LAHORE, Nov 16: The government has decided to establish a number of universities of engineering, science and technology, Pakistan, (UESTP), in collaboration with world-class foreign universities.

As a part of this initiative, a UESTP is being established in Lahore in collaboration with the University of Technology Graz, Austria. A foundation stone for this university is expected to be laid by President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Saturday (tomorrow).

Similar universities are also being established in Karachi in collaboration with the UTT, France and in Sialkot in collaboration with a Swedish university.

The collaboration will enable the new universities to develop academic standards equivalent to those of foreign universities. The academics of each UESTP would mainly be managed by the staff from the collaborating university for the first eight to 10 years.

The universities will fully be funded by the Pakistan government, while provinces would provide land free of cost. The approximate cost of each university would be from Rs25 billion to Rs30 billion.

The government is also working to establish UESTPs in collaboration with universities from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Korea, China and Japan.

With the participation of all these countries, there will be nine world-class universities covering different fields of education and research in engineering, science and technology in the country.