QS university rankings expose regional disparities in Pakistan's higher education

LAHORE: Eighteen Pakistani universities have secured places in the QS World University Rankings 2027, with Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) retaining its status as the country’s highest-ranked institution despite slipping in the global standings but no university managed to break into the world’s top 350.

The latest rankings, released by UK-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), showed mixed performance of the Pakistani institutions with QAU as well as the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) registering slight declines while the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS) posted improvement to emerge as the country’s third-highest ranked university.

According to the rankings, QAU fell to joint 381 place from 354 last year while NUST slipped to 384 position from 371. However, the PIEAS staged a remarkable recovery, climbing from the 721-730 band in the previous edition to joint 560 place globally.

The University of the Punjab was ranked 588, followed by Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) at 608, University of Agriculture Faisalabad at 629th, COMSATS University Islamabad at 639th and Government College University Faisalabad at 691th.

Punjab, Islamabad dominate while other regions lag behind

The University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore was placed in the 791-800 band, while the Aga Khan University and the University of Peshawar were ranked in the 951-1000 bracket.

The University of Lahore secured a place in the 1001-1200 band, whereas the University of Karachi, Bahauddin Zakariya University, International Islamic University Islamabad, Riphah International University and the University of Management and Technology were all ranked in the 1201-1400 category. The Islamia University of Bahawalpur was placed in the 1401+ group.

The latest rankings also highlighted regional disparities in the country’s higher education landscape. Punjab and Islamabad continued to dominate the list, while Sindh managed to secure representation through only one public-sector institution, the University of Karachi, which was placed in the 1201-1400 tier. No university from Balochistan featured in the rankings.

Educationists noted that global rankings were increasingly influenced by indicators such as sustainability and citations per faculty, areas where Pakistani institutions generally lag behind others because of inadequate research funding, weak international collaborations and low foreign faculty ratios.

The QAU remained an exception in terms of research impact, obtaining a score of 97.2 out of 100 in the citations per faculty indicator and ranking among the top 60 universities globally on that measure.

Analysts said that without sustained investment in research infrastructure, internationalisation and faculty development, Pakistani universities would find it difficult to improve their global standing despite isolated gains by some institutions.

Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Prof Dr Niaz Ahmad Akhtar congratulated all Pakistani universities featured in the QS rankings. He said that this achievement reflected the hard work and dedication of students, faculty, researchers, university leadership and staff.

“We are proud of this achievement and remain committed to further improving the quality and international standing of our universities. I extend my sincere congratulations to all institutions that have earned this recognition and wish them continued success in their pursuit of excellence.”

He said these achievements showed the growing strength and international recognition of Pakistan’s higher education sector.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2026