Seven universities from Pakistan have made it to the QS World University Rankings 2019 — the prestigious annual index of global varsities.

All seven Pakistani universities to have made the list are based in either Lahore or Islamabad.

• Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS): 397
• National University of Sciences And Technology (NUST) Islamabad: 417
• Quaid-i-Azam University: 551-560
• Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums): 701-750
• Comsats Institute of Information Technology: 751-800
• University of Engineering & Technology (UET) Lahore: 801-1000
• University of Punjab: 801-1000

Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), the highest-ranked Pakistani university on the list, occupies the 397th spot and is followed by NUST Islamabad, which is on the 417th spot.

Quaid-i-Azam University, another from the federal capital, comes in next. It is in the 551-560 bracket. The Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums) also made the list this year and is in the 701-750 bracket, whereas Comsats Institute of Information Technology — also located in Islamabad — has been ranked in the 751-800 group.

Meanwhile, University of Engineering & Technology (UET) Lahore and University of Punjab are ranked in the 801-1000 group.

The top three universities this year are Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University and Harvard University respectively. The trio occupy the top three spots just as they had in 2018, followed by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in the fourth spot.

The only change in the top five sees University of Oxford (5th) overtaking University of Cambridge, which has now been relegated to the sixth spot.