You may have seen the recent QS rankings for 2021 which showed the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) standing at the number one spot but NUST doesn’t even come in the top 3 according to the latest Best Global Universities Rankings. Why is that?
Well, it simply comes down to the evaluation criteria used by different organizations. The Best Global Universities Rankings comes from a US-based organization known as U.S. News whereas the QS rankings are UK-based. This ranking is based on the following factors; Global research reputation-12.5%, Regional research reputation(12.5%), Publications(10%), Books(2.5%), Conferences(2.5%), Normalized citation impact(10%), Total citations(7.5%), Number of publications that are among the 10% most cited(12.5%), Percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited(10%), International collaboration – relative to country(5%), International collaboration(5%), Number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited in their respective field(5%), Percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% most highly cited papers(5%). You can view their detailed ranking methodology here.
Without further ado, here are the top 10 universities in Pakistan:
- Quaid I Azam University (global score: 53.3)
- Aga Khan University (global score: 51.1)
- COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI) (global score: 47.9)
- National University of Sciences & Technology – Pakistan (global score: 36.2)
- University of Agriculture Faisalabad (global score: 35.6)
- University of Peshawar (global score: 33.8)
- University of Punjab (global score: 29.6)
- Government College University Faisalabad (global score: 28.9)
- Bahauddin Zakariya University (global score: 27.0)
- University of Karachi (global score: 23.8)
The Arid Agriculture University comes in at number 11 whereas the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore and UET Taxila come at 12 and 13 respectively.
Image Source: Mahidol