PESHAWAR: The Institute of Management Sciences (IMSciences) topped the overall ranking among 45 universities of the province in the first-ever provincial university ranking system, which was unveiled here on Thursday.

KP Minister for Higher Education Department Mina Khan Afridi announced the rankings during a news conference, which was attended by minister for information Shafi Jan, vice chancellors and senior officials from public and private sector universities.

Mr Afridi said the rankings were aimed at introducing a performance-based framework, improving governance, academic standards and competitiveness among higher education institutions across the province.

He said the ranking framework had been developed after reviewing internationally recognised university assessment models as well as national ranking mechanisms, incorporating indicators considered most relevant to the provincial higher education sector.

IMSciences secures overall top position among 45 universities of province

“The evaluation process was conducted on the basis of 12 major indicators and 66 sub-indicators, covering areas such as governance, academic excellence, research performance, student services, financial management and institutional development. Universities were assessed under four separate categories: overall rankings, general universities, technical and professional universities, emerging universities and private universities,” he said.

In the overall university rankings, the Institute of Management Sciences (IMSciences) Peshawar secured the top position among 45 universities, followed by Hazara University in the second place and Pak-Austria Fachhochschule: Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (PAF-IAST) Haripur in the third.

Under the General Universities Category, IMSciences ranked first, Hazara University second and the University of Malakand third.

In the Technical and Professional Universities category, the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Peshawar, secured the top position, followed by Khyber Medical University (KMU) and the University of Agriculture, Peshawar.

The minister said a separate Emerging Universities Category had been introduced for institutions established after 2011. In this category, PAF-IAST secured first place, followed by Shuhad e APS University of Technology Nowshera in second place and the University of Haripur in third.

Among private-sector institutions, the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI) topped the rankings, while CECOS University of Information Technology and Emerging Sciences and Qurtuba University of Science and Information Technology, Dera Ismail Khan, secured the second and third positions respectively.

Mr Afridi described the initiative as a landmark reform in Pakistan’s higher education sector, saying Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had become the first province to institutionalise a university ranking system at the provincial level.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2026