LAHORE, Dec 10: US ambassador Ryan C. Crocker addressed the faculty and students of the Forman Christian College (FCC) on Friday and announced a USAID grant of $5 million for the institution.

He said the college would launch a new four-year bachelors degree programme, meeting the American accreditation standards and strengthen its basic sciences and information technology programmes.

Mr Crocker stressed that the college should offer at least 1,000 scholarships from the grant to talented and deserving students during the next five years. He said the USAID would also extend technical assistance as the faculty had been engaged in developing curricula for new courses to be introduced by the college next year.

The programme would provide opportunities to faculty's professional development and help establish management information system besides the purchase of books, scientific equipment, access to electronic journals and establishment of a new science building.

He said denationalization had provided an opportunity to raise the college to a higher standard of excellence and provide its students quality education needed in today's world.

Earlier, FCC principal Dr Armacost highlighted the history of the college and its current achievements. He said the college had 3,130 students on its role studying in 17 different departments at three levels.

Later, Mr Crocker visited the MCL Junior Model High School and met the students participating in ACCESS English programme. The two-year programme is being funded by the US State Department through a $150,000 grant. A total 150 students from five schools will participate in the programme. The ambassador also awarded certificates of participation to students of the programme.

POLITICS: Earlier in his address, Crocker said the strategic relationships of the US and Pakistan had deepened further after last week's meeting between presidents George W. Bush and Pervez Musharraf.

He said it was a special moment in the history of Pakistan-US relation which was marked by very high and low points in the past. With regard to the strategic partnership, he was hopeful that both the countries would not walk away from each other in future.

Mr Crocker said the international borders needed to be respected. Citing an example, he said the US had respected the borders of Iraq even when Saddam Husain was ruling the country.