Thanks to Musharraf and dr. Ata ur Rehman then Dr. javed Legari Pakistan achieved this goal at last

Pakistan is the 6th largest country in terms of population in the world. Just one university of repute is not enough for the size. Commendable though for this university.

It is good but we want Pakistani universities to be in top 50 Why we waste money on defence and nuclear arm when we could invest in people and fight economically

Now this is something I can congratulate the Pakistanis for. Well done and I'm from India.

Well done QAU. Not bad considering all other supposedly so called "big achievers" are hovering around there or thereabout.

Good News

Why didn't the Pakistani politicians, who were caught with fake diplomas, some from far as UK, could have got degree from QUA.

By the way this was research institution established by Bhutto in Islamabad in 1974. I was never convinced Bhutto did any good, but first time I have to change my view when I saw his name on its inauguration plate. QAU was built to supply highly qualified M.Phil., level grades for research. Unfortunately, university struggled to get good enough graduates for its M,Phil which made them to launch M.Sc., level programs. I graduated from there and found its much better in its methods to prepare students for research. But still missing key link between industry and research carried out there... can be improved...

Great news for QAU. Where is LUMS sitting? Or are they just about heavy fee and no substance?

Great. Come on, let us have more of Pervez Hoodbhoys and others equally distinguished academics show their mark and lead the way.

There is trickle of good news from Pakistan. Women excelling against odds, Nobel Prize, nominations and Oscars and now an education institute in top 500. Well done to all of you, made my day QAU.

World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha - what a joke !!! Same goes for the rankings.

QS WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS is the most authentic rankings in the world, even mit and Oxford university also recognizes it. According to qs there are hardly 4 to 5 ASIAN universities in top 200 But this rankings seems very different....

oh wow ... my QAU my love :)

Congratulations, Pakistan!! It's great feat considering prevailing all odds in the country.

Congrats! Finally!

@Sunil *QAU

Finally

Keep moving keep growing

Its a good News. Despite so many troubles one University from Pakistan has been ranked among the best 500. Congrats from me an Indian. Let there be more collaborations in Research ,Education and Development between India, Pakistan,China,Japan,Korea.Iran.

@Sunil, For the moment, think about your BJP minister who was caught with fake University degree.

QAU u did best ,,,,

@arashid QAU started to function as the university of Islamabad in the mid sixtees. It was establiehd by Ayub Khan. Subsequently, some ten years later, the name was changed to QAU.

its always pleasant to hear such news about QAU.. HEC needs to focus on private sector universities, these universities offer low quality education but grades of these universities students are far higher I have seen people having above 90% marks but they know nothing about their subjects, students from QAU and some other public sector universities like PU pass out at around 65-75 percentage and when short listing in certain job sectors is made, its done on the basis of marks. people from good public sector universities fail to get short listed although they may be more learned and knowledgeable then the ones who got 90%. I am a graduate of QAU and I have suffered this. Their should be an equivalent grading criteria, HEC should take up this issue.

Long way to go Pakistan and India

Asia lacks so behind.................................

nice, may it become in top 10

Amazing achievement!

Great News.

Let all of us pledge to educate at least one Pakistani. Our slogan should be "Each Pakistani educate a Pakistani".

The problem with our educational institutions is that the virus of dirty politics( headed by JI )

I wish our government,s priorities should be human development instead of just building bridges and roads..Knowledge based economy is the only way forward otherwise we will be at mercy of these low intellect politicians.

Its a shame for India. We are aspiring to be global power and only 5 universities in 500. Need to focus on education. And should push this number to atleast 150 in 500 and that too in quick time

Although having one university among the world's top 500 in a nation of 200 million is nothing to brag about, it shows that if Pakistanis put their minds to something positive, they can achieve anything in this world. Let's have a goal of us putting 4 more universities in the top 500 and at least one of them in the top 100 in the world in the next 10 years. Can we do it?

We just need to set aggressive goals for our nation and just go about achieving them, rain or shine. Failure is no longer an option.

Great!

Proud Alumnus! My distinguished alma-mater is provident of chiaroscuro in somewhat the bleak image of our country particularly in academia, making our country's repute positive & conspicuous. Love QAU!

