Following suicide attacks on a major Pakistani university that left at least eight people dead, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the United States would contribute $45 million to Pakistan's Higher Education Commission.

At a meeting with students at Government College in Lahore, Clinton said the money would be used to expand relationships between Pakistani universities and US institutions through increasing academic exchanges as well as university and technical education for students displaced by violence.

This was particularly the case for those living in vulnerable areas such as southern Punjab and the North West Frontier Province which serves students from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, she said.

The money would enable the Higher Education Commission to exempt displaced students from fees, boost opportunities for students to become health professionals and expand engineering and women's education. It would also support infrastructure upgrades and improved teacher training at vocational and university institutions.

The contribution is part of a $1billion pledge made by the US at the April 2009 Tokyo Donors' Conference.

Fewer than one in 20 Pakistanis in a country of 167 million people are enrolled in higher education - about 5% for males and less than 3% for females - but the Pakistan government plans to increase this to 10% by 2015 and subsequently to 15% by 2020.

The nation's universities produce some 1.2 million skilled graduates each year and the government has announced a $1 billion spending plan over the next decade to build six state-of-the-art science and engineering universities. This scheme will be administered by the Higher Education Commission.

Clinton also committed $85 million to counter poverty and $125 million to improve Pakistan`s woefully inadequate electricity supply.

"We are committed to hold you on the road of a strong democracy and a successful war against terror elements who want to destabilise Pakistan through violent attacks and killing innocent people," she said, adding that Pakistan and the US had common and serious challenges to face in the region from militancy and terrorism.

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