RAWALPINDI, July 9: The objectives of the University of Arid Agriculture (UAA) will not be fulfilled unless its education and research directly benefits common farmers of arid region, the Punjab governor, Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool (retired), said.

Speaking to the faculty and students of the university during his visit on Wednesday, Lt-Gen Maqbool said irrespective of the number of departments the university had established, it should be ensured that the departments related to arid zone farming and their output benefited arid agriculture.

Underlining the importance of the university for arid farming, Governor Maqbool said its research could serve all the four districts of the Potohar tract, the entire arid region of the Punjab and adjoining areas of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP by increasing the productivity of these areas.

Speaking about the state of education in the country’s universities, he cautioned that these seats of higher learning would not be able to survive for long and retain their identity unless they came on a par with reputed universities of the world in research.

He said the universities should impart education of the highest standard so that varsities of the developed world readily accepted their graduates. He said the government was cognizant of the importance of the universities and was fully committed to improving their condition.

Advocating the government’s desire to grant administrative and academic autonomy to the universities, he said it was aimed at improving the quality of higher education in the country. This, he said, would be possible when the universities were independent to design their curricula according to international standards and the ground realities in the country and by making the research purposeful.

On the issue of working conditions for the faculty of the country’s universities, the governor said the government fully realized that the salary structure of the faculty members should be higher than other sectors, and was taking all possible steps in that direction.

He, however, pointed out that the universities could contribute a lot in this direction through their autonomous status and reforms.

He said he was in favour of extending best facilities like computers and internet to the students even in their hostels so that they could wholeheartedly continue their studies and research.

The governor on this occasion inaugurated a green house and a modern irrigation system.