Government College University (GCU) Faisalabad and National Urban Poverty Alleviation Programme (NUPAP) have formally inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to setup an Urban Development Study Center at GCU Faisalabad.
The objective of this center is to resolve urban problems of this burgeoning city of textiles.
GCU Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Dr Asif Iqbal Khan and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Islamabad SL Unit Chief Dr Inayatullah signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisations.
Under the agreement, both parties will launch research projects to address the urban poverty in Faisalabad and will co-ordinate with each other to design research proposals.
They would also develop the capacities of different stakeholders by organising training programmes, workshops and seminars.
The NUPAP city officer will accommodate internees from GCU while both parties would assist each other to job placements of their internees.
Later, talking to newsmen, Dr Asif Iqbal Khan termed GCU as intellectual center of Faisalabad where more than 8500 male and female students were studying in different courses in addition to Masters level programmes in social sciences.
Dr Inayatullah said that the objective of this MoU was to formalise the institutional linkage already existing between the two institutions.
He said that NUPAP was working in 13 cities. "We want to involve intellectuals from academic institutions of Faisalabad in baseline studies and data collection to support our future development plans."