According to the rankings, 11 institutions from India, led by the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi is 222nd, while Bangladesh’s sole representative is University of Dhaka, which appears in the 701+ grouping. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Four Pakistani universities have made it to the top 800 in this year’s Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, but all rank lower than in 2012.
QS, a UK-based universities ranking agency released the ranking for the year 2013 on Tuesday, according to a press release. The rankings compare the world’s top 800 institutions across six criteria covering research, employability, teaching and international outlook.
National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad which topped the Higher Education Commission ranking in July, has dropped to the 481-490 bracket, down from the 400-451 bracket in 2012. Despite the decline in ranking, NUST is the only Pakistani university which has continuously maintained a presence in the Top 500 World Universities since 2007.
The remaining three institutions are all placed in the 701+ group — University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore, University of Karachi and University of Lahore. All three were ranked in the 601+ grouping last year.
“Pakistan’s leading universities have started to gain recognition among international academics and graduate employers,” said QS head of research Ben Sowter. “The challenge now is to improve student-to-faculty ratios and start producing more highly cited research, while addressing wider areas such as access and infrastructure.”
NUST Quality Assurance and International Collaborations Director Muhammad Ismail told The Express Tribune that like other Pakistani universities, NUST faced two major constraints, “Lack of finances to support its research initiatives and internationalisation due to the security situation in the country which does not permit international students and faculty to visit Pakistan frequently and collaborate for international research and joint ventures.”
We expect to improve our ranking next year by soliciting more financial support from the government to develop research capability and provided there is an improvement in the security situation.
University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore VC Lt Gen (retd) Muhammad Akram Khan replied that he has not yet seen the ranking, but when told that the varsity ranks lower than the previous year’s, he added that they would improve their performance.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) topped the ranking for the second consecutive year, ahead of Harvard University and University of Cambridge. Harvard, which topped the QS World University Rankings for the first six years they were published, has moved back into second place, displacing Cambridge. Harvard was the most successful university in May’s subject rankings and leads today in life sciences and medicine and social sciences and management.
US varsities were awarded 11 of the top 20 positions, but its academic dominance has been eroded since the financial crisis. Of the 83 US universities in the top 400, 64 rank lower than they did in 2007-8. In contrast, 70% of the 62 Asian institutions in the top 400 rank higher than in 2007, but there is still no Asian institution in the top 20. According to the rankings, 11 institutions from India, led by the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi is 222nd, while Bangladesh’s sole representative is University of Dhaka, which appears in the 701+ grouping.
Research included reputational surveys of academics and graduate employers drawing on over 90,000 responses worldwide, the largest of their kind in the world. The QS rankings are based on four key pillars, research, teaching, employability and internationalisation and the methodology consists of six indicators: academic reputation (40%), employer reputation (10%), and faculty student ratio (20%), citations per faculty (20%), international students (5%) and international faculty (5%).
This year, 62,094 academic and 27,957 employer responses contributed towards the results, making both surveys the largest of their kind in the world.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2013.
COMMENTS (11)
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For everyone arguing here, its the quality delivered by the students as well as the sincere teachers, who polish their students up to the mark. And credit definitely has to be given to the recruiters who hire "right people for right jobs at right times and keep them". I myself am a UOL student and I know how much hard work we usually do to have our research papers published in various journals.
The real dilemma of our University Education is that every institution is busy in two things Minting money or going for good ranking Whether it is Private sector or Public sector. And in process of race of ranking, plagiarism is taking place, repeated research is taking place and then this research has no advantage of industry...So how come even this ranking anticipates the true learning. Sorry to say but the real advantage of a university and industry relationship is not reaped. Industry in Pakistan is just O&M (operation and Maintenance) and no R&D is there..Every manufacturer wants to get the latest technology from west and then start producing in hours. No one wants to put the fuel in so that it can give an outcome. So even this large amount of research papers are not giving any sustainable boost to the economy. There may be some good Publications beneficial but this quantity is not visible.
Arsalan A Rahim Assistant Professor EED, UET Lahore
As much as I love Pakistan and own all the institutions where I studied in Pakistan, unfortunately top 800 is not worth celebration. All of my research is around higher education institutions' performance, branding and service quality and Pakistani institutions are celebration top 800, it is disappointing :(
Our rankings would have been very different, if the study was done among the madrasahs of the world. Every country has its strengths and weaknesses.
Dear,
The methodology of the international ranking is academic reputation 40%, employer reputation 10%, faculty student ratio 20%, citations per faculty 20%, international students 5% and international faculty 5%.
@sk JSAC, and scores of IEEE transactions ... I rest my case. But I grant you, there are plenty of publications in venues of dubious authenticity.
@Pacer, Please name few high impact factors Journal where NUST and UET published...
@ LOL .. LUMS is not an awami university due to it high expanses. Universities like NUST and UET always get considerable number of brilliant students every year whose research is published in journals with highest impact factors. Also the core subjects of LUMS are not research oriented which is one of the factors for these rankings
NO LUMS? AHahahahahah.
The same may be compared with the ranking of Higher Education of Pakistan, and why top ranking universities of pakistan as mentioned by the Higher Education of Pakistan, unable to find a slot in this ranking, which is big question mark, Why? Someone of Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, comments will be highly appreciated with a positive note. I am hopeful what HEC is done so far is comparatively quite good compared what we have done in the fifty years, but still more has to be done. if we can improve the analysis procedure for ranking of higher education institution in line with the international standards, will help us to improve our ranking for the next years. Positive Note. Long Live Pakistan.