a producer and exporter of industrial goods. The graduates will cover a wide spectrum of national needs from research and development to technology implementation, product development and manufacture, it said.

The university will be headed by the vice chancellor from Sweden while top professors and deans will also be from the collaborating country. They will oversee the development of the university for 10-12 years, will ensure quality criteria, guarantee quality of examination system and ensure the equivalence of the degree with the highest standards prevailing in their own country.

In the initial five years, programmes in information technology and computer science, industrial engineering and management, electrical engineering, chemical engineering and biotechnology and humanities and basic sciences will be offered.

The university will impart high quality engineering and science education to students in engineering and science at a standard identical to accredited international standards thus catering for the industrial, technological, product development and research needs of the country.

Instruction will include the latest developments in engineering curriculum, teaching methodology and laboratory standards as well as promoting effective R&D activities in the engineering sector in line with advances in the international as well as partner’s university and in other industrialised nations.

The university will have technology parks and technology incubators which will enable rapid transfer of skill and knowledge with the aim to encourage, promote, facilitate and foster innovative start-up companies, which have either developed or are in the process of building products. The faculty will provide consultancy to enhance industrial growth around Sialkot.