The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has released the Annual ORIC Self-Assessment Evaluation Report for the financial year 2024-25, ranking the Offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORICs) of 95 universities across the country into four performance categories W, X, Y and Underperforming.
According to the report, seven universities secured the highest “W” category, 38 universities were placed in the “X” category, 43 in the “Y” category, while seven universities were declared underperforming. The HEC said 17 universities improved their categories compared to the previous year, whereas four institutions witnessed a decline in rankings.
The universities that achieved the top “W” category include Air University Islamabad, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) Islamabad, NED University of Engineering and Technology Karachi, Sukkur Institute of Business Administration, The University of Lahore, University of Agriculture Faisalabad and Ziauddin University Karachi. All these institutions secured scores of 80 or above.
Among the universities placed in the “X” category were Aga Khan University Karachi, Dow University of Health Sciences Karachi, Iqra University Karachi, Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro, Bahria University, COMSATS University Islamabad, Institute of Business Management Karachi, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology Karachi, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, University of Sargodha and several others.
Universities placed in the “Y” category included the University of Karachi, University of the Punjab Lahore, Sindh Madressatul Islam University Karachi, Jinnah University for Women Karachi, Lahore College for Women University, Islamia College University Peshawar, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan and the University of Peshawar.
The report declared Bacha Khan University Charsadda, Greenwich University Karachi, Karakoram International University Gilgit, Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University Islamabad and the University of Swat as underperforming institutions.
Under the HEC policy, universities will receive financial overheads on research grants according to their ORIC category. Universities in the “W” category will receive 15 per cent overheads, those in the “X” category 10pc, institutions in the “Y” category 5pc, while underperforming universities will not receive any overheads.
The report noted a substantial increase in research activity during FY2024-25. Universities submitted 9,987 research proposals compared to 2,237 proposals in the previous fiscal year. However, the approval rate declined sharply to around 12.5pc owing to increased competition and limited funding availability. The HEC also pointed out that only 68.42pc of universities currently have full-time ORIC heads, although more than 85pc institutions have full-time research managers and innovation and commercialisation managers. The report observed that the absence of permanent leadership in many universities was affecting strategic research direction and institutional performance.