What is there to be proud of? Out of 500 universities, this University is ranked at 496. Wow!!! If it was ranked in 200s or 300s out of 500, then it would be something to show off for.

In most of the countries, all disciplines including medical, engineering, and agricultural sciences are parts of the same university. In Pakistan, Medical, engineering, and agricultural universities are stand alone institutes. Similarly, every university in the world have undergraduate programs with tens of thousands of students. More disciplines and more students require higher number of faculty and lead to more productivity, all important factors in ranking calculations. I believe more Pakistani universities would have made it to the top 500 with these factors included and QAU would have been much higher in the rankings. Anyway, congratulations to QAU, and hoping that LUMS and NUST will join the club soon.

I graduated from there back in 90's and found it the only educational institution that impressed me through out my whole academic pursuits in Pakistan. The only problem was after graduation, we had no idea where and how to use our skills and find a meaningful work for ourselves? We were kind of lost for a while. There was no support from University and it seemed like we were groping in the dark.
It was only when I came to US for higher studies, I was connected with the industry even during my education and was able to find meaningful work. I hope things have changed down there.

we may have a commendable progress in higher education institutions but what is, however, conceived more responsive to increase the level of ranking of an institution is the standard research work of students and feed back of alumni about their accommodation in international job market.

Bring back Dr atta ur rehman ......

Let Dr. Pervaiz Hoodbhoy lead Pakistan's higher education system and then see the results

Best 500 !!!

Question: How many German universities are in the top 50 world wide? Is Germany a third world country with no industrial infrastructure and no research infrastructure? Are rankings really that important?

This US-News ranking doesn't look right. seems just based on some survey questions and popularity. In other proper rankings Indian universities are in top 20 in the world (IIM and Hyderabad Business School) but not in this list: Here the Indian and Pakistani universities in the us-news ranking list:
Rank: 316 University of Delhi -- India New Delhi Rank: 323 Indian Institute of Science --India Bangalore Rank: 405 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay -- India Mumbai, Maharashtra Rank: 484 Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur -- India Kharagpur Rank: 496 Quaid I Azam University -- Pakistan Islamabad

It is a beginning of new era in Pakistan education, well done, HEC. we would wait to see more universities to come among World's top 500. Just Govt. should let the HEC work independently as a autonomous organization, and it will produce results.

Proud to be a QUAIDIAN

Would it not be in all fairness to give some credit to the erudite, dedicated and dynamic teacher, Pervez Hoodbhoy for the ranking acquired by Quad-e-Azam University?

Ranking means nothing for Pakistan. Don't kid yourself.

How are University of Tehran (360) and Sharif University of Technology (377) are ranked so low. Their students are like the supermen in US universities. To give you more perspective, I am doing doctorate in a 66th ranked US university. I am seriously doubting the criteria by which these rankings are found.

Which country is on pinnacle globally?By the way japan's literacy rate is 100% and their university of tokyo is at the summit in Asia that is why japan is a progressed country.

thanks Allah. i will work hard. i want to study there.

Knowledge is power..spread more knowledge in society..

If you are not in top 100 then rating does not matter!

Politics needs to be eradicated from Universities in Pakistan!

Most academics in America don't give much credence to US News and World Report's college rankings. The stats and ranking methods used by this publication are incomplete and flawed,i.e., lack of detailed info about professors, their qualifications, experience and research publications, how many students admitted per major, how many students graduated within time allotted vs those who didn't graduate or were transferred to another university or college. How many students are on scholarships and breakdown of types of scholarships.

If all these factors were taking into consideration, Quaid-i-Azam University's ranking would be much higher. It's quite surprising the University of Delhi has surpassed India's famed IIT's which many Indians claim are on par with America's MIT and Stanford. It's no surprise that Japan's and China's rankings have surpassed Indian universities, since the long academic hours of Japanese and Chinese students are much longer and of a higher standard then in other Asian countries.

@arashid No, the university has been around since 1967; at that time it was called University of Islamabad. Like all of Islamabad, it was the brain child of President Ayub Khan.

Go Quaidians...

