LAHORE, March 7: Governor Khalid Maqbool has said five countries are setting up nine engineering universities in Pakistan.

He was speaking at the concluding session of third international conference on 21st century mathematics at the GCU’s School of Mathematical Sciences here on Wednesday. About 60 mathematicians from 36 countries and a large number of delegates from all over Pakistan attended the conference during which about 120 papers were presented and discussed.

The governor said the countries which were setting up universities included Japan, China, France, Germany and Australia. The Pakistani students need not go abroad now to get higher education in engineering and allied subjects after the establishment of universities.

Appreciating the performance of the School of Mathematical Sciences, he said it would also be upgraded and its building expanded to meet the growing requirements of the students and scholars.

Governor Maqbool said the school would be named after Nobel laureate Prof Abdus Salam.

He said the SMS had given Pakistan an international recognition by participating in the international Olympiad and holding Kangaroo mathematical tests for the young students of Pakistan.

He said the importance of mathematics could not be denied as it was the very basis of modern knowledge and sciences. Mathematicians could lend great help to the government in planning the development schemes using the new techniques of applied mathematics, he added.

He said the presence of such a large number of delegates from 36 countries reflected the recognition of Pakistan’s efforts by the international community for the promotion of knowledge and education.

GCU vice-chancellor Dr Khalid Aftab and SMS director general Dr A D Raza Choudary welcomed the delegates and said they had enriched the knowledge of the Pakistani mathematicians by their valuable thoughts and new research.

Dr Choudary said the Pakistan government was doing its best to promote higher education through the efforts of the Higher Education Commission.

The governor gave away prizes. The first prize was shared by three students Sarfraz Ahmad, Ahamd Mahmood Qureshi and Ms Shaheen Nazir, second prize to Nadeem Butt, Imran Javed and Azim Haider, third prize to Nasir Rehman and Asim Nasim and special prize to Imran Anwar and Sardar Mohibullah Khan. Mathematical scientist Prof Dr C G Gibson of the University of Liverpool, UK, won the special prize for presetting the best paper at the conference.