RAWALPINDI, May 11: The chancellors’ committee on Thursday directed provincial governors to close down all illegally operating universities within three months.

The committee, which met with President General Pervez Musharraf in the chair, also asked the provinces to shut down, within three months, the universities which were not following the criteria laid down by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

Chartered universities, not imparting standard education, were directed to meet the HEC criteria. In case of failure, such universities would be downgraded to college level after February 2007.

The president said the government would encourage the universities to align their standards with the best institutions in the world and provide them means to achieve the target.

He said Pakistan must join the world of knowledge-driven economies and catch up with the advanced world in terms of international commerce, 61 per cent of which was in the field of engineering.

The meeting decided to speed up the establishment of nine engineering universities with the help of Austria, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, China, South Korea and Sweden at a cost of Rs160 billion to Rs180 billion over a period of 10 years.

The meeting adopted a roadmap to synergise knowledge in the fields of science and technology with the country’s requirements for fast-paced industrial development.Classes in these universities would commence by 2008.

The proposed universities would be funded by the government while the faculty and necessary expertise to run the institutions according to local needs would be provided by foreign countries.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, governors and chief ministers of four provinces and HEC chairman Dr Attaur Rehman attended the meeting.

The prime minister that the government would dedicate finances to achieve excellence in the fields of science and technology.

“The president and the prime minister today committed to maintain meaningful allocations for the cause of higher education and we expect a further 50 per cent increase in allocations in the next financial year,” HEC chairman Dr Attaur Rehman was quoted as saying in an official statement.