ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: A sophisticated Manufacturing Technologies Development Centre (MTDC) will be established at the department of mechanical engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore.

This was stated by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman, Dr Attaur Rehman, on Monday. In this regard, an amount of Rs120 million has been approved by the recently held Central Development Working Party (CDWP), Dr Atta was quoted as saying in an official statement.

Dr Ata said the centre (MTDC) would be dedicated to help manufacturers become more competitive and profitable. It would not only provide companies access to technical expertise, information resources and training opportunities but also help them adopt world-class manufacturing technologies and modern management techniques.

The mission of the centre is to successfully help manufacturing industry change markets and global economy through applied competitive technologies and workforce education and training, he said.

It would also facilitate the relevant educational programmes offered by the department of mechanical engineering at graduate and postgraduate levels including PhD programme.

He also said it was hoped that the centre would work in close association with the industry to identify technologies most suited to its needs and provide technological solutions to solve problems of low productivity and low quality as per market requirement and provide guidance on the issues of technology management.

The centre also aims at assisting the deployment and application of continuous improving techniques and quality standards that help manufacturers achieve world-class performance.

Dr Attaur Rehman also revealed that it had been estimated that 75 engineering students of BSc, MSc and PhD degrees would directly benefit from the centre while 90 to 100 engineers would benefit from continued education programmes annually.

Undergraduate, postgraduate and short courses have also been planned for skill development in addition to modern research facility in the centre. Thus the local technology development and productivity improvement would be capable of contributing in achievement of self reliance, he added.

The government is committed to promoting education in the realm of science and technology as advancement in these fields is vital for rapid economic development of the country, he added.