ISLAMABAD: Only one Pakistani university has featured among the top 500 international institutes of higher learning, according to the World University Rankings 2023 list released on Wednesday.
A record number of 1,799 universities were ranked in the prestigious Times Higher Education 2023 list which was drawn from 104 countries around the world.
Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam University topped the chart among local universities and was placed in the 401-500 bracket.
The Quaid-e-Azam University, which was previously named Islamabad University, was established in the country’s federal capital in 1967.
“It has established professional links with selected universities in Europe, South Asia and the United States,” said the Times Higher Education on its website. “Moreover, a reasonable size of the faculty members of the university have worked in international universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, and Columbia.”
“Notable alumni include Shamshad Akhtar, who heads the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Dr. Maliha Lodhi, who previously served as the high commissioner of Pakistan to the UK and Asghar Qadir, a renowned Pakistani mathematician and a prominent cosmologist,” it added.
Other Pakistani universities on the list include Lahore University of Management Sciences (601-800), National University of Sciences and Technology (801-1000), Bahauddin Zakariya University (1001-1200) and Government College University Lahore (1201-1500).
The University of Oxford topped the ranking for the sixth consecutive year while two institutes from mainland China featured in the top 20 for the first time.