LAHORE, Feb 17: Punjab Education Minister Mian Imran Masood has indicated government’s intention to award university charter to the autonomous Kinnaird College and asked its principal to submit a formal case for the purpose.

KC principal Dr Mira Phailbus readily said she would soon submit the case.

Mr Masood was attending an MoU signing ceremony between KC and the University of Birmingham at former’s campus on Saturday. The MoU was signed by Dr Phailbus and Birmingham University’s English department head Dr Susan Hunston for collaboration between English departments of both institutions under the Higher Education Commission’s links project with British universities.

Mr Masood said the government was focusing on higher education and pumping in huge funds under the Punjab Education Sector Reforms Programme.

He said the government had started working on three-year college reforms programme. Each year, the government would give Rs2 billion for upgrading college infrastructure.

He said the Rs2 billion development fund would be spent in four selected colleges - two top and two lowly ranked - in each district.

The government would also grant financial autonomy to principals of selected colleges for acquiring and improving infrastructure and hiring teachers on a contract basis. Colleges’ academic councils would also be strengthened, he added.

The federal government was setting up campuses of seven foreign universities in the country, including four in Punjab. Harvard University was also setting up its campus in Rawat near Rawalpindi, he continued.

Mr Masood it had also been decided to enhance allocation for education sector up to four per cent of the GDP against the current 2.4 per cent. The enhancement would facilitate universities and colleges to spend more on research.

He asked the KC administration to send him a proposal for the issuance of grant for the link programme between KC and the Birmingham University.

Earlier, Dr Phailbus said the MoU would help the KC train its faculty on modern lines and ensure the imparting of quality education.

She said the KC’s ELT department had trained more than 500 in-service English teachers which would ensure imparting of quality language at schools and colleges level.

Dr Hunston said the link between two institutions was very important as it would promote quality teaching of English, a lingua franca.