LOS ANGELES: The Friends Of Pakistan (FOP) has announced its support for the efforts of a group of expatriate Pakistanis to establish a new research oriented technical university of international standards with an accompanying technology park in Pakistan.

This institution will be known as Petaro Engineering and Technical University (PETU) to be located in the Jamshoro District in Sind.FOP has expressed an interest in soliciting donations of $10 million to establish and endow a modern computational fluid dynamics (CFD) research laboratory, a first for Pakistan, which would serve the University and the Technology Park.

This university is being established with the cooperation of the Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey, which is a leading technical university of the region, and has the support of HEC, the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.Pakistan has recognized the need for establishing of new technical universities of high standards, as institutions of higher education and research to support the economic, technological, agricultural, and industrial development of Pakistan. Such institutions are tasked with providing high quality education, technical excellence, and avenues for research, to support the needs of Pakistan's rapidly expanding economy.

The major academic programs at PETU will include, in addition to the traditional architecture and engineering disciplines, areas of high relevance to Pakistan's economy such as agricultural and food technologies, information technology, computer engineering, CFD, mechotronics and renewable energy.Technology Parks are a relatively new phenomenon in advanced countries and are being established near existing technical universities to reinforce and enhance synergies between the academia and industry.

Such technology parks contribute to the technological development and the employment base of an area. Accordingly it is proposed to incorporate such a technology park at PETU.METU is a well known and highly regarded research university, with an associated technology park, a first of its kind in the region, and offers all the technical programs and curricula that Pakistan needs in its proposed new technical university and technology park. METU has an enrollment of over 20,000 students, with large resources, a highly qualified faculty and an experienced administrative staff.

It has the distinction of having helped in the establishment of a number of new technical universities in Turkey, Cyprus, and Kyrgyzstan.Collaboration with METU has numerous advantages, among them the existence of a large alumni group of Pakistani origin, its close proximity to Pakistan, its large and distinguished faculty and research base and its use of English as the medium of instruction.

The supporters of this effort believe that a better integration of education and industry standards between Turkey and Pakistan prepares both countries better to compete globally with emerging giants of the world economy such as India and China.