This article presents an overview of university rankings in Pakistan. 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 were, in descending order: Quaid-i-Azam University, University of the Punjab (PU), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), Aga Khan University (AKU) and COMSATS Institute of Information Technology.
As of 2022, total 6 universities were ranked in top 1000 by QS World University Rankings: National University of Sciences & Technology (#334), Quaid-i-Azam University (#378), PIEAS (#398), LUMS (#651), University of The Punjab (#701) and UET, Lahore (#801), . In rankings for 2023, the number increased to 7, with the addition of NED University of Engineering and Technology (#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 and veterinary science; arts and design; business; engineering and technology; and medicine. 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 summarized below: Quality assurance (15) – Standard of M.Phil., 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/honors 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 patents, varieties, technologies, breeds and creative work; university industrial linkages through Offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORICs); ratio of PhD students and total PhD output per year; amount of external research grants 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-recognized journals; citations per paper; university h-index; number of W and X category journals published; internet bandwidth and HEC Digital Library utilization; number of national and international conferences/seminars/workshops/symposia organized. 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 scholarships received by students. Social integration/community development (4) – Community outreach programs and services; international collaborations and student exchange programs; number of international students enrolled and foreign faculty.
Top ten rankings According to the 2023 HEC rankings, the following comprise the overall top ranking higher education institutions in the country. Ranking University Score 1 Capital University of Science and Technology 95.01 2 COMSATS Institute of Information Technology 79.40 3 National University of Science and Technology 66.78 4 Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences 74.88 5 Lahore University of Management Sciences 60.69 6 Government College University, Lahore 68.00 7 Institute of Business Administration (IBA) 70.09 8 Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 66.78 9 Minhaj University, Lahore 65.98
Agriculture and veterinary science Ranking University Score 1 University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences 2 University of Agriculture (Peshawar) 62.85 3 Sindh Agriculture University 46.90 4 Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences 42.65
Arts and design Ranking University Score 1 National College of Arts 100.00 2 Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture 82.533Pifd88
Business According to the 2022 HEC rankings, the following comprise the top ranking business schools in the country. 1 Institute of Business Administration, Karachi 100.002 Lahore University of Management Sciences 98.70 3 University of The Punjab 96.00 4 Lahore School of Economics 76.91 5 Sukkur Institute of Business Administration 75.83 6 Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology 75.70 9 University of Central Punjab 67.34 10 Greenwich University 58.75 11 GIFT University 54.66 12 COMMECS Institute of Business and Emerging Sciences 41.79 13 Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari Institute of Technology 22.16 14 Institute of Management Sciences (Lahore) 25.39 15 Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education 7.54
Computer Sciences (CS), Engineering and Information Technology (IT) Rankings for Computer science and information technology Institutes are updated as of 2022.
Ranking University Score 1 National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences 99.00 2 National University of Sciences and Technology 95.00 3 COMSATS University Islamabad 80.00 4 University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore 75.00 5 Quaid-e-Azam University 60.00 6 Air University, Islamabad 50.00 7 NED 40.00
Engineering and technology According to the 2024 HEC rankings, the following comprise the top ranking engineering universities in the country.
Ranking University Score 1 Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology 96.67 2 University of Central Punjab 80.54 3 NED University of Engineering and Technology 75.34 4 Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences 72.46 5 Air University 63.97 6 Dawood University of Engineering & Technology 58.88 7 University of Engineering and Technology (Lahore) 57.74 8 University of Engineering and Technology (Peshawar) 57.22 9 University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila 55.32 10 Government College University, Lahore 52.30 11 Institute of Space Technology 51.06 12 Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences 48.60 13 Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology 45.78 14 Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology 45.08 15 HITEC University 45.01 16 CECOS University of Information Technology and Emerging Sciences 43.96 17 Balochistan University of Engineering and Technology 43.91 18 Government College University, Faisalabad 43.39 19 Minhaj University Lahore 42.48
Medicine According to the 2022 HEC rankings, the following comprise the top ranking medical schools in the country.
Ranking University Score 1 Aga Khan University 100.00 2 National University of Medical Sciences 83.54 3 Dow University of Health Sciences 64.53 4 University of Health Sciences (Lahore) 61.62 5 Khyber Medical University 57.28 6 Jinnah Sindh Medical University 53.62 7 Bahria Medical and Dental University 51.99 8 Ziauddin University 50.56 9 Sindh Institute of Medical Sciences 43.64 10 Baqai Medical University 41.58 11 Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University 37.03 12 Hamdard University 36.45 13 King Edward Medical University 32.25 14 King Hamad University of Nursing and Associated Medical Sciences 32.20
General Rankings Ranking University Score 1 National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences 100.00 2 National University of Sciences and Technology 94.14 3 Lahore University of Management Sciences 93.23 4 University of the Punjab 80.21 5 Aga Khan University 78.98 6 Institute of Business Administration, Karachi 76.32 7 Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology 75.20 8 University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 75.19 9 University of Lahore 71.26 10 National Defence University, Pakistan 70.52 11 NED University of Engineering and Technology 69.93 12 Allama Iqbal Medical College 68.47 13 University of Central Punjab 61.32 14 International Islamic University 59.92 15 Dawood University of Engineering & Technology 59.30 16 National University of Modern Languages 58.54 17 Government College University (Lahore) 57.98 18 University of Peshawar 56.67 19 Bahauddin Zakariya University 56.44 20 Islamia College University 52.02
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 QS World University Rankings 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 QS World University Rankings: National ranking World ranking Asia ranking (2024) Subject ranking/s (world) (2016) University Province 1 353 67 Computer science and information systems: 251–300; Electrical and electronic engineering: 301–350; Engineering and technology: 340 NUST Islamabad 2 363 91 QS International Trade Rankings: 176–200 (Only One in Pakistan); RePEc: 2.43, Second Place nationally; 250 Lahore School of Economics Lahore 3 390 189 PIEAS Islamabad 4 601 116 Business and management studies: 251–300; Computer science and information systems: 401–450 LUMS Punjab 5 801 – 1000 145 University of the Punjab Punjab 6 801 – 1000 183 Electrical and electronic engineering: 251–300 UET, Lahore Punjab 7 801 – 1000 197 University of Peshawar Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 8 1001 – 1200 137 Computer science and information systems: 401–500 Virtual University of Pakistan Islamabad 9 1001 – 1200 214 Agriculture and forestry: 51–100 University of Agriculture, Faisalabad Punjab 10 1001 – 1200 301 – 350 The University of Lahore Punjab 11 1201 – 1400 245 University of Karachi Sindh 12 1201 – 1400 301 – 350 Bahauddin Zakariya University Punjab 13 1201 – 1400 301 – 350 IIUI Islamabad — — 183 Medicine: 301–400 Aga Khan University Sindh
Research Papers in Economics/IDEAS Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) ranks the top 25% institutions and schools/faculties in the field of economics 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: