Only one Pakistani university breaks into top 500 World Ranking, NUST & COMSATS fall short

The World University Rankings 2018 are here and Pakistan has an abysmal performance.

Times Higher Education(THE) is a reputable name when it comes to authentic university rankings. Academicians, industry personnel, and students all keep an eye on the numbers they release every year. However, the latest ranking reveals that Pakistani universities have not fared well.

Only one university was able to make it to the top 500. The Islamabad-based Quaid-e-Azam University took a place in the 401-500 band which is a significant improvement from their placement in the 601-800 band last year. NUST and COMSATS both fell short and grabbed a spot in the 601-800 band. Seven other universities also made it to the list. University of Agriculture made it in the 801-1000 group while Bahauddin Zakariya University, GC University, University of Lahore, University of Peshawar, PMAS Arid Agriculture University, and University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences were placed in the slots below the top 1000.

Majority of these universities ranked in the top 300 Asian universities this year but couldn’t do well in the World Ranking. An interesting trend which appears in this year’s Pakistani universities on the list is that institutions ranked lower have a greater chunk of female students as compared to better ranked names like NUST and COMSATS.

THE Global Rankings Editorial Director Phil Baty expressed his disappointment on the lack of Pakistani universities and attributed it to lack of funding. However, he was of the opinion that China’s involvement in the country’s CPEC project could also ring good news for Pakistan’s academic institutions.

“The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor unveiled by Chinese president Xi Jinping in 2013 and now in its first phase of implementation has been touted as a potential way for Pakistan to build the technological capacity of its universities,” he said.

While Pakistan had a lack luster performance in this year’s rankings with only 10 names, academic institutions from our neighbors China, India, and Iran grabbed 60, 30, and 11 positions respectively.

Top spots in this year’s list were held by University of Oxford, followed by the University of Cambridge, and the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University who shared the third spot.

See the complete list here.