ISLAMABAD - The National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, could not retain its previous position in the UK-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World Universities Rankings 2013/14, announced Tuesday.
The university that was ranked last year at 401-450 has been placed at 481-490, according to the new ranking.
The University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, University of Karachi and University of Lahore were rated among the top 700 world universities.
No other Pakistani University achieved a place among the world universities while four Indian universities including Indian Institute of Technology, Madras at 313, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur at 346, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee at 410 and University of Delhi were ranked among top 500 universities.
Rankings are conducted by the government, accreditation agencies, magazines and newspapers, NGOs and sometimes by a university itself. The more popular ones globally include the Times Higher Education (THE) and the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) ranking has also gained credibility in recent years as it is also cited by the economist. Each of these rankings uses different criteria for evaluation. While the SJTU gives more weightage to the number of Nobel Laureates and alumni, others give more weightage to research output, student/ faculty ratio, number of international students and faculty, etc.
Earlier, the QS Asian Universities Rankings 2013 had placed seven universities of Pakistan in the list of top 250 Asian Universities and three Pakistani universities were ranked among the top 200 world universities in agriculture and forestry.
According to its ranking for 2013, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad (QAU), 119, National University of Science and Technology Islamabad (NUST), 120, Agha Khan University Karachi (AKU), 152, Lahore University of Management Sciences Lahore (LUMS), 191-200, and University of Engineering & Technology Lahore (UET), University of Karachi and University of the Punjab Lahore 201-250 were in top 250 Asian Universities while three Pakistani universities: University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), 142, Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (UAAR), 152, and Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad (QAU), 172, were ranked among the top 200 World universities in the disciplines of agriculture and forestry in QS world university rankings 2013 by subject. In July this year the Higher Education Commission had also announced the ranking of Pakistani universities. And NUST had topped the category of 'General Universities (Large) while the University of Karachi was at number third.
KMU syndicate approves three new projects
The Khyber Medical University (KMU) Syndicate meeting on Tuesday approved establishment of an Institute of Nursing and Medical Technology, Institute of Medical Sciences and strengthening of KMU with an estimated cost of Rs450 million.
The KMU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hafizullah, while chairing the 13th meeting of university Syndicate, informed that three new projects of KMU, including the establishment of an Institute of Nursing and Medical Technology were approved.