Asim Khan - Class of 1990 (Computer Science)

Good for the Quaid-e Azam University to be recognized internationally and due credit to them. However, the state of education especially higher education in Pakistan remains pathetic, ridden by decades of successive government neglects albeit, brief priority during Musharraf's era and is screaming for, the sense of urgency and a planned concerted focus from the government. The key issues facing higher education in Pakistan that must be addressed before any meaningful progress could be made are: 1) Immediate need to prioritise and allocate funds for education sector to 8% to10% of the yearly budget. 2) Focus shift from theoretical based and a rigid thinking environment prevailing at colleges and universities to, a research based environment where the students should be challenged to research and encouraged to be creative to keep the thought process open. 3) Planning and setting achievements standards within defined time frames with a credible and verifiable progress monitoring mechanism. 4) Thorough revision of syllabus and its alignment with best international educational trends and Pakistan's national objectives. 5) Educationists training on modern lines, development of a research oriented educational environment and a progressive increase in the number of PHD's particularly in science, engineering, physics and mathematics and various disciplines’ of management.

496th that's poor - very poor why are you all celebrating ??????????????????

Something to be happy. It is always the first step a child takes when he knows he can do more. Go QAU

@Sunil , its QAU ( Quaid-e-Azam University). I hope u know we call Mr. Jinnah, Quaid-e-Azam meaning Great Leader :-)

What about FC college Lahore who is celebrating its 150 years and still has no quality of education and awful facilities. Ranking is 7000 in world. They have increased fees exponentially. Need based financial aid is just a gimmick and trap for very few lower middle class students. fee increased by 30% during last two years, summer fee increased by 300% . Massive aid from alumni, companies and US-Aid, still no real positive changes in the university.

expectation is lot from pak nation pls make us feel proud !! only 1 loving nation pakistan zindabad

Are we supposed to be proud of this.

@muhammad The success is due to pre-Musharraf visionaries like Dr Raziuddin.

Wonderful news after a very long time. Al-HumDoLillah! Reputable universities are exactly what we need for progress starting with an increase in schools offering quality education similar to "O" and "A" Levels. And our votes should be for those who struggle and ensure we improve in this area. Now if only we could add another four to the top 500. Wouldn't that be great?

Congratulations for being in the best list. Still long way to go for Pakistan, India and others to be at par with US Universities. The best in India is a mediocre compared to any western Universities. Professors in India simply take their pay check and leave the rest on the students.

Congratulations. Focus on education shall alleviate poverty, improve general health and environment. Of course this shall take focus away from getting things done by "whatever means".

The following statements are intersting “The main focus is on factors that measure research productivity and performance,” Mr Kelly told Dawn. “The ranking aims at helping students to make a better decision before enrolling for their higher education,” Mr Kelly said.

"Research Productivity" means getting more publications. One school in India, ISB got this trick and made it into top 100 B Schools in 2008.

The Bachelor's programs in IITs drill deep concepts and could be considered best in the world, despite successive Indian governments trying to mess with them (in terms of reservations, increasing the nunmbers and trying to dilute the enrance). But the graduates prefer to do research elsewhere (MIT, Stanford, etc.) and there is hardly any research happenning. So, you see lower ranks to them. A typical senior secondary pass out in Delhi would prefer to go to IIT Delhi (which is not even ranked) rather than a DU (Delhi University) college (which ranks 323 or so). DU has its own list of achievers and now autonomous St Stephens is the alma mater of Zia ul Haq

Nice job QAU. More education and more such educational institute needs to be established for the sake of education in Pakistan.

I meant Good Job QAU.

@Lefty "lags" behind, my friend..

Rank at 496-and proud???????

@Shobhit Thanks for positive response, appreciated. I think this type of comments help promote good environment and mutual understandings among the nations.

@mansoor More QAU education and less madrasas education will help Pakistan

@Mohammad Iqbal Its is sarcastic and nasty, what it has to do with JI. QU has got some position but still our nation needs to learn a lot.

Congratulations to my brother and sisters from across the border if u spend on education sector u will create best Pakistanis the Madrassa will only create TTP AQ etc/

Appears strange that IISc is so far behind inspite of the fact its the base behind India's Mangalyaan, which no other country in Asia was able to achieve. Also almost 10pct of Silicon Valley & Microsoft is IIT alumnus, still IIT are far behind. AIIMS also doesn't figure in this list neither does Aligarh Muslim University.

