ISLAMABAD, March 23: The government has provided Rs549.4 million to two universities of the Capital during 2002 to 2004 to meet their recurring expenditures, the National Assembly was told. The universities included Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) and International Islamic University (IIU).

During the question-hour, Education Minister Zubaida Jalal said in a written statement that out of Rs540 million, Rs270 million was provided to the QAU while Rs279 million to the IIU during the same period.

As many as 3079 students are studying in the QAU of which 1993 students are enrolled in MSc, 609 in MPhil and 477 in PhD. Similarly, the number of students studying in the IIU is 13,156, of which 3,524 are studying in BA/BSc, 2,763 in MA/MSc, 30 in MPhil, 112 in PhD and 6,727 are studying in different diploma/certificate programme.

She said the federal government provided lump sum grant-in- aid to the universities, which prepared their annual budget inclusive of the government grant and income from own source staking into account their academic and research programmes.