LAHORE, Jan 24: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Saturday public sector universities across Pakistan would come out of financial crisis “very soon”.

Speaking at the sixth convocation of the Lahore College for Women University (LCWU), Mr Gilani said the government had decided to increase spending on education to four per cent of the gross national product in the next three years.

The prime minister announced the creation of Benazir Bhutto chair for Peace, Reconciliation and Development at LCWU. He announced Rs50 million for the construction of buildings and other infrastructure at the university.

Recognising top position holders, Mr Gilani announced Rs500,000 each for Ifrah Saeed and Tayyaba Khalil, who secured first position in FSc pre-engineering and MSCS examinations, respectively.

Praising the graduates for their hard-earned degrees, Mr Gilani said young graduates were now entering a new era where they would be exposed to multiple ventures. He said women in Pakistan were intellectually mature and playing their role in bringing about a positive change in the society. He stressed that women must use the tool of education to build the nation. “The government is pursuing policies that call for women’s empowerment.”

He said that women were joining every field of life. He said a woman was the speaker, another was the deputy speaker and many more were parliamentarians and added that he wanted to see a woman as the president of Pakistan. “If President Asif Ali Zardari asks me about this statement, I will say this idea was floated by Shahnaz Wazir Ali,” he said in a lighter vein. Ms Ali, who is in-charge of the Higher Education Commission, was guest of honour at the convocation.

The prime minister praised LCWU for imparting quality higher education to Pakistani women and contributing to poverty alleviation. He said student unions would be restored in educational institutions across the country.

Earlier, LCWU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Bushra Mateen said the university was making efforts to improve the access of women, especially from small cities, to higher education. As a first step, she said, the university established its sub-campus in Jhang. She, however, said the Jhang campus was functioning in a rented building.

Ms Mateen said the university began PhD programme under the old system in 2003 and registered 34 scholars. Seven of these scholars have completed their PhD studies.

She said the university registered 19 more scholars between 2005 and 2007. She said the university allocated 18 scholarships for PhD programme and currently eight teachers were doing PhD in foreign universities. She said the university was running nine research and training projects in environmental science, zoology and chemistry departments.

The university developed collaboration with renowned universities of the UK, Japan, Thailand, Iran, Kuwait, Malaysia and Bangladesh.