This article presents an overview of university rankings in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. Within Pakistan, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) provides official rankings of higher education institutions (HEIs) nationally, based on a multitude of criteria. There are also various magazines, newspapers and international agencies/standards which provide rankings and analysis. According to the 2015 HEI rankings released by the HEC, the top six universities in Pakistan are, in descending order: National University of Sciences and Technology (Pakistan),

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

(PU), University of central punjab(UCP),

Quaid-i-Azam University Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad ( ur, ; commonly referred to as QAU), founded as University of Islamabad, is a ranked 1 public research university in Islamabad, Pakistan. Founded as the University of Islamabad in 1967, it was initially dedi ...

, University of Agriculture in Faisalabad (UAF) and Aga Khan University (AKU). As of 2022, total 6 universities were ranked in top 1000 by

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...

: NUST (#358),

(#378), PIEAS (#398), LUMS (#651),

UET, Lahore The University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (UET Lahore) is a public university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan specializing in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. It is the oldest and one of the most ...

(#801), and

(#801). In rankings for 2023, the number increased to 7, with the addition of

University of Peshawar The University of Peshawar ( ps, د پېښور پوهنتون; hnd, پشور یونیورسٹی; ur, ; abbreviated UoP; known more popularly as Peshawar University) is a public research university located in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pa ...

(#801).

National

Up to date, the HEC has published rankings for the years 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014 and most recently 2015. In addition to the top ten and general rankings, independent rankings are also provided for universities and institutes in the categories of

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

and

veterinary science Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

;

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

and

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

; business;

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...

; and

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

. The HEC ranking uses five criteria, all of which have specific weightings and are summed to give an aggregate score out of 100. Institutional rankings are determined based on this aggregate score. Each criterion and its weighting is dependent upon a set of sub-components. The five criteria, along with their weighted score and sub-components are summarised below: * Quality assurance (15) – Standard of

M.Phil. The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil ...

, M.S. and PhD courses; eligibility criteria for faculty member appointments; plagiarism policy compliance; assessment of Quality Enhancement Cells (QECs) for internal quality assurance; international awards/honours attained by students; affiliation of coursework with national accreditation bodies e.g. NAEAC, NBEAC, NCEAC, PEC and PMDC; latest international rankings of the university/institute. * Teaching quality (30) – Staff to student ratio; ratio of PhD faculty and full-time faculty; faculty training and recruitment; student enrollment ratio and selectivity; national and international awards/recognition attained by faculty members. * Research (41) – Nationally and internationally registered

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

s, varieties, technologies, breeds and

creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, and composition. Legal definitions Creative works require a cre ...

; university industrial linkages through Offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORICs); ratio of PhD students and total PhD output per year; amount of external

research grant A grant is a fund given by an end entity grant – often a public body, charitable foundation, or a specialised grant-making institution – to an individual or another entity (usually, a non-profit organisation, sometimes a business or a loc ...

s obtained; amount of travel grants obtained by faculties for presentation of papers abroad; number of papers published in ISI Web of Science impact factor journals and HEC-recognised journals; citations per paper; university

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as ...

; number of W and X category journals published; internet bandwidth and HEC Digital Library utilisation; number of national and international conferences/seminars/workshops/symposia organised. * Finance and facilities (10) – Ratio of non-salary expenditures in total budget; amount generated through own resources; amount of budget expended on research and libraries; computers available per student and faculty; number of books and resources in libraries; number of external

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...

s received by students. * Social integration/community development (4) – Community outreach programs and services; international collaborations and student exchange programs; number of

international student International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

s enrolled and foreign faculty.

Top ten rankings

According to the 2016 HEC rankings, the following comprise the overall top ranking higher education institutions in the country.

Agriculture and veterinary science

Arts and design

Business

According to the 2022 HEC rankings, the following comprise the top ranking business schools in the country.

Computer Sciences (CS), Software Engineering (SE) and Information Technology (IT)

Rankings for Computer science and information technology Institutes are updated as of 2022.

Engineering and technology

According to the 2022 HEC rankings, the following comprise the top ranking

universities in the country.

Medicine

According to the 2022 HEC rankings, the following comprise the top ranking medical schools in the country.

General rankings

Notes: * Institutions not included in the HEC rankings include distance learning universities, military academies, universities chartered after the 30th of June 2010 and those institutions for which sufficient data is not available. * Source
Higher Education Commission
as of 23 February 2016.

International rankings

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS)

The

is one of the most widely referenced international ranking systems. Pakistan is ranked 50th globally in terms of its higher education system's strength. Following is the list of 13 Universities which appeared in 2022 - 2023 edition of

Research Papers in Economics/IDEAS

Research Papers in Economics Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) is a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers in many countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics. The heart of the project is a decentralized database of working papers, preprints, ...

(RePEc) ranks the top 25% institutions and schools/faculties in the field of

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

research, using its IDEAS database. The database takes a number of factors into account, such as item citations, journals and working papers, authorship and field-based ranks. The database rankings are updated on a monthly basis. Provided below are the most recent country rankings for Pakistan: Notes: * For the purpose of this article, non-academic institutions ranked in the database have been excluded from this list. * Source
Pakistan rankings
RePEc/IDEAS as of March 2016.

Round University Ranking

The

Round University Ranking Round University Ranking (RUR Ranking) is a Moscow, Russia-based world university ranking, assessing effectiveness of 700 leading world universities based on 20 indicators distributed among 4 key dimension areas: teaching, research, international ...

, compiled by the RUR Ranking Agency in Russia in partnership with

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corpora ...

