Jammu: As Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) here gets ready to receive Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday it is with great expectations. Vice chancellor Narender Kumar Bansal hopes the university will secure the status of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) or Indian Institute of Management (IIM).

The university "has achieved the standards of excellence though it is still in infancy," Prof. Bansal told reporters on Wednesday.

Manmohan Singh is expected to address the first convocation of the university, at the foothills of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine near Katra, about 45 km from here. He would confer degrees on 101 students in various fields including management and technology.

Ahead of the convocation, Bansal spoke about the programmes and achievements of the university since 2004, when it was created.

"The SMVDU has established itself as highly practical and achieved standards of excellence. I expect the prime minister to accord it the status of either IIM or IIT," he said.

Bansal was referring to the IITs and IIMs, autonomous engineering, technology-oriented and management institutes of higher education established and declared as institutes of national importance by India

He said the university started with only 54 students in August 2004 and "now it has 850 students in schools of engineering, management, science and philosophy".

These students are from across the country and were admitted through competitive examinations.

The vice chancellor said since a cancer hospital of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine was coming up "we plan to open a medical college also by 2010". IANS