According to Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World Universities Rankings 2013, seven Pakistani universities have won place in the list of top 250 Asian universities and three Pakistani universities are now among the top 200 world universities in agriculture and forestry.

The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) UK is the world’s most renowned and prestigious ranking agency.

According to its ranking for 2013, Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), Islamabad, is ranked 119, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, (120), Aga Khan University (AKU), Karachi, (152), Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) (191) and University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, (200), University of Karachi (201) and University of the Punjab, Lahore, (250), are now in top 250 Asian universities.

Whereas, three Pakistani universities, including University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) (142), Pir Mehr Ali Shah-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) (152) and Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), Islamabad, (172), are now among top 200 world universities in the disciplines of agriculture and forestry.

Commenting on the international recognition for Pakistani universities, Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr. Javaid R. Laghari said that during last year, six Pakistani universities were among top 300 Asian universities.

“This year, seven are in top 250. This is a proof that the quality of universities in the last three years has significantly improved and Pakistan has now become a world player in higher education sector,” he said.

He hoped that with hard work, and with the support of the government, at least 10 Pakistani Universities will join the ranks of the leading universities of the world within the next couple of years.

The education experts describe this achievement in higher education sector of Pakistan as an outcome of the revolutionary reforms introduced by HEC and dedicated hard work by the university faculty and researchers.

Since the establishment of HEC in 2002, research output has grown eight-folds (from 815 in 2002 to more than 6,300 in 2012) with the largest numbers of publications in areas of relevance to economic development. As a result of this phenomenal increase in research publications, the world share of Pakistan’s research has gone up by 300 percent in the last five years. Around 90 per cent of these research publications from Pakistan are coming from higher education institutions. Output has more than doubled just in the last 3 years and is expected to double again in the next 3 years. No university was ranked in the top universities of the world three years back.