LAHORE: Only two universities from Pakistan have made it to the top 100 QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) Asia University Ranking for 2023.

The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) secured a spot on the list at 67 and Quaid-i-Azam University at 95.

The QS ranking 2023 is being formulated on the basis of academic and employer reputations, the number of staff holding a PhD, and the percentage of international students. A total of 760 Asian universities are in the ranking list this year.

A total of 13 institutes from Pakistan made it to the list of top 300 universities which include National University of Science and Technology (NUST) rank 67, Quaid-i-Azam University 95, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) 115, University of the Punjab 140, Comsats University Islamabad 142, University of Engineering & Technology (UET) Lahore 165, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS) 193, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 210, University of Peshawar 221, Aga Khan University 223, International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIU) 241, University of Karachi 271-280, and The University of Lahore 281-290.

13 institutes from Pakistan are in the list of top 300 universities

A total of 50 institutes featured in the list are from Pakistan, China- 128, India- 118, Japan- 106, and South Korea- 88. China’s Peking University topped the list, the top 10 Asian universities are - National University of Singapore (rank 2), Tsinghua University, Beijing (rank 3), The University of Hong Kong (rank 4), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (5), Fudan University, China (6), Zhejiang University, China (6), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (8), Universiti Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur (9), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (rank 10).

University of the Punjab has stood at 140th, making a landmark jump of 92 points in just four years, previously, it was ranked 232nd in 2018.

In the latest rankings, PU has been ranked among world’s 100-150 best universities in the subject of petroleum engineering while it was ranked among top 100 to 130 universities in the subject of religious studies.

PU former vice chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad said the ranking of the university improved due to good governance, promotion of research culture and other academic initiatives.

He said Rs380 million were allocated for conducting research for the first time and it had brought about continuous improvement in the ranking of the university.

He said a good number of PhD faculty members were recruited to increase research publications, improve teaching standards and student-teacher ratio.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2022