, ranks the top 750 universities based on standards of teaching, research, international diversity and financial sustainability. The following Pakistani universities are listed in the 2016 rankings: * Source
Round University Rankings
as of 2016.

SCImago Institutions Rankings

The

SCImago Institutions Rankings The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) since 2009 has published its international ranking of worldwide research institutions, the SIR World Report. The SIR World Report is the work of the SCImago Research Group,Innovative Knowledge rankingsTechnological Impact rankingsWebsite rankings
an
Domain Inbound Links rankings
for Pakistan, SCImago Institutions Rankings as of 2014.

Times Higher Education

The

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' (often referred to as the THE Rankings) is an annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' (THE) magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli ...

is a prominent publication of university rankings, released by the UK-based ''

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

'' magazine. It includes overall, subject and reputation-wise rankings, 150 Under 50 rankings, as well as two regional rankings: Asia, and

BRICS BRICS is an acronym for five leading emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The first four were initially grouped as "BRIC" (or "the BRICs") in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill, who coined the ter ...

and

Emerging Economies An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or were ...

. In the 2015–2016 edition, the following ranks were applicable to Pakistani universities: Notes: * The 150 Under 50 ranking lists the top 150 world universities which are less than 50 years old. * Source
World rankings
(as of 2016/2017)
Asia rankings
(as of 2016)
BRICS & Emerging Economies rankings
(as of 2015/2016) an
150 Under 50 rankings
(as of 2016) for Pakistan, Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

UI GreenMetric Ranking

The GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities is published by

Universitas Indonesia The University of Indonesia ( id, Universitas Indonesia, abbreviated as UI) is a public university in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the oldest tertiary-level educational institutions in Indonesia (known as the Du ...

(UI). It ranks over 400 world universities according to their

eco-friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that clai ...

environment and commitment to sustainability. Three instruments are used as the basis of the ranking criteria: Environment, Economics and Equity. The 2015 edition includes the following overall and indicator-specific world rankings for Pakistani universities: * Source
Overall rankings

Setting and Infrastructure rankingsEnergy and Climate Change rankingsWaste rankingsWater rankings

Transportation rankingsEducation rankings
an
Campus Setting rankings
UI GreenMetric as of December 2015.

U-Multirank

U-Multirank College and university rankings order the best institutions in higher education based on factors that vary depending on the ranking. Some rankings evaluate institutions within a single country, while others assess institutions worldwide. Ranking ...

is an independent ranking system funded by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

under the Erasmus Programme. The ranking is supported by a consortium of academics in Europe. It provides multi-dimensional listings for universities, in terms of academic fields as well as various education-specific indicators. Universities are rated against these indicators using a grading system, ranging from 'A' (very good) to 'E' (weak). The 2016 rankings include the following Pakistani universities along with their grades: Notes: * Sourc
Pakistan rankings
obtained fro
university comparisons
U-Multirank as of April 2016.

University Ranking by Academic Performance

The

University Ranking by Academic Performance The University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) is a College and university rankings, university ranking developed by the Informatics Institute of Middle East Technical University. Since 2010, it has been publishing annual national and glob ...

(URAP), developed at the Middle East Technical University in Turkey, ranks the top 2,000 global institutions with an emphasis on research impact and quality, and scientific productivity. It uses indicators such as articles published, citations, total documents, article and citation impact, and international collaboration. The 2015–2016 edition provides the following national, international and regional rankings along with field-based ranks (as of 2014–2015) for Pakistani universities: Notes: * The 17th rank is intentionally omitted due to database error. * Source
Pakistan rankings
an
Asia rankings
(as of 2015–2016)
Field-based rankings
(as of 2014–2015), University Ranking by Academic Performance.

U.S. News & World Report

In the 2015 edition of top 500 international rankings, the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Rankings listed the following Pakistani university:

Webometrics

The

Webometrics Ranking of World Universities The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, also known as Ranking Web of Universities, is a ranking system for the world's universities based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web content (number of web page ...

, published by the Spanish Cybermetrics Lab, provides a listing of national, regional and international rankings of universities in Pakistan based on their web presence. Shown below, as per the 2016 edition, are the top 20 rankings only: * Source
Pakistan rankingsAsia rankings
an
South Asia rankings
Webometrics as of January 2016.

uniRank

uniRank, formerly 4 International Colleges and Universities (4icu.org), ranks universities and colleges country-wise based on their web popularity and online footprint. It is not an academic ranking. According to its website, uniRank uses an algorithm including web metrics from Moz Domain Authority, Alexa Global Rank, SimilarWeb Global Rank, Majestic Referring Domains and Majestic Trust Flow. The top 10 results in Pakistan include the following universities: * Source
Pakistan rankings
uniRank as of 2016.

Analysis and criticism

The HEC acknowledges that rankings are "a debatable subject all over the world". It defines its ranking system as a measure to strengthen the quality of higher education, provide a tool for self-assessment, as well as ensure that universities achieve domestic and international competitiveness in education, innovation and research. However, the HEC's rankings have been subject to criticism among educationists and policy-making experts in Pakistan. Some critics claim the rankings give "more weight to quantity than quality" of research, faculty and other key factors.

References

External links

Quality and Research-Based Ranking of Pakistani HEIs
at Higher Education Commission
HEC University Rankings
at

Jang Group Jang Media Group (), also known as Geo Group, is a Pakistani media conglomerate and a subsidiary of Dubai-based company Independent Media Corporation. Its headquarters is in Printing House, Karachi, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's largest group of new ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rankings of universities in Pakistan Higher Education Commission (Pakistan) Pakistan education-related lists