496 out of 500 is pathetic and pitiable! Pakistan needs a stable and answerable government (not like the present one) and education reformers like Dr. Rehman and Dr. Leghari. Of course there are many others who are working in the shadows.

Congratulation to QAU staff. I did my M.Sc in Physics (1981) from QAU which provided me a strong foundation to complete my Ph. D. from USA. More institutions with strong academics and industrial collaboration are needed for Pakistan.

That is GREAT NEWS!!! The best news I have read about Pakistan since I started frequenting Dawn ( and pass quite cutting remarks!!!!)

A small step towards modernity and away from religious lunacy?:):)

This ranking is based on some dated criteria. The current ratings should be based on how many students got hired on campus, are students happy with the university / college etc and not based on number of nobles won from an university.

QAU students are among the best in many fields and servings all over the world. The selection of students is based on merits and QAU accommodate students from every region of Pakistan. Indeed there is serious competition among many universities in Pakistan. QAU attract talent and should recruit his Alumni. Moreover, develop research coordination with foreign universities and invite students for an exchange program.

@Sunil to receive a degree from QAU is very demanding and this school graduate are the best in the world.

Good news. Happy news. So far so good QAU--but don't just stop here. Strive to be among the top ten. Sitaron say again jahan aur bhi hain.

@Dilectus, sir, This university produced very best mind. I was an average student and even an average student my papers twice elected for the best paper award at water borne symposium and paper was elected a featured article in journal coatings and science and at Gordon conference and more. I believe this is a very reputed school. Yes we have to do much more.

496th position seems to be way down.

An Indian kid of 16 years who cracks the entrance exam's of IIT's and NIT's in India can crack any other entry barrier throughout the world while for his counterpart its almost impossible to crack the above barriers.Its good that an university from pakistan has joined the so called club.

raghu

Proud to be a Quaidian

@arashid shaheed this credit go to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who founded such a researched base university in pakistan

@ arashid, the university is founded in 1967 by Ayub Khan in satellite town rawalpindi as Islamabad University, in 1974-75 it was shifted to current location and in 1976 on 100th birthday of Quaid Azam it is renamed. Bhutto has nothing to do with the founding of this university.

I don't agree with this news. There are many news agencies and bulletins that rank universities. Such news should be based on more credible sources. According to QS World University Rankings® 2014/15, QAU is not even ranked. The three Pakistani universities ranked are: NUST at #481, while LUMS and UET Lahore at #701+. Source: http://www.topuniversities.com/

Even if government keep developing and working at the 'speed' of Tortoise, We Will see a difference in 5 years. But they do not :) missiles are not needed, people need education & food otherwise even after hundred years we will be nowhere trust me.

A pleasant news anyway!

proud to be quaidian.

False claim, blasphemy, outrageous. Only NUST appears at 481th place followed by LUMS, UET, KU and LU each having rank 701. Then comes Quad-e-Azam university without "any" ranking.

Check the rankings yourself: http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2014#sorting=rank+region=+country=120+faculty=+stars=false+search=

Inshallah other institutions will follow the QUA. Congratulations QUA.

Folks all i would say is ....It makes little difference how many university courses or degrees a person may own. If he cannot use words to move an idea from one point to another, his education is incomplete.....

500 out of how many?

congrats Pakistan. This is the right way for your. Hope more your universities would get rank in top 500.

Finally,a good achievement for Pakistan.Well done.

A good news!

lets not forget the fact Pak nation was built by graduates of Aligarh Muslim University, India.

@Dilectus, I was surprised that LUMS isn't there in the top 500. Or for that matter, none of the IIMs made it in the top 500 it seems. Anyway congratulations to Pakistan for Quaid-io-Azam university's inclusion in the list. Rajan

Shameful report for India. Only 5 varsities in top 500. Should have been at least 25. Indian education system has failed. Madam Irani must take quick steps to make sure that every tier-3 Indian city should have a world class university and India becomes a learning destination. Today most of our best universities have a large number of foreign students from Iran, Russia, Latvia, UAE, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka etc. This must change so that even students from Western Europe and Australia are attracted. Lot of work needs to be done by Ms. Irani.

@Dr Carla Can you please tell what are those proper rankings???

Four iranian universities - wow !!

@muhammad Pakistan could be far better if Musharraf team was still in full swing today. Pk is going down every day